My Own Personal Hell....or.....A Day at the Beach

We had a wonderful day yesterday at a local State Park. Clean beach, warm sand, rocks, bluffs to hike (not me), towels, sand toys, sand castles, water play. Wonderful.

The kids had a great time, especially the little ones. They played in the water, made sand castles, stomped castles, buried my feet in the sand, swam with Dad and sisters, and played with sticks. You'd have thought it was magic how much fun they were having.

The big kids swam and then hiked the bluffs. The girls giggled at boys (ew!) and the boys adventurously swam as far away as they thought they could without us yelling. Still, I did. They went a little too far.

Have I ever mentioned before that I *hate* sand?? With a true passion. I hate the sandy gritty feeling on my skin. I hate how it sticks to everything wet. I hate that it gets in everything, clothes, food, drinks. I hate how dirty it is. I hate that there are sticks and rocks in it.

I also hate lake water. I will admit, this is the cleanest lake I think in the state. Very pretty and pretty clear. No motors are allowed in this lake. However, there is still sand, and dirt, and kelp (EWWW!!) and all other amounts of gross things (like minnows swimming at your feet, ew!) to make it still, just, ew.

I am really not much of an outdoorsy person. Really. For my family, and the happiness and satisfaction they get from it, I will sacrifice my better judgement and endure the hell that is the beach. (Ew.)

I finally decided after about 10 minutes of trying to avoid the yuck yesterday to just embrace the grossness of it all. I sat my but down in the edge of the water and tried to keep rinsing all the debris that would stick to my legs when the waves came in off. It was a fruitless attempt.

I decided to start building with the sand toys. Flower had lots of fun stomping down my creations. Then, when my feet got hot, I had the kids bury them in the sand. That was pretty nice. Of course, then they felt really sandy and yucky.

All in all though, completely worth it. The smiles on my children's' faces were priceless. I didn't get any pictures because we left the camera in the car. But it was a great day.

Now I am worn out and resting.

I hope you enjoy your weekend, too.