Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Another Day at the Beach

Larry and I, in one of those lapses of sound judgment for which we are reknowned (can't remember how to spell that), decided to take the kids on another day trip to the beach. I even dragged myself out of bed at 6:30 to ensure an early start, which was very difficult, as I am still trying (after 4 months) to acclimate myself to Daylight Savings Time. Anyway, we actually had the car loaded with all our gear (no mean feat) and everyone had just gotten buckled in and Larry was just about to sit himself in the driver's seat when Brian announced that his stomach felt funny. Being seasoned parents, we took him inside and told him to hurry up and vomit, because we had to get going. Boy, is that kid going to have a lot to tell his therapist someday. 20 minutes and no puke later, we deposited him back in the car with his very own plastic bag to vomit into, if necessary. And we refused to feed him. So he arrived at the beach a very traumatized little kid. And Larry and I had a not-so-relaxing ride ourselves, listening to him whimper and waiting for him to blow, so to speak. But he didn't.

It just occurred to me that I have reset my theoretical vomit-counter-widget back to zero again. Darn.

We left Anna at home, because for some reason she had no desire to sit in a car with all of her detested siblings for 3 hours just to watch them frolic at the beach. Boy - you can just feel that love, can't you? We don't mind - that way we didn't have to take 2 vans. Though I think I will opt to take 2 vans next time anyway - Brian and Rachel and David bickered in the back seat most of the way home, to the point where I would have knocked all their heads together if I just could have reached them.

But it was fun - really. The weather was good, the beach wasn't too crowded, and I only spent about half the time worrying about rip tides. The other half I spent protecting Susie from some very hungry seagulls. One of them snatched a sandwich out of Theo's hand. I didn't even know that seagulls liked salami. As an added bonus, we were able to get some kite-flying in. To understand kite-flying in our family, you have to think back to Charlie Brown trying, year after sorry year, to kick that football without Lucy pulling it away from him at the last minute. Well, with Larry, this will be the year that we actually get the kite aloft for more than, say, 15 seconds. It wasn't, of course. Larry blames the kite. Luckily, the kids don't seem to notice this pattern and are always willing to give it another go. They are so sweet and trusting. Or stupid, maybe.

Now was that a nice thing to say about my own children? It's just that, sometimes, you just gotta wonder.

The ride home was blessedly uneventful, aside from the aforementioned constant bickering from the back row. And even that served its purpose - it made me glad to get home.

11 comments:

  1. Ahhh - I think you did well with the vomiter. We have one of those as well. I wouldn't have waited 20 minutes though. LOL. Just hand them some plastic grocery bags and take off. :)

    She's out growing it now - thank goodness! Because we travel all over the United States and those were some lonnnnnng drives. LOL.

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  2. Ah, see - you must be even more experienced than me. I'm learning, though.

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  3. My kids can't get in a car without constant bickering. I have found that dirty socks and duct tape work for long periods in the car though.

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  4. This was soooo funny! The vomit counter thing cracks me up, too. Also, you have a special place in my heart for spelling judgment correctly. I love that in a person.

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  5. I almost went to the National Spelling Bee, way back when you didn't have to be a spelling professional to make it. "Quixotic" got me, though. I've never quite gotten over it.

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  6. Nice move with the plastic bag. My son throws up on airplanes. Wanna go on a trip together?

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  7. Just think - every time your kid throws up in public, you're helping out the Zero Population Growth people by grossing out any childless individuals in sight.

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  8. So wouldn't it be a vom-meter?

    We drove to Cape Cod and because we brought my MIL (my idea - wtf?), we shoved both car seats next to each other to give her a window seat. As a result the boys were able to reach out and hit, kick, touch, stab each other rather than just the normal toy toss.

    On the way home, we moved the seats back to their normal window location - and I sat between them.

    Good times, good times. Next time, we strap someone to the roof.

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  9. Oh, thanks for the laugh. I love taking the kid with his vomit bag. My kids always have to throw up on Sunday morning ("I don't think I can go to church today...") and I tell them to eat breakfast and if they throw up before we have to leave they can stay home. It hasn't happened yet. :)

    Congrats on a fun trip to the beach, bickering and all...

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  10. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

    I thought I was the only one to wonder if my kids were stupid sometimes.

    I love blogs they make me feel like I'm not a complete failure as a mother....

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  11. ...or maybe it means that we are all complete failures....

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