Families are like fudge

Friday, April 11, 2008

I'm copying/pasting this over from my MySpace blog (that I never EVER use) b/c I just read it again and it cracked me up and so many of you don't have MySpace. LOL. Enjoy...

Written August 21, 2007:

We used to go to the beach a lot when I was little. Well, maybe my perception of a lot isn't what it is now. But it sure seemed that way. I loved the beach. Still do.

But now I have four kids so it's a new adventure in itself. Some days this summer I thought, "Man, I want to go to the beach!" Well, it's not like I can just drop everything and go. Well, I could but who would keep the kids from killing each other while I was gone? Anyways..... It's not that I couldn't handle myself at the beach alone with them. Heck, I'm alone with them all day long and I haven't lost or maimed one yet. But then I got to thinking about what a day at the beach would be like. "MOoooom, I need to go pee" (while grabbing the crotch and doing the pee-pee dance of course). So what do I do? I'd have to haul ALL the kids to the bathroom with me, thus leaving all of our stuff there unattended. Mmm. Sounds like good times.

So this summer we went to the beach three times. Three times that I convinced other adults that they wanted to spend the day at the beach with my children. HAHAHA.

Beach trip 1:

My oldest 2 have no fear. After getting the obligatory slapping on of the sunscreen, they just run and dive headfirst into the water. I don't have to worry about them for the next 4 hours (joking). The younger two are still trying to figure this beach thing out. Ryan (3.5) looks out at the ocean and says "mom, I want you to carry me to the ocean." Uh, well son, I was actually planning on sitting here on my lazy butt to work on my tan, thank you very much. "Not right now, Ryan - but you can go play in the water if you want!" "I don't like the water. I'm SCARED of the water." sigh. For the next 4 hours, he pretty much sits there pouting. There's the occassional smile, the infrequent venture out to play with a bucket and shovel, but he's mostle just morose about that darn ocean.

Tiana is only 2 so she doesn't remember the beach. She does ok with the sand - she doesn't really have sensory issues. But when she steps in the water and it starts pulling at her feet she FREAKS out. No more water for Tiana.

My sister and my 17 month old niece came too. The boys had a row of buckets filled with sand, water and sandcrabs. Hannah waddled over there, grabbed a shovel, and proceeded to do a little taste test on the water in each bucket. It was hilarious (gross, but hilarious) - we were joking that she was doing a little wine tasting.

So overall, a fun day but good LORD it took more time loading and unloading than we actually spent on the sand. On the drive home I got the worst headache of my life which is always fantastic when you're sitting in So. Cal. traffic and don't pay attention and get on the wrong freeway and have to backtrack 20 minutes to figure out where you are. I got home, put on a movie for the kids, and slept until my headache went away (which it didn't).

Beach trip 2:

Nawnie (SIL) came with us this time.

Older boys - same story.

Ryan - same story.

Tians - something changed from Beach Trip 1 to this one. She somehow decided that the beach is a pretty fun place - that the water is pretty cool. She wanted to go stand in the water. The whole day. We were sitting literally 10 feet from the edge of the water. I told her she could go down by herself. But no. She had to hold someone's hand. First she'd try me. No words - she'd just walk up to me, raise her little hand and just look at me with her puppy dog eyes. I'd take her to the water. We'd splash and have fun. I'd go sit down. Then the waterworks would start "I wanna go in the WATER". cry cry cry. So she'd try Nawnie. Hand raised. No words. Puppy dog eyes. So Nawnie would take her. Then Nawnie would want to sit down. Waterworks. We finally got Eli and Grant to each take her to the water a few times but what fun is it holding your sister's hand when you could be playing Bionicle-Space-Alien-Star-Wars-Army-whatever-the-heck-boys-play? So after feeling rejected by her brothers, she'd come back to me and the cycle would start again. All day. Not to mention that I started getting another splitting headache at the beach. Come to find out it's the knot in the bathing suit around my neck - some weird pressure point. Anyways.

We drive home. Once again, I'm blabbing away and get on the wrong freeway. Another 20 minute treck back to the right one.

Beach Trip 3:

The last beach trip of the summer. My parents and my sister & her family came this time. There were 5 kids. And 5 adults. It was like sheer heaven. I got to sit there and bake while Grandma took Tiana to the water. Eli & Grant were little fishes and built sand castles with Grandpa.

You'd think by the third trip Ryan would have gotten a little better. Nope. He sat and pouted on the blanket for hours. Finally, he asked me again if I would carry him out in the water. I said "no, but I bet Grandpa will!" HAHAHAHA. Pawn him off. Mean mommy. I don't know why and I don't know how but something about Grandpa taking him out in the waves dissolved some fear that Ryan had because when they came back in, all he wanted to do was roll around in the water. He stayed there until it was time to leave (at which point he threw a fit, throwing himself face down onto the sand - yummy.). And this time I learned my lesson and didn't put my bathing suit on until we got there and took it off before we went home and -voila! no headache! And I didn't get on any wrong freeways either. :)

So I have a completely newfound respect for my mom hauling all of us to the beach when we were little. It's some WORK! But really, when all is said and done, it's so much fun and now my kids will have lots of great memories of the times they got to go to the beach when they were little. :)

Moral of the story - there isn't really one. I just felt like writing a blog post because it's been a while. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

posted by Karah at 11:26 AM -

4 Comments:

At April 11, 2008 7:32 PM, Natalie said…

Headaches are caused by the strangest things.

Those will be some great memories for the kids. Man, I wish there was an ocean beach nearby. Beaches at lakes just aren't the same.
At April 14, 2008 9:44 AM, Dana said…

Loved the post! I am with Natalie, too. Lake beaches are definitely NOT the same. While I loved the trips to the lake with my fam when I was little, there is nothing like the ocean. I love the sounds and smells (well, some of the smells!).

After reading this post I want to go to the beach, too! We took Mia last summer to Jay's grandparents' place in Cape Cod. She wasn't too thrilled about the water either. Rats! Hopefully, she will like it this summer! :)
At April 15, 2008 9:13 PM, Courtney Horvath said…

Ahhh, this brings back memories of beach days at Hillview Acres. I cannot even FATHOM taking my two boys to the beach by myself. Loved the stories, especially about Ryan pouting every time and then throwing a fit as soon as he realized he really DID like the beach!
At April 17, 2008 9:24 AM, Jennifer said…

I was telling me husband yesterday that I want to head down the shore a lot thissummer and now I am SCARED!! I have 4 Little munchkins now and you reminded me what I hated about the beach last year.