My family and I usually go to Kitty Hawk, NC over the week of the 4th. This year, with vacation schedules (or no vacation left due to maternity leave) etc., the NC vaca was not in the cards. So since Cassie, Ryan, Kalen, Grammie, and Grandpa were going to be home, and since Barb wasn't going anywhere 9 months pregnant, we decided to go to the beach here in Michigan. Kalen and Lily had never been to the beach so we thought it would be a fun trip for us all...And it WAS fun, but fun in the "we are crazy for attempting this" type way.
Who joined in on the adventure? The above named plus Barb's son Elliot, Angel, Angel's daughter Lainey, and Luke, a friend of my parents. So we needed 3 cars to get all of us and all of our crap to the beach. What kind of crap do you need to bring to the beach? Well - a lot - since my 3 month old really shouldn't be in the sun - so you need an umbrella, a tent, a stroller, her diaper bag, chairs to sit on, coolers with drinks and lunch, towels, sand toys to play with, an inflatable kiddie pool for Kalen, purses and cell phones that don't have reception (more on that later).
Knowing that my baby shouldn't be in the sun, you wouldn't think that we would go to the beach IN THE MIDDLE of the day, would you? Well, it takes a while to pack up all that crap. And of course, it was around 90 degrees that day.
So Barb and I and our kids get to the beach first and try to call and tell everyone where we have set up camp but the reception really isn't working. So Lily and I attempted to huddle under an umbrella that wouldn't stay up until the rest of the party arrived. And when they did, it was, of course, on the other side of the beach. So we packed up again and moved under the tent.
After that, Lily calmed down a lot - mostly because I could sit in the shade and feed her! But it turns out that Kalen doesn't really love the beach. Doesn't like sand. Or lake water. And it was so hot that basically we all gathered under the tent in the shade the entire time. Barb, Elliot, and Lainey did get in the water (I stuck my feet in), but after about 2 hours, we decided to pack up and go home! Of course, it took about a half hour to pack everything up. And another half hour to trudge back to the car (have you ever tried to push a stroller in the sand. Yeah - it doesn't work).
While we usually stop at Captain Sundae on the way home from the beach, Barb and I were NOT getting back out of the car. If it wasn't a drive through, it wasn't happening. So we used her GPS to find a drive through Dairy Queen. Of course the kids were asleep by this point, so we ate our ice cream and laughed about the days adventure.
Lily DID look cute in her swimsuit though - check her out:
She did look cute in her suit!! Your story brings me back to the day we went to see you at your sand castle build :) It seemed like a good idea at the time until we were sitting in the middle of the sun baking! :)
ReplyDelete