Today is Julianne's birthday and we decided to make the trip up to Traverse City, Michigan. There is a resort that I grew up going to with my parents and brother, that we decided to visit. Every room has a beautiful view of the Grand Traverse Bay with a private and pretty quiet beachfront. Although the trip up was a little rough for Kaden (he spent most of the three hour drive crying) we all made it up here and everyone is in a good mood.

After settling in and grabbing a quick bite to eat, that Julianne packed for us, we took Kaden down to the beach for his first experience in the sand. When I first set him down on the sand to let him sink his toes in and begin walking, he was a little hesitant and unsure that this was something to be walked on. He started slowly walking and realized that the sand felt good running through his toes as he walked.

After that we took him down to the water, and since winter has just ended (we still had a few inches of snow in March), the water was still pretty cold. However, we let the cold water run over his feet for just a second, before he expressed his desire to be picked up again.

After walking for a little bit along the water, we decide to just let Kaden play in the sand. Let the boy be a boy. We set him down and he didn't seem to understand why we put him down. Daddy started pushing sand over his toes and the expression on his face lit up and the fun began. It wasn't too long before Dad had covered most of Kaden's lower half past his waste. And Mom was probably sitting by cringing, although she seemed to encourage her boys to have fun. The boys had fun and eventually Mom got in on the action and we all had a good time playing in the sand, experiencing the beach through the eyes of a child.

Every new experience I have been able to share with my son has open my eyes to how our Heavenly Father looks forward to sharing moments with us. There are moments in each of our lives where we step into the sand of life not really sure what we were expecting, but like my son, we can look up and know that our Father is right there beside us to walk us through that sand. He's also there to enjoy those other first time experiences with us, and get right down in the sand and laugh and smile while He shows us something new each and every day (Lamentation 3:22-23).  It's a great reminder that our Heavenly Father looks forward to enjoying new moments with us, just as much and even more than I enjoy sharing those new moments with my son.