Day started off good. thePinkDiva was up at 7am, and did her math. She aced her Cumulative review of Chapters 1 -3!!! I mean aced it! Awesome!!! Next week we start learning how to write our numbers… oooo! Should be fun. Then the kids helped me get us ready for the beach. During the drive, we discussed the 2 rules of the beach. #1 – do not go in the ocean without mommy. #2 – Come to mommy right away when she calls.
Took us about 45 minutes to get there… the beach is great, and is sooo the place to hang out next summer. We set out blanket out… and really, I’m not sure why I brought it… I think it was to catch sand, because once GeekBoy saw the waves he about did a backflip begging to go in. and Lil’Chicano, of course, wanted to follow… so down to the water we went. And that was about all the action the blanket saw the rest of the two hours we were there. The next two hours were spent shouting instructions to GeekBoy, and teaching him to never ever turn his back on the sea. (something my Uncle taught me the first summer I visited his beach house and knocked over by a wave.) Then helping thePinkDiva over her intial fear of the water… she was cool with it till one wave surprised her and knocked her over… after that she mostly played tag with the waves – because another little girl introduced her to the game while I was busy corralling Lil’Chicano…
The boy has no fear. None. He ran straight into the water at full steam and did not care that it would knock him back. I had to stick to him like white on rice because he literally did not stop. So I spent most of the time helping him jump the waves. Toward the end, my arms got really sore, and I convinced him to play tag with the waves with his sister. But I had to watch him super close.
Finally, after the group photo, I talked the kids into leaving to get burgers (since it was 1pm and they hadn’t touched the sandwhiches, which had pretty much cooked in the sun)… so we left… On the way out, I said goodbye to P. – the leader, and C. – the woman who organized the trip (she has like 7 kids now and has homeschooled all of them!) C. informed I had the “most spectacular bucket catch” she had ever seen.
See… early on, The kids had taken their buckets down to the water to gather water to wet sand to build a sandcastle (they never did really, but whatever)… GeekBoy had wandered about 3-5 yards down the beach… but he lost the bucket in the water. He tried to get it back, but the waves pulled it out of his reach. I saw it just as the waves snatched away from him… I grabbed Lil’Chicano and thePinkDiva out of the waves, and stood them up, out of the reach of the water, and told them, “Don’t Move.” tPD grabbed Lil’Chicano’s hand and held on. (Sometimes the “Mommy” in her works to my advantage.) GeekBoy was running back to get me and I hollered for him to stand with his brother… then I sprinted down the beach (good thing the wet sand is packed well) and jumped into the water just in time to grab the bucket before it got swept too far out. Then dumped the water and sprinted back, just in case Lil’Chicano broke loose and headed for the sea again. But I need not worry. The kids were awesome and stood right where I told them and didn’t move. How totally awesome!
I can not stress enough that it was only possible because we have taught these kids to OBEY. If I had known that they would not stay where I put them, I would have had to chalk it up as an Oh well! and lose the bucket to the sea. As it was, I am still unsure about the little guy. He obeys very well, I wasn’t worried that he wouldn’t stay put. But I was concerned that excitement over the ocean and the waves would take over and he wouldn’t stay put long.
Then we left, got some burgers, and went home to wash the sand off. The little guy wasn’t too bad, cuz I had to dust him off to get a diaper on him before we left the beach. thePinkDiva wasn’t so bad either, seeing how she pretty much stayed out of the water. But GeekBoy. I swear, GeekBoy’s suit looked like he had crapped sand. Ick. He was sooo full of sand, it must have been a painful ride home!
All in all. It was great fun. I have a few pictures.. but it’s late. I’ll have to dl them tomorrow.