Weekend Wrap-up: Back to the Beach

Summer is finally here! The Lady's last day of school was Friday and the Little Lady had her last day of camp. I was able to pick up the Little Lady, get the Lady off the bus, take both ladies to the nail salon and get everything organized for the weekend.



I can't, this kid is just too cute!



I would like to say that we had a lovely meal out on Friday with the kids, sitting al fresco on the sidewalk, enjoying the sweet summer air to celebrate the solstice, but then I would be totally lying. It was, per usual, a mess of bathroom breaks and trying to corral QT. As my husband said "remind me to never do this again anytime soon." Oh well, we tried.



A very pensive Little Lady post-afternoon pass out.



The next morning, I got up early, met up with two amazing ladies and ran a 5k. I wasn't fast, but I wasn't last. It was a step in the right direction and I am so glad that I did it.

My husband meanwhile, put the kids in the car in pj's and headed up to the beach. Next time I will remember to give him the keys to the house as well as the code to the garage. And whoever moved the compressor to fill up the pool from its spot in the garage is in trouble, not only because my hubby had to fill it with the hand pump but because I had to hear about it.

As always there were a ton of cousins to hang out with and since my husband had to drive back home that night to fly out the next morning we had a little sleepover.

This sleepover wasn't as bad as the Hunger Games themed one last summer, but they kids did go to bed super late, QT slept with me and rolled out of the bed in the middle of the night, and the Lady showed up at my bed at 6:15 in the morning, followed by her sister and the Big Guy. This may or may not have contributed to a few breakdowns throughout the morning by my children, but it didn't stop us from getting to the beach. 



The big guy



I thought that by having the ladies carry their own chairs that I would have enough hands to carry everything else. This was not the case. I will not forget my beach cart next time. 

Know what else I had to carry? I am sure you all know the answer to this. Could it have been a newly turned 2-year-old who about 10 feet from the boardwalk realized he was at the beach and started walking in the other directions crying "I no want to go"?  Oh QT. Buddy, this is your third summer at the beach. Don't start it off this way. Don't do it.





The Lady. Look, I didn't think it was a string bikini when I picked this up from Old Navy and by the time I realized it, she had already removed the tags and was modeling in it. I am in some trouble with this one.



So, I left some stuff at the top of the beach, transported QT, who was suction cupped to my side, plopped him in a chair and got the rest of the things I needed. Since the kids were immediately in the water, I moved my chair closer to the water, put QT down with a truck in the sand and hoped for the best. That lasted about 7 minutes. I then had to cradle him in my arms while he whined about wanting milk (not going to happen) and his blankies (probably should have brought at least one of them down with me) until he fell asleep and I could put him under the umbrella where he slept soundly for about two hours. When he woke up, he would only walk on the towels and sit with his feet up in his chair. He did allow me to carry him to the water's edge but did not let me put him down. One good thing is that at the end of the day we took everyone to the sprinkler park at the beach and he warmed up to that pretty quickly. It is going to be a long summer if this kid can't even put one foot in the sand!



Because there is nothing better than being 2 and hanging in the pool.



I was just happy to have a full day down at the beach. That definitely hadn't happened since QT was born and to see how excited the ladies were to play and splash at the beach it totally worth having to carry a 26 pound kid on your hip for a couple hours.

QT is a cutie.

In addition to bringing the beach cart next time, I will also remember to reapply the sunscreen. At 10 a.m. when I was letting the Little Lady try to apply spray sunscreen to my legs with a button she could barley push with her tiny little hands, my cousin said that perhaps I should redo those pale, white legs when we got down to the beach. Know what never happened? That is right. Not only do I have a sunburn on my legs, it is in the worst pattern imaginable. Think of scribbles a three and a half year old might draw on a piece of paper and apply it to my legs. Total JV move. It won't happen again.

The best part was last night as I was trying not to let any blanket touch my burning legs, and the Little Lady was once again by my side watching the Prisoner of Azkaban because she was still awake after passing out for a full hour from 6:15-7:15 on the ride home from the beach, I complained about my legs bothering me. She said "but mommy didn't I do a good job putting on your sunscreen"? Always on my game, I turned those burnt legs into a teaching moment about reapplying sunscreen. I will also not be able to wear a skirt or dress to work at all this week. 



This is what 9:45 p.m. looks like at the beach house. 6:15 a.m. wasn't so adorable.



I will say that my kids slept over an hour later this morning than they did yesterday and I am totally looking forward to our next beach day. I am thinking about getting a covered wagon for QT so I can just pull him on the beach and leave him in there with some trucks, it is either that or start wearing him Bjorn-style again.

Wish me luck this summer. . .