September--surfing

We have a friend who surfs and when we moved here he gave a the boys and Mike a few free surf lessons.  Every since then the boys have been hooked.  Mike isn't a big beach dude.  He doesn't like the sand but he really enjoys surfing so it's been a fun thing for him and the boys to pick up together.  Eli was really interested at first and he picked it up pretty well but one day when we made a visit to the beach he got pulled into a rip tide and it freaked him out.  I don't blame him, it would freak me out too.  Will was swimming to the edge of the rip tide and was able to just grab him and pull him out so it didn't end up being a dangerous situation but it still scared Eli enough to give him a bit of anxiety at the beach.  Eli is a strong swimmer and we talk about rip tides before we go to the beach each time and what to do when you find yourself in one but this was his first experience actually in one and it was scary so he stays pretty close to shore now.  He ventures out when the waves aren't too high or strong but he isn't terrible tall so it scares him to be too far out in case he gets caught in one again.  Because of that, he doesn't surf with the others that much anymore.  The other boys get a little anxious when the waves are high but they still really enjoy it.  When Florence came up North it churned up tons of seaweed and some pretty huge waves (for us anyway--12 ft!).  We went one evening before the waves got too big (probably about 4 ft) and I just sat with my camera and snapped pictures.  Mike and the boys really wanted me to document them getting up on the board.  I have a fairly healthy fear of the water so I'm not really interested in surfing but they did manage to convince me to come out and lay on the board and then they pushed me in and it was so much fun.  A few days later Mike and the two older boys woke up before the sunrise and headed to the beach when the waves were huge and tried to catch some waves.  They said it was so hard and so much fun.  I'm really glad they have that memory with Mike.