All is right in the world

We had a little mishap at the beach yesterday evening right as we were about to head in.

Courtney wanted to ride the waves, so I headed out into the surf with Garrett in my arms. Courtney quickly realized that she didn't need to be wearing her hat for fear she would lose it in the waves, so she handed it to me. Then, she decided that she wanted to body surf instead of using her Dora board, so again I get another thing to hold in addition to her little brother and her hat.

The waves were pretty strong and I was doing good to hold onto Garrett, much less all her stuff. We got back to shore and got ready to pack up, but we were missing her favorite beach hat that Nana had gotten her. Without a doubt, I knew that I had lost it in the waves. We searched. And searched. The ocean had taken it and she was beyond upset. She was doing "the" cry. I felt horrible. I tried to console her by telling her that we would come out first thing in the morning and search for it. This seemed to give her a little peace even though she cried the whole way back to the condo and during her entire bath.

I knew the odds were slim to none that we would find the hat, but when we woke up this morning we headed out to the beach because she was ready to search...and I was quickly trying to formulate my back-up plan for not finding it.

We headed out the way that the tide would have taken it. The waves were so strong yesterday that I was sure it was buried in the ocean. I looked down the shore and my blind self saw something that was whitish, but not a bird because it was still. I sent her running off to check it out. I felt sure that it was some type of trash that had washed up from hurricane Ike. She is way off in the distance, but I see her pick it up. I see her run back with excitement!!!!!! I really gave us a 1% chance of finding it...and there it was in her little grip! It survived the tide change and all passersby. Somebody had set it up on a coconut (a first...I've never seen a coconut on the beach here) that had washed up so it was ready and waiting for her this morning.

This little hat survived nature and humanity to get back to her owner. This little girl was one happy little girl! I am beyond shocked that #1 - the ocean didn't eat it and #2 - that nobody picked the cute little hat up and took it home with them. It was out there for over 14 hours and this has been the busiest weekend since we've been here due to the Colombus Day holiday. My faith in humanity has been restored for the time being. Just another reason to love this place.