A Day at the Beach

Just a mere 3 hours from our humble abode is a
small island that contains just a bit of paradise. We decided to make a push to visit it before Tanner's absolutely insane summer schedule starts, and since a native assured us that May was really the best time of the year to go, we went.

The morning dawned at around 6:15, but Tanner was really tired, so I decided to let him sleep. I got up, finished loading the car (Tanner had loaded all the heavy stuff the night before) and made sure that we had plenty of sunscreen. Then I made a couple shots of espresso, woke Tanner up, grabbed a couple of pillows while he put the girls into the car, and away we went.

I drove since it was daylight. Tanner slept in the car until Houston at which point I shouted, "Help! I'm lost!" I really don't like Houston. It has about 5 skylines, so no matter which way you are pointed, you think you are heading toward city center. It doesn't help that it has TWO beltways and about a dozen tiny freeways going in between the beltways. With Tanner's expert help, and I must say he's much better at navigating than I am, I managed to get through Houston and in just a few short hours we were passing NASA.


I was really excited to do this trip because I found this great little oriental market, so I was able to make SPAM Musubi which is the lunch my mommy always made whenever we went to the beach in Hawaii. The only thing is that they didn't have the Hawaiian Nectar Sodas that we always drank, so I had to settle for Sprite, Gatorade and water. I wasn't sure if the girls were going to like the musubi which is SPAM fried in soy sauce and then sprinkled with Furi Kake and rolled in rice and dried seaweed. You know, as I'm writing the ingredients it does look really gross, but to me, it's the food of the gods!

So, we made it to our little bit of paradise by 10:30, and we scouted out the beaches to try to discover where would be the best place for the kids. The waves were choppier and higher than the last time we had been there, and there were surfers in the water, but when we finally got out of the car, and I sat on the beach and watched the waves just like my mommy taught me, I realized that they were only about 5 feet max, so I put on the kids' life jackets and took them to wade in the water.

We spent the whole morning splashing in the waves and Reagan couldn't believe her good fortune. I was actually ENCOURAGING her to get wet AND dirty. Wow! She was so thrilled. I've never seen a kid relish the dirt so much as she did this day. I suppose I should say sand, but the way she covered herself in it and rolled around in it, really reminded me of a little piggy trying to stay cool, so I'm going to call it dirt for now.

Lunch was a success. We brought this little tent for shade, so we all sat in it while we ate the musubi, chips and cookies. The girls topped it all off with a lot of Gatorade and then raced back to the hole they were digging in the sand. Then, Tanner showed them the seashells that were beginning to wash up onto the beach, and suddenly a whole new world of discovery opened up for them. They ran up and down the beach picking up every seashell they could find. At first there were only a few that were sprinkled along the beach, but as the tide continued to turn, more and more began to show up and the girls just couldn't keep up. They were panting by the time they filled three buckets with sea shells. Kate was so disappointed when at the end of the day we told her that she could only take a few sea shells home, but she was very good, and picked out her favorites without complaining.

We took a little break in the afternoon. Tanner loaded everything up and then we found a Starbucks which he was in desperate need of, and I wasn't about to say no to. Then we found The Strand which is in the historic part of town. There was this toddler size chess board that the kids had a blast playing at, and then we found a toy shop with a lot of stuffed animals. Reagan had some money left over from her Tutu, so she bought a stuffed turtle. Then we all had ice cream before heading back to the beach.


The rest of the afternoon proved even more mild than the morning. The surf became even more gentle, so this time we even let Georgie splash in the shallow parts. She's a beach bum, I think. She just loved the water, the sand and the kelp that was scattered across the beach. Between those three things, I had a difficult time keeping stuff out of her mouth, and she did manage to get a handful of sand a couple of times, but I trust no serious damage was done.

The funny part or maybe not so funny is that I kept trying to let Tanner rest, but every time he laid down with one of the girls, they would either poop or pee. So, he kind of spent the day changing diapers.