Beach Day

Believing that a childhood without a few trips to the beach each year is indeed a very sad thing, Jeff finagled his schedule so that we could ensure the happiness and well-roundedness of our children's summer.

On the way there, the kids entertained each other in the backseat by drawing pictures of vomiting cartoon characters. (Ahh, yes...just another day in our car.)

Once we got there and found an $8.00 parking spot, Jeff declared the first order of business was to find a place that sells frozen bananas. (Apparently a good childhood has to have a couple of those thrown in, too.) As we went off on our search, I was surprised at the food offered in such close proximity to the beach. There were tons of places selling corn dogs, buckets of fries, pizza, frozen cheesecake on a stick, etc. Apparently the people eating this stuff weren't the same ones who were traipsing around in bikinis just 100 yards away. Maybe the "eaters" just ride the carousel all day. $9.75 later (for three bananas!!) and the kids and Jeff were enjoying their frozen treats.

It was finally time to go to the actual beach, so we loaded ourselves up like a bunch of pack-mules and trudged out onto the sand. On the way, somebody accidentally dumped the contents out of the mini cooler. (It was the same unnamed person who dumped the cooler out onto my seat in our rental car on vacation. Perhaps it's time to rearrange the list of who performs which duty, hmmm?)

As we approached the shore line, I heard a loud boom like a bomb going off. It took me a second to realize it was simply a wave crashing. Those waves were massive!!! I barely resisted the urge to call out "Tsumani!" a few times. Keep in mind while looking at the below picture that Tobias is 5' 7" tall and that wave is way over his head.

Tobias' swimming trunks (or momentary lack of swimming trunks) was another memorable moment caused by the waves' ferocity. I guess his railish frame doesn't give the elastic waistband much to grab on to. There are disadvantages to being skinny!

A few times, these surprising herds of Junior Lifeguards jogged past us in their red swimsuits. There were about 50 to a pack and they looked like they were ages 9-12. One guy in front was carrying a paper torch high above his head. Who wants that job? Poor kid had to run past a bunch of well-muscled surfer-types and bikini-clad college girls while lifting a fake paper torch like it's some vital beacon, guiding the masses behind him. Other than that, it looked like a pretty good program.

Jeff and the kids did usual beach stuff for the next three hours. You know, like digging in the sand, dodging killer waves and jogging junior lifeguards. I, however, sat beneath our blue beach umbrella (which Jeff declared to be the most "ghetto" umbrella on the beach due to its partially collapsed stature). A sun-worshiper I am not.

When we were "beached-out", we packed up and went in search of a sit-down pizza place. The pizza was quite good but the music over the speakers was awful. I think they were playing an album called "Were these ever really hits of the 70s?". When the best song you hear in a whole hour is "Mississippi Queen", that's saying something. The chorus of one song was something like, "Captain Jack is gonna get you high tonight." Uh...no thanks.

However, another redeeming feature of this pizza joint was that we got to watch pros doing BMX tricks on the plasma screen. In fact, with the beach, the pizza and the BMX tricks, Jeff declared it a nearly perfect day.