"I fell into the sea"!

"Tell her, I fell into the sea," Connor announces loudly from the backseat as I'm talking to Kerri on the cellphone. Kerri says, "Aunt Mary, what did Connor just say?" This is not the kind of thing she wants to hear when she knows we are babysitting for her children the very next day. Connor was on spring break from 4 year old pre-K and Bob & I were on childcare duty for the week. We were looking for things to do with him since he's a very active, inquisitive little boy. For a recent school assignment, the one word I used to describe Connor was "enthusiastic".
A week of hanging around Mema & Papa's house could have gotten rather boring; it wasn't going to cut it for an enthusiastic little child like Connor. We wanted to stimulate his mind and keep him busy. We initially thought about a trip to see some dinosaur bones at the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan but chalked that idea when we thought about some of logistics. We decided instead to take a trip to Long Island so Connor could play with his downstate cousins. I thought that he would like this even better than a museum and I think I was right. Lo and behold it turned out to be 90 degrees on Wednesday. Here it was the 7th of April and it was as sunny and as warm as a day in mid-July. What better time to go to the ocean?
Connor could barely contain his excitement. We pull into the parking lot at Jones Beach and I notice that we were not the only ones who had this marvelous idea. There are quite a few cars in the parking lot. Connor is out of his car seat and reaching for the door as I run around the car to keep up with him. (I promised his Mommy that I would guard him with my life and his safety and well-being is my top priority). He makes a mad dash for the sand and runs like a bat out of hell for the Atlantic. I understand what he's feeling, since I'm feeling it too. There is something about the ocean that draws us to it forcefully. It is vast and majestic and powerful. It is constant and unending. I think this is one place that I can truly feel the presence of the Almighty.
The sandy beach is very wide at this point and I'm getting quite a work out but I reach the water's edge at the same time as Connor. He pulls on the Velcro and frantically works his way out of his sandals as I fling my own sandals into the sand. We run recklessly into the receding foam of the waves. As the next wave comes charging we run, laughing, back to the sand. We do this over and over again. Connor gets braver and braver. One wave is a bit stronger than the others and Connor looses his footing and falls face first into the sea. He is stunned for a minute, the water is "April" cold but he gets himself up and begins his marvelous game again. He doesn't want me to stop him yet, even though he is soaked through to the skin.
We told him that it is important to respect the power of the ocean but now that he has experienced its strength firsthand, he seems to have a new understanding. He seems to be looking at the Ocean with a reverence he didn't have before he fell into the Sea.