First Visit to the Beach
For weeks we've been telling the children that when in Florida we'd visit the beach and collect shark teeth. Within an hour of arriving at urompa's house Bentley started hounding us to take him to the beach.
That afternoon we did. The beach trip did not meet his expectations. It was windy. It was cold. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and wanted his coat and jeans. It was sandy.
Bentley does not like sand. His father does not like sand. His grandpa Tim does not like sand. I had hoped he'd overcome his hang up. He's young. He can make better choices! It sure didn't happen on this trip to the beach.
He spent most of our short time at the beach demanding to leave NOW. For a few minutes he did forget his objections and looked for a shark tooth, but as soon as he found one (or what he thought was one), he was demanding to leave again.
Viva loved the beach. She walked in the surf and got her feet wet. She dug through the wet sand and collected shell fragments. She climbed on the rocks and between the rocks. She thoroughly enjoyed our time at the beach.
Jake was ambivalent. Bentley's poor attitude rubbed off on him somewhat, but Viva's obvious enjoyment was hard to overlook. Jake collected a few shells and looked for shark teeth, but he was eager to leave.
We'll be returning to the beach again, but I'm not too optimistic that B's attitude will change. Beaches tend to be windy and sandy and wet. Even if there is no wind, there will be sand and water. Such a shame. Beachcombing is a lot of fun. I collected a couple of shark teeth, a piece of beach glass (score!), two small sections of coral, and some nice shells. I loved our visit to the beach. Maybe I and Viva will return there on our own and leave the wimpy boys home.
Second Visit to the Beach
The day after our awful (in B's opinion) visit to the beach, we dragged the trio back. And I do mean dragged. Bentley's attitude had not only rubbed off on Jake, but Viva joined the party poopers. When I asked her if she wanted to visit the beach again, she said "No, I don't like sand." Grrr! I wanted to gnaw on that Bentley.
Instead we dragged them against their wishes back to the beach. The boys put on socks so they could keep their precious little feet safe from the sand. We took their jeans and coats, so they could be protected from the cold. On the trip over I gave Bentley a lecture on being a party pooper. Jake was so impressed with my lecture that he wanted me to continue on with my example story. I think I got through to all three of them, although B's follow up query didn't really reflect that.
Bentley asked me how long we had to stay at the beach. He thought ten minutes was long enough. I told him that as many minutes as I got at the beach would be as many minutes as he got in the urompa's pool when we returned back to their house. That shut him up.
We got to the beach and B decided he didn't need his jeans or coat. We walked down to the surf and the children played with the shovels and buckets the urompas had sent along. There were a number of shark teeth collectors on the beach with their little wire cages used to collect shells and teeth from out in the water. I stopped and talked to them. They advised that we try to find teeth in the receding surf or in the tidal pools in the rocks.
I called Bentley over and told him what I had learned. His response? "Can I take my socks off and walk in the water?" SERIOUSLY? He took his socks off and Jake followed suit and they played in the surf, collected shark teeth, and had a great time. Until that is a big wave knocked Jake and Viva over. The twins were both quite unhappy with the experience. Jake swallowed a mouthful of gulf water. He said it tasted awful. They got over the trauma and kept playing although they started getting cold from their wet clothing.
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