The Beach

We've made two trips to the beach now this summer. A few things can be said.

1. Jack's an impatient backseat driver. We're sitting in a line of traffic, and Jack says, "Let's just turn around." We're getting close to the beach, and Jack says, "Is THIS the beach?" "Is THIS the beach?" Every mile or so. At one point we were close; you could see a little private beach beyond a stone wall. Jack asked again, and I said, "Well, you could just get out here, and we'll meet you." Jack's also very literal. "What?" he said. "I can't get out HERE. I can't just jump over that WALL." It's really pretty funny.

2. I really envy those commercials for I believe Corona that show a couple walking to a spot in the sand and sitting down, carrying nothing but a bucket of beer. I believe the commercial contrasts that couple with a family that appears to be us. They stumble up to a spot with beach chairs, an umbrella under their arms, towels, toys, a cooler of snacks, suntan lotion, etc. And of course, two kids. We need to invest in one of these things that looks like a laundry hamper for toys and stuff, that you just roll onto the beach with you. That would be nice.

3. Jack has kind of a love-hate relationship with the ocean. I think he likes the beach, and had a blast splashing around in the waves last time, and then when we went yesterday he didn't want to go in the water -- didn't even want to take off his beach sandals. I think the only reason he agreed to go at all was me promising he could bury me in the sand. That was kind of funny, incidentally -- he'd cover part of me with sand, decide he needed water, and ask me to go get him some. "But Jack, I"m buried in the sand!" "Oh," he'd say. "Here, I'll help you get out...." Anyway, Jack thus far appears to like the sand a lot more than the water. I guess some older kid pointed out a horseshoe crab in the water the first time, telling him it would eat him or something. We assured him that was not the case. Then Saturday we were standing near the edge of the water and saw TWO of them, connected in some fashion, perhaps intimately. I'm not familiar enough with horseshoe crab anatomy, nor do I want to be, to be certain. Perhaps I'll raise the question at the Aquarium next time we're there. "Excuse me -- where are....?"

4. Jack did discover one of the new joys of the beach Saturday: beach food. I've never seen him eat so many chicken nuggets and french fries at a sitting.

5. Kate appears to have gotten over her nervousness on unusual surfaces. On Friday she crawled around on grass like it was no big deal, and then Saturday, she scuttled across the beach like a fiddler crab. And put a rock in her mouth, of course, but we got it out. Her hat keeps falling off (too big) and we fret about sunburn, not to mention her efforts to crawl through the sand castle I built with Jack, and her obvious desire to also eat french fries and chicken nuggets, but regardless, she had fun. We held her with her toes in the water, to which she seemed to react with curiosity more than anything else.

6. The art of sand castle building is really hurt by a three-year-old who cares more about pouring water over everything than actually building a castle. I think I really had something going yesterday, but then The Flood came and things looked a lot like Venice after a heavy rain. Maybe next time.

7. Both kids will fall asleep on the way home from the beach. Both adults will spend the afternoon wishing they had slept better the previous night. The beach takes a lot out of you.