No Beach!

Yesterday we went to the beach to meet our friends. As soon as we got to the sand Kaeley shouted, "Hurray! The beach!" Nathan gloomily said, "No beach." Nathan does not like cold, roaring water, so for some crazy reason, he does not appreciate the beach at all. Actually, he must get it from me. I do not enjoy going to the beach. It might be because I get a wind-blown look, or it might be because I have one child who likes to eat the sand, and the other child who is constantly searching my bags for his snack. Then, of course, you end up bringing a bucket load of sand home in the car. Without fail, this is what happened yesterday. While Kaeley was happily playing in the waves, dancing on the sand, building sand castles, and searching for sand crabs, Nathan was in my ear saying, "Snack? Snack, Mommy? Snack?" He kept asking me for a cracker, but I honestly hadn't brought crackers at this trip. That stinker walked away and I thought, "Good! He's finally going to play." Um, no. He had walked up to the life guard station a ways behind us to ask them if they had any crackers!

He whined and asked for food almost the entire time. I once let him open the broccoli and ranch that I had brought. He made that broccoli swim in the ranch, sucked all the ranch off, and then put the soggy broccoli back in the bag! My new method for parenting was waring thin as I gave him the choice of either: A. Leave me alone or B. LEAVE ME ALONE! No, I'm kidding. I didn't tell him that, but I was losing patience with that boy!

Kaeley had a great time though. She could have stayed there another two or three hours. I would have loved to have gone to the beach with just her, so I could have watched her play with her friends until she dropped. Plus, I would have brought home less sand. :)

Will I go again next time a friend asks me if I want to go to the beach? Of course. Why? Because I'm partly insane. I think this time might be different. But mostly it's because I would do almost anything for my crazy kids. Maybe I'll bring crackers next time. It might be a cheap price for peace.