Sunday, September 23, 2012

A Car & A Day at the Beach

 Zay wanted to make a car from a box. Jerel got a marker and drew a steering wheel on it.  Not bad, but someone with my breadth of Pinterest experience had a few more ideas.  Paper plates became the steering wheel and the tires, an empty toilet paper roll became the exhaust pipe, a cereal box was turned into a license plate, and two clear plastic cups were painted yellow for headlights.  He played with it for a few days and then tore it up.  Here he is, car parked in the kitchen, pretending to be asleep but letting a little bit of smile slip out!
 
A few weeks ago I decided to surprise the kids with a trip to the beach.  I told them in the morning that I was going to take them somewhere special.  I snuck and put all their beach toys in the car, and since they only have like two beach toys I also snuck in any regular toys that could be fun at the beach.  We stopped at the library on the way and the librarian pulled a bunch of picture books about the beach for me. I kept giving them to Zay and he'd tell me what they were about but he still hadn't caught on.
About halfway there he figured it out and was super excited!

Here's Eliza demonstrating what happens if you cry with sand all over your face.  She's at an awkward age, not having grown enough to ride Isaiah's bike yet, and not having one of her own.  A downside to having two kids so close:  Zay is not yet big enough for the next size up but Eliza is ready for his bike.  Soon enough the weather will turn yucky and by next summer he'll get a new one and she'll get his balance bike.  In the mean time she cries and cries until I finally wear down enough to put her on his bike and push her around in circles.
They had a good time.  It was in the 90's at home and I checked the forecast before leaving and for the town we went to it was supposed to be in the low 80's.  It actually didn't even get up to 70, so it was yet another cold day at the beach.  In all my secret packing I forgot their jackets so they ended up wearing two sets of clothes at once to keep warm.
Just when I was starting to think the kids would never want to go back home, I noticed the tide was coming in a bit and mentioned that if it came up too high it would get us all wet. Zay was already wet up to his waist from splashing in the water, but for some reason this terrified him. He ran over and starting pounding on the car door begging me to let him in so he wouldn't get wet.  I guess he doesn't understand that the timing of a tide coming in is not as quick as a tsunami coming in.  The poor kid was in a panic while I packed everything up!

On the way home, Zay told his exhausted mother he would rather have gone to the splash pad (3 miles from our house).  I am continually reminded that just because I think something will be enormously fun for my kids doesn't mean they'll actually enjoy it!

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