Sandy

Today, around 10am, Alex said "Whoooo's ready to go to the beach?"

No one said anything. My kids hadn't eaten the chorizo and eggs I made them for breakfast, but they did eat some cookies and milk, so I was making them fideos so they could eat something with a tad more nutrients. I had tons of laundry to do. Effie had already done dishes for an hour this morning. (BTW - She's quite good. I've been meaning to tell you all, but she really washes. She's fascinated with the scrubber and wasting dish soap and to top it all off - I caught her using a knife to scrape some caked-on grilled cheese off of a frying pan. I cried a tear)

Anyhow, 2 hours later, the kids watched an hour and a half of The Three Caballeros, while I:

Fed them the sopita.
Cleaned up 40% of the kitchen.
Made the bed.
Put in a load of laundry.
Got dressed.
Changed Celia from pajamas to hula gear.
Changed Effie's diaper twice.
Brushed their teeth.
Brushed my teeth.
Borrowed Mayo from the neighbor.
Made 2 chicken salad sandwiches.
Made 2 pbj sandwiches.
Packed juices.
Packed bananas.
Packed extra clothes, towels, and other stuff.
Made a vegetable/chicken soup for dinner.
Changed Celia from the hula gear to a fancy dress with a sash and rainboots.
Changed Effie from her nude self to day clothes.

Some other stuff happened, like Celia very seriously trying to learn Veracruz style Mexican folk dancing - thanks to Donald Duck, and Effie hiding inside the sofa cushions, but we made it outta the house around 12:30 and got to the beach in no time. We ate our sandwiches in the car.

When Alex says "the beach" I get a little nervous.

Well, when an outing involves SAND, lots more Sand, and Sand stuck in butt crevices. I tend to want to stay home. But I didn't say a thing and just went with the flow. Cuz I Do LOVE the beach - but with babies it can be interesting.

We got to the beach and it was rainy. I didn't say a thing.

As we walked to the beach as we passed a lovely creek with ducks, and Celia said in her over exaggerated, coy princess voice - (if you know her you know what I'm talking about)

" OOhhhh Mother!!!! Thank you SOOOO much for bringing me to the beach!!! I just Loooove walking in the dirt with my rainboots!"

The other day when we were trick-or-treating she said in front of some family -
"Ohhhhh Mother! Look at the Beeeeauuutiful stars in the sky! Aren't they LOVELY!?"

(I just shrugged and said I had nothing to do with such behavior)

Anyhow, all my fears of sand were put aside, and I just enjoyed each (as corny as it may sound) magical parent moment - even when:

Effie ate shit in the sand and a wave crashed over her head.
Effie got stuck in a big hole.
Effie got lots of sand in her eyeballs.
Effie got lots of sand in her mouth.
Effie made crunchy noises cuz sand was in her teeth.
Celia freaked out cuz she got her hair wet.
i had to clean sand out of 2 different butts.
And when I watched my car that I just washed for the first time in months get covered with SAND.

It was awesome. Thanks Alex.