We spent the day at the beach. Kamryn was getting a little better at boogie boarding. That wasn’t as easy as I thought it was. I got washed off the two times I tried it…much to the amusement of the French man playing with his kids at the edge of the water. Kamryn told me I was too large for her boogie board. Rory gave it a whirl too, but he must have been too small because he washed right off as well.
Rory vs. the waves.
Kamryn claims she puked here because she swallowed ocean water.
Since becoming a mother more than 5 years ago, I have had a couple of different kinds of Mother’s Days. I have had quiet ones at home and others where I left my kids at home and went out with my mom and got a little tipsy at a local winery.
Today may go down as one of my favorites. The kids both slept until almost 7:00, which is considered sleeping in at out house. Once everyone was up, Kamryn made me cereal and I called my mom to wish her a happy Mother’s Day. It was shaping up to be a great day.
Next, I had a lengthy internal debate with myself on whether I was going to run. Ryan is in Iowa so I had to run on the treadmill instead of outside and I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to do that. The deciding factor was that we were planning on going to the beach so I thought it would be good to squeeze in that workout to boost the bikini confidence.
With my workout complete, all I had to do was shower, gather my beach essentials and load the children in the car. I had a slight freak out while getting everyone’s shoes on. Rory can’t keep track of his shoes to save his soul. One will be in the kitchen and the other in my closet. Or one on the deck and the other under the couch. It’s infuriating to try and locate his shoes when we are trying to get out the door. What really got me was that he had them on less than 20 minutes prior, yet they were nowhere to be found. After searching for a good 5 minutes, I stuffed his feet in some sandals from last year and booted him out the door.
Big shovels are essential for any beach experience.
I think Kamryn was trying to make a “snow”ball.
I love the beach. It’s probably the #1 reason I live in San Diego. Even with two kids to look after, it’s still one of the most relaxing places to be.
The weather was just perfect today. It was sunny and warm and even the water was warm enough to get in without feeling like you may succumb to hypothermia. My favorite days at the beach are those where you can lay there forever and not sweat or get chilled. I have always tried to describe how it feels to me. When the air and your body are at the perfect temperature, it’s almost like you can’t feel anything. It’s a little bizarre, but also pretty much awesome.
This is only allowed pre-dinner. After dinner could have been a disaster.
After we had our fill of fun in the sun, we joined our friends for dinner at a nearby diner. It turned out to be a pretty popular destination so to pass the time while we waited for our table, the kids took advantage of a nearby grassy hill to roll down.
I forgot to pack extra shorts for Rory so he is wearing some of Kamryn’s capri pants. They had lace on the bottoms so I had to fold that part under.
Once we sat down at our table, I perused the menu and found the perfect dinner to have on Mother’s Day. What better way to commemorate my 5th official year as a mom than eating a burger with the same name as my second born?
A Rory burger AND an Elvis reference??? I think I do!
It was another beautiful day in Sunny San Diego so we decided to head for the beach again. I love that Kamryn is only in school for half the day so we can spend our afternoons as we see fit. It’s also Stress Awareness Day and what better way to give the stress in my life the finger than to sit and listen to the ocean waves?
I had all of our belongings laid out, the kids were playing in the sand and I had just opened my book when a woman sitting 10 feet away got out a small box of Cheerios. Before I go any further, let me just say: I do not like when my days at the beach are fucked with. I don’t care how many other people in my vacinity, I expect that you do nothing to disturb me whilst I lay in the sand. Kamryn and Rory play for hours with very little interaction from me when we are at the beach so if someone is screwing up the good thing I have going on, I get a little irritated.
The minute this woman opened up the plastic inside the Cheerio box there was a flock of seagulls (the only thing worse would have been the band) screeching and flapping all around me. Rory likes chasing seagulls. He runs after then and screams “MA-KAW! MA-KAW!” but I think even today there were a few more than he was used to.
