Some numbers to deter you you need to know should you ever desire to head to the beach with four children and two adults. (You may find it helpful to begin humming The Twelve Days of Christmas at this point.)
1 very large beach bag filled with . . .
- 25 or so sand buckets, shovels, sand molds (in the shape of Sesame Street characters and sandcastles), a set of floating spongy toys, 3 pairs of goggles, and 1 set of water wings.
2 beach chairs with attached foot rests (why the footrests were important I cannot say as my feet only rested on them one time).
1 small backpack containing:
- 2 cell phones ( I don't know if we thought we'd get a call on the beach or if I felt it necessary to be prepared to call in reinforcements if the need arose!
- Really, I wanted to call my sisters and gloat, "Oh, I'm sitting in my beach chair with my feet up, reading my books while the children are participating in a sand sculpture contest and My Man has just arrived with Ben & Jerry's to enjoy on the beach...What are you doing?" None of which really happened, especially the reading of the books and the ice cream...but wouldn't it have been tooo wonderful...)
- 3 books (Max Lucado's Fearless; Julie Powell's Julie & Julia, also a recent movie; and Something Missing by Matthew Dicks)
- 4 regular diapers, 2 swimming diapers, 1 mini bottle of baby powder (for sand removal--works great!), a pack of baby wipes, and two pacifiers.
- 1 camera
- 1 bottle of sunscreen for re-application
- 1 wallet
1 umberella stroller
6 huge beach towels
1 bag filled with numerous baggies of pretzels, cookies, crackers
2 boogie boards
1 blow up baby "boat"
4 "cover ups" to cover swim suits en route
1 lime green cooler filled with:
- 8 sandwhiches
- 1 lunchable
- 7 cans of soda/pop
- 2 juice cups
- 1 banana
6 pre-sunscreened bodies ready for a day at the beach
1 blue and white beach umbrella and its anchor
1 beach blanket (for napping children--ha!)
120 minutes spent on the beach (and a partridge in a pear tree).
