A better day at the beach

I'm going to be honest, yesterday was a pretty sucky day here at the beach for me. And I ended up just so sad that it was a bad day. The beach is my favorite place to be, but I was having a lousy time. It was just so wrong to be in a funk, but there I was, a little black rain cloud hovering over the house.

Mostly it was because of my kids. Campbell decided yesterday morning that he just didn't like the beach - not one little bit. He spent most of the time we were down there clinging to me and whining. Lily was just exhausted, so she spent most of the morning crying over every little thing - putting on sunblock, hot sand, waves, salt water. You name it, she cried about it. So after an hour, I gave up and trudged back to the house, lugging Campbell and dragging Lily, who protested the whole way that she was NOT tired. I hosed them off and settled Lily in her bed with Bitty-Baby and Baby Maggie Eudora and told her I'd put on a movie after I fed Campbell his lunch. Of course, by the time I was finished bathing Campbell and feeding him, Lily was sound asleep.

Lily woke up a new child after her three-hour nap, but Campbell was still miserable. We spent an hour at the beach in the afternoon before I gave up again and headed back to the house. Once we were cleaned up, I took him to the store to buy baby tylenol since I suspected his teeth were bothering him and stuff for dinner. Then we went back to the house where I cleaned up the kitchen and swept the floor, grumbling about how I was doing the same thing I'd be doing at home, just with a different view.

I was not in a good mood by the time everyone arrived for the group dinner, and B's pouring a drink down my throat didn't really help. I sat in the corner and glowered before finally going to bed.

But I woke up this morning feeling so much better about the universe. I dropped Campbell on B at 8:00 so I could go running, and I actually had a decent run. Campbell was a much happier baby and actually loved the beach today. He spent an hour in the shade moving seashells from one bucket to another and back again. When I took him down to the water, he happily crawled around in the shallows and splashing in the waves. Everyone took a good rest time and we had a great afternoon at the beach. It was a wonderful way to finish up our time here.

So now we pack and round up towels and bathing suits and books and head for home tomorrow, back to real life and work and school - Ella starts first grade on Monday. It doesn't seem possible.