We’ve known for some time now that Natasha loves water. She has never really gotten upset over getting a bath and she likes swimming pools. Grandma has an above-ground pool that she’s been in a couple of times and for her first birthday, Uncle Billy and his girlfriend Jackie bought Natasha a wading pool and about 50 pool toys.

This is not your run-of-the-mill wading pool. This behemoth is about 5’ X 8’ and has a rainbow sunshade, 2 flower ball toss games, and a slide that is kept wet (and slide-able) by two dolphins that spray water all over the place. It’s a pain in the butt to keep it clean, it needs to be dumped every time it is used, and it takes forever to fill it up again, but Natasha loves it.

All of this positive water experience still left us as unsure about how Natasha would take to a large body of water. We’ll be heading to Hilton Head Island in about two weeks, so our trip last weekend to Deep Creek Lake was our feeler. If her reaction to the lake is any indication, the trip to Hilton Head should be tons of fun.

She loved it. I had her in the water off of the dock where the cabin we stayed at was located. At first, I had a float vest on her and I held her as we floated around the dock. Later, I put her in an inflatable ring and pushed her around. She kicked and screamed when I took her out.

The next day, we went to the “beach”. Again, she had a blast. We had her jumping the waves on the shore caused by passing boats. I held her out in the deep and she laughed and kicked the whole time. Once again, she kicked and screamed when we took her out. We’re pretty sure she loved the “beach”. At Deep Creek the sand is rockier than it will be in Hilton Head, but she still had fun digging in the sand and playing with her toys. The only problem was that she tried to eat it. Thankfully, she never got any in her eyes.

When we go to Hilton Head next later this month, we will have the best of both worlds. The house we are staying at has its own private pool and the beach is just a short walk from our front door. We will probably spend more time at the pool than at the beach, but I’m fairly certain Natasha won’t mind. As long as she’s in the water, I’m sure she’ll be happy.