When we lived in San Diego, naturally, we spent as much of our summers at the beach as we could. Wear out the kids all morning and go home for a good long nap. Oh, do I miss the beach.
I hear that it is a sign of some kind of deficiency (like iron?) when you like to eat sand. Aston would run straight for the beach, get a handful of sand and put it in his mouth. Even if we were just walking along the beach, sometimes he would wait for an opening to get to the sand, get a quick bite and come back with us to walk. He always ended up with a sand goat T.
And 8 months pregnant with Aston. We stayed at the most amazing little condo's converted into hotels. It had it's own private beach area and amazing views from both stories of the condo. I highly recommend it. More for a romantic getaway, but it works for kids too.