Beach-y

I live in an area where the beach is somewhat commonplace. I used to be able to walk to the beach from my sister's house. But I'm not a beach person. I burn easily. I hate the way may feet feel like the water got sucked out of them for DAYS after walking in the sand. I'd rather swim in a pool of clean, chemically sanitized water than the ocean where millions of fish and probably millions of humans have peed. But it's an experience. And I have to admit, it's beautiful. And on a day like yesterday (Saturday) it was a glorious day for the beach.

My mom suggested we take the kids to the beach Saturday morning. She suggested we go "early" which I later made her qualify, since to me, "early" is 7am. Maybe 8. To her it meant leave the house at 9. Which is even funnier, since I was loading up the kids in the van at 8:45, called her and woke her up. I jokingly said, "you know, in MY day, we never would have been allowed to sleep in this late. What is this world coming to?" since my dad is such an early riser and growing up, if you got to sleep until 8, you were very, very lucky. And he'd probably already left for work and didn't know I was still in bed, sleeping my day away.

It was the Little Man's first trip to the beach. His eyes got so big and he exclaimed when we stepped over the rise to see the view of the Gulf. He enjoyed walking on the sand until we parked our things and he sat down and saw that his shoes were covered in it and his feet were "dirty." He is NOT a fan of dirt on his hands and feet.

My mom and I walked him close to the water's edge. He was freaked out my the water running up onto the beach. He did NOT want to get his feet wet. He was NOT influenced by the face that both Grandma and Mommy got theirs wet.

Fuss sat right down with her bucket, shovel, and cups and began building a sandcastle. Because why else would you go to the beach if not to build a sandcastle? She worked on a village - towers, a lake, trees made out of sticks and seaweed. It was pretty darn cute. She was adorable in her blue skirted suit and her sunglasses. We won't talk about the fact that both my 4-year-old daughter and my mom were both wearing pigtails at the beach.

Little Man was up for walking along the shore. He liked the birds looking for a snack at the water's edge. But when I wave came up higher that expected and washed over his feet, he cried, begged to be picked up. When I did, he snuggled close to me, putting his head on my shoulder. We stood there looking out at the Gulf for awhile, just him and me listening to the waves. That was one of those moments I never want to let go of.

He stole his sister's shovel and walked around our little area scooping up patches of sand and tossing it over his shoulder. Sometimes it landed on his hat instead. No matter. He was having fun. When the tide came in far enough to start to fill in the little trough of beach and create a little tidepool like thing, he happily splashed in that.

I had to tear all of them away from the beach when it was time to go. Fuss and Little Man whined and my mom said "already?" more than once. We stopped at a little place nearby and got a quick lunch and some drinks.

It was a fantastic morning.

I went home and tossed both kids in the shower with me. Then I had to rush around to get going to the mani/pedi appointment my mom had made for us. I pinned my hair up and off my face and did what I refer to as "summer beach-y make-up" which is a light coat of mineral powder to even me out, some quick eyeliner on my upper lids and some shiny sheer lipgloss. I didn't have time to even do my bangs, so I pinned them up, too. This was regrettable when later when we were getting ready to go to a casual dinner and run some very quick errands I asked my husband if I should change anything (referring mostly to my clothes) and he said "well, you could add some bangs." He's a fan of my bangs, apparently. Or he's not a fan of me without them, I guess. I did my best, but once they've dried, they are a pain to move around, so I'll have to start over today.

Overall, our beach day was great. I'd even be willing to do it again. And soon. Before it gets so hot that even 8am is too hot to be sitting in the sun.