Beach Day!

Wouldn't you think that a trip to the beach would make four kids so flippin' happy they could light that beach at midnight with the sunshine glowing out of their butts? I would. But apparently the drive TO the beach is no happier than any other. It's a prime opportunity of close quarters for bickering, fighting, hitting, whining, tattling, teasing and taunting... It started with Mr. Hyde losing his mind on our way out the door - no idea what started it, but the highlight of that tantrum was his response to Steve's warning to turn it around, by shouting, "FINE! I'll turn it around!" and spinning on his butt in time out. Smart little effer.


He made it to the car, and his behaviour appeared to be contagious to sixty six percent of the remaining offspring. I finally threatened to turn around (not that I was going to take THAT home, I knew once we got there I wouldn't have to deal with such crap so there was no way in hell I was going back) and actually TURNED the car that way before they stopped the obnoxious behaviour. Then... silence. After ten minutes the silence turned from relieving and relaxing to eerie. I praised them on their abrupt change in behaviour and reminded them they were allowed ot talk if they were nice about it. Jack explained "Sometimes it's easier to be nice this way". True enough.


Once we got to the beach though... heaven. Elliot had to pay a time out in the car for five minutes for his previous tantrum, but I gooped up the others while we waited then headed to the water. They spent 3-4 hours running in the waves, catching jellyfish, playing in the sand - not one tattle, not one whine, not one complaint. I sat on Steve's chair and watched and took pictures, occasionally getting up to check out their jellyfish puddle. It was awesome. The only drawback was the moment about two hours in when I realized that I gooped up the kids while my blonde, blue eyed monster waited in the car and never got back to put sunblock on him. The poor guy is red tonight - an ugly first sunburn. Society has us moms so scared of the sun, I'm wondering if I should wake him up through the night to check for signs of melanoma.


We stopped at DQ on the way home to get icecream, though they all got slushies instead. We had to pick up my car from the mechanic then go to Walmart to get new sneakers for Jack. By the time we were done there I just couldn't face the thought of going home and making dinner so we went to Boston Pizza instead. Man we're an expensive family to feed! I should have just gone home.


All in all, a pretty perfect day. Here's a couple pics:


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