“Take me to the stair steps!”

I can’t tell you how many times I heard that last week. There was inevitably a tiny index finger raised in the air and a look of pure sass and determination on Ellie’s face. We went away for a few days and she was in love with the hotel pool.

The two little flaws in our whole swimming and relaxing operation? Ellie can’t swim and I completely spaced on bringing any sort of floating device for her so that she could wander around on her own. Instead, I served as her water taxi, making countless trips up and down the pool. We escaped a few shark attacks, floated past a mermaid or two, and used the pool’s jets as “sinks” and “dryers.”

Even better than the pool was the beach, where she was much more free to join her sister on adventures. She may not have dived into the waves to collect rocks like Samantha did, but she collected buckets and buckets full of wet sand.

Needless to say, all of our water activities got pool and beach toys on the brain to better prepare for our next little adventure. And I already know one thing for sure: some baking sand toys are definitely getting added to our gear for my Cutthroat Kitchen loving ladies!