Belmar Sandcastle Contest

How fantastic! It was a beautiful day and the official 'beginning' to our family summer. Jim and I are done with teaching/taking classes until the fall. How cool is it to be able to go to the beach and do fun stuff during the week!? Trenton will find it 'normal' to have two parents who won't work too much in the summertime... ha!
We really lucked out today, with the annual Belmar Sandcastle Competition taking place. The beach was PACKED by the time we got there (9AM) and got even fuller as the morning wore on. Blue skies turned gray, but not much more than a sprinkle. Lotsa folks having a great time, that's for sure.

There were several drink companies there that had set up stands. Free soda, flavored water, vitamin water stuff... we had at least five different bottles.

The guys above were professionals. We heard later that they were NOT allowed to enter their sandcastle in the competition. A good thing, as most of the other ones were not as... um... elaborate.

That's Jim pushing T above, left. You can see how crowded the beach was-- all in this one-block area, really!
Below, Daddy and Trenton make their own sand sculpture. After Jim began making a mound, Trenton suggested they turn it into a sea turtle. And so they did! T loved bringing back water to the castle and at the end, brought about it's demise. Maybe next year we'll enter... it is free, and they have an age 7 and under category. We'll see!

Trenton loves catching crabs in the sand. That has got to be one of his favorite things to do at the beach this summer. He got this one all by himself, lost it in a wave, and found it again!