Because of all the entertainment it provides, people watching is one of my favorite parts of the summer season around here.
The beach and Boardwalk are, of course, the best spots for this sort of thing.
While on the beach recently, I couldn’t help but marvel over a nearby family.
The parents literally never left their chairs the entire day. I’m not sure if I was envious or appalled. The answer is probably a bit of both. It’s such a foreign concept to me that it kind of drove me crazy.
The kids in that family were about the same age as our boys, but that’s where the similarities stopped. Where our boys want and demand attention throughout the day, probably more than they should, this boy and girl did their own thing for hours. They were happily entertaining themselves in the ocean and digging in the sand. At one point, they even went and jump in the hotel pool without their parents and came back with a pizza for all of them to share.
Throughout the day, the parents were either sleeping or on their phones. Their kids were angels and seemed to be fine with how their day was going. Maybe that’s because they are used to that sort of thing.
After watching these folks sleep most of the day away in amazement, it became a running joke between Pam and me about what it would be like to go to the beach and nap. That’s just not in the cards with our boys, at least at this particular time.
I didn’t remember this at the time but Pam reminded me of the last time we napped on the beach after having a family.
The last time that happened was a couple years ago when we were in Virginia Beach for a concert. We took a two-day, one-night getaway for it.
We tried to do all the things we couldn’t or wouldn’t enjoy with our young boys. We then had an afternoon free to spend on the beach. We were looking forward to spending a day without our beach caddy and all the requisite gear required for a beach day with kids. I remember thinking how wonderful it was to just relax and enjoy the day without having to worry about kids going too far into the ocean, throwing sand or wandering off.
It turns out within 20 minutes or so of thinking about that both of us were asleep on the beach enjoying a great siesta.
“Am I a well-rounded kid?”
That was a question out of leftfield from our 8-year-old Beckett one day while we were driving.
Without asking why, I immediately said, “yes.” He then asked what it meant, so I went on to explain it, touting his many attributes as a person and his many passions.
As I was listing things he was good at, he interrupted me (which he does quite often), pointing out that he’s not well-rounded at all because he’s terrible at art.
While trying to tell him he could get better at art by practicing, he interjected, “No, I’m good with being well rounded with an asterisk being art.”
I don’t know how he comes up with these things, but I’m sure glad he does. It makes life quite entertaining.
The cool nighttime temperatures have done a number on our pool.
Just as Carson was jumping in one afternoon this week, I thought about how the water temperature might have dropped since it was in the 50s overnight (already). Since he sprinted right into a cannonball, I never got a chance to remind him.
I fully expected him to come up in shock over the chilly water. It didn’t seem to bother him one bit. I asked him if it was cold and he shook his head no, so I figured all was good.
It turned out he was playing me. When I came up out of the water screaming like Clark Griswold in the first “Vacation” movie, Carson was laughing hysterically.
He tried the same ploy on his big brother, who didn’t fall for it. He knew it was cold and still cannonballed anyway. It seems the colder the better for him.
Summer is indeed winding down, although I’m in denial in a big way.
I really liked last week’s front page featuring a surfer and a boy in the ocean during Surfers Healing. So much so I made it my wallpaper on my phone.
Beckett was quick to pick up on the change. As soon as he saw it, he said, “Dad, if this is Carson, I’m going to be really upset and jealous.” I let him know that it wasn’t while diving into that issue a little bit.
Later, within a few minutes, he saw a photo of Carson in the newspaper and the ugly green monster again surfaced.
It was at that point that any guilt was erased about our decision to let him go on to soccer camp instead of bringing him to Surfers Healing with us last week. It would have been a struggle for him to let his brother have “one special day.”
It’s okay. He’s 8 years old, but there’s always next year.