The Cheerio lady got up and started walking closer to the water. The seagulls followed and Rory was close behind still screaming “ma-kaw” when I saw him pick up a rock. I immediately yelled his name and was scrambling to stand up. I was laying on my stomach so I had to make sure “the girls” were in their proper place so as not to slip a nip to all the beach goers. He probably couldn’t hear me over all the seagull squawking, but he didn’t even flinch when I yelled.
I eventually got to my feet and ran over and grabbed Rory’s arm that held the rock. I may have been in a bit of shock and possibly even a little scared at the sight of my son cocking his arm back to launch a sizable rock at a harmless bird. I told Rory that he could not throw a rock – EVER! Not at a person, not at an animal, not at a plant. No rock throwing! I don’t think I was making a lot of sense. My circuits misfire when my emotions run high, but my tone was getting my point across and Rory started to cry.
He was trying to plead his case, but I wasn’t having it and told him to go sit on the blanket. There we had a conversation about whether he would want someone to throw a rock at him. He said he would not and I asked him why not. In his most exasperated tone he shrieked, “It would hurt!” My follow up question was, “Would it hurt the bird if you threw a rock at it?” Hanging his head, he responded with “Yes.” Oh thank God.
If you haven’t heard of the Serial Killer Trifecta, it’s the theory that if a child
they may become a serial killer.
I don’t really believe that a child will become a serial killer if they do the above, but I certainly don’t want to be sitting in a courtroom one day and recalling the day that Rory stoned a seagull to death.
We decided to spend our Easter at the beach today. It was a beautiful day and Kamryn wanted to try out her boogie board that she got for Christmas. 
We got to the beach around 11:00 and stayed until 2:30. The kids were so good the entire time we were there and I was happy because I got to lay in the sun and read my book.
See the ring around the sun? It was actually a rainbow all around the sun, but it doesn't show up well in my cell phone photo. I'm sure there is a name for this, but I don't know what it is, but it looked pretty cool.
I had been reading and not really paying attention to anything but my book. The kids were in my peripheral vision, plus Ryan was tending to their needs so I was in my own little world for about 30 minutes. I glanced up at one point and noticed that a family was making a huge, almost life sized dolphin as well as some turtles out of sand. I had seen the very start of their work and I thought they were just making a moat so it was pretty cool to see what they had done in about an hour’s time. I should’ve taken pictures of that, but I didn’t want to intrude on their work.
Once I noticed the sculptures that were being intricately carved out of the sand, it was hard not to watch them wet, pack and then mold the sand into the shape they wanted. Everyone had a job – you could tell this wasn’t their first rodeo.
Not long after I started watching them, I watched Alex come barreling through the little sand sea that had been constructed with his boogie board tethered to his wrist. Behind me were Alex’s parents. How do I know they were Alex’s parents? Because when Alex ran through the group of turtles, they yelled out at him to stop.
At first I thought it was an innocent mistake. Alex was probably about 8 or 9 and was only running up to his parents and didn’t notice what was underfoot. But then I noticed that Alex didn’t actually step on any of the turtles, he jumped over them and pulled his board over their sandy shells. OK, I thought – no real harm done. He stopped the minute he made it through the sculptures and turned around. He pulled his boogie board behind him and took off running through the turtles again! Alex’s parents again started yelling at him to stop destroying the turtles, but by this time he was already working his way back for his third run, this time ensuring the edge of his board severed one of the turtle’s heads.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing for that matter. I turned around at that point and glared at Alex’s parents. The only thought running through my head was get off your fat ass and get control of that little asshole you call Alex! I was just about to say something when one of the kids of the family making these sculptures yelled at him to stop. She too was probably only 8 or 9, but she knew right from wrong and what Alex was doing to her work was clearly wrong.
Alex did stop destroying the sculptures at that point, but stood right next to the area and looked like he was going to take off again at any second. I didn’t understood why the little girl’s father didn’t say something. Maybe he didn’t care because the tide was going to wash away their work anyway. Or possibly he was a religious man and thought killing a child on Easter Sunday would be a bad omen. Whatever his reason, he had much more restraint than I could ever dream of having.
The next time I encounter an “Alex”, I’ll try to show the same patience as the father demonstrated today, but I’m not going to make any promises.
10:02 