Jim, join www.paddling.net

Lot of good info there and a forum like this one.
Getting in and out of a kayak from shore is best done putting the kayak parallel to the bank, holding the paddle loom (shaft) against the rear cockpit coaming, the other blade on the bank. The paddle will be behind you, one hand on the shaft/coaming, the other toward the bank on the shaft. You then sit on the paddle shaft and slide into the boat. The boat will be rock solid until you are in. Another way is to straddle the boat and simply squat into the cockpit, if it's shallow enough and you have a rock/gravel bottom.
What you did is called a "seal entry"....not very useful unless you are in a whitewater boat, entering from steep banks into moving water.