Beach Day

Went to the beach on Sunday. It was probably about the eighth Sunday we've been to the beach this year. One, the kids seem to love it more each time, and you really can't put a price on that. Two, it's about the only thing we can do that doesn't involve price, which is nice every once in a while. And three, we've kind of got it down to an art form right now.

10:00 a.m. I pack the car in a few minutes. Umbrella, beach chairs, towels, beach toys, sunscreen, change of clothes for the kids, extra swim diaper for Kate, cooler with water, juice, snacks. We throw on our suits and we're off.

10:20. We're there, and we tumble out. Choose a spot, plant the umbrella, lather up the sunscreen. Jack wants to run down to the water. Kate wants to run down to the water. We run down to the water. It's low tide, and you can walk a ways out and it's only up to your knees. So we do. We run and splash in the water for a while. Kate prefers staying close to the beach, but she's getting braver and braver each time we go. Jack sees people way out yet still only waist deep and wants to go. So we do.

11:15. Snacks. This eventually turns into lunch. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is not terribly filling. Our art form has a flaw....need to schedule grocery store trip on Saturdays again.

11:30. Back to the edge of the water, with buckets. We dig in the sand. Make a castle, Kate kicks it over. Make another one, Jack kicks it over. There are lots of obstacles to development in this neighborhood.

11:45. Jack likes to chase seagulls. His little feet pound against the sand as he runs determinedly after them. I have images of gulls, flying away from him, clocking other beach goers. Fortunately, it doesn't happen. Eventually Jack tires of it. We go back in the water and find horseshoe crabs and tiny fish. A seagull divebombs a few feet from us and gets a fish. Jack won't chase that particular one anytime soon.

12 noon. A couple of little boys, in the way only kids can, telepathically invite Jack to play with them. He does. They appear to be throwing a G.I. Joe-like toy up in the air like he's doing surfing tricks, then burying him in the sand. This is fun for them for about 15 minutes, at which point I believe one of the boys no longer wants to share his toy. Everyone goes their separate ways, but Jack remarks, "I made a friend."

12:15. I take Jack to the bathroom. As we walk the 10 minutes or so to the facilities, I debate at what point I can just direct him to a tree or leafy plant somewhere. Maybe next year.

12:30. We return to find Emily and Kate playing in the water. Emily holds Kate's hands and bobs her up and down in the water. Kate, who wouldn't even set foot in the YMCA pool the previous days, screams with laughter. Jack and I play his futile yet still enjoyable game of fighting the waves with punches and kicks. I feel like Mr. Miyagi, with Jack my karate kid using crane technique.

12:45. We're working on teaching Jack to swim, so we hold his hands and get him to kick and float on his stomach. At one point he does a credible dog paddle. Big smile. I hold Kate's hands and walk backward in the water on my knees. She kicks out her legs behind her. Bigger smile. She turns her head to Emily. "Mommy, I swimming!" Pause, smile, laugh. Then: "Mommy, I swimming!!!!!!" She's terribly proud of herself.

1:00. Jack recognizes a little girl from preschool, Harley. I wonder if he's mistaken but nope, she knows him too. They run around playing, which soon turns into filling buckets with water and splashing the monster until he falls underwater, roaring in pain. I get up with difficulty and discreetly cough water out to one side. They bury me in water again. Eventually I'll mind, but it's a pretty hot day.

1:30. Jack and Harley run off back near our towels, playing with the beach toys. I approach to keep an eye on them and Jack says, "Daddy, can you give us privacy?" I thought it would be another 10 years before I heard that from him. I step back a little and sit in the sand, watching them play.

2:00. We're waterlogged and burned, and Kate is starting to get cranky from not napping. Plus she wants to play with Jack's friend, and Jack and Harley don't want her too. I guess this will probably happen a lot in the years to come. She gets upset, we soothe her, and then the ocean and the sun make it all forgotten.

2:15. I load up the car, while the kids relax in a hot mudbath. This is also standard procedure at the beach, because I guess sitting in hot mud makes sense after cooling off, I don't know. We all rinse off one last time and pile into the car to go home.

2:30. Kate sleeps in the car. Jack asks to hear the same Who song from the Boat that Rocked soundtrack again and again and again. One day, perhaps, we'll make it to the Beach Boys song.