Lazy young Ingrid McLean,
Had a house she could never keep clean.
She would scrub on her knees,
Just as hard as you please,
But only once in the year was this seen.
It’s a beautiful Friday morning and Owen is home for the day because school is out. I had hoped to take my boys somewhere special but I think it would be best to stay close to home today and get some cleaning done. There are a couple of weekend activities that I am looking forward to and I don’t want to have to scramble about with last minute clean up before people arrive at our house.
One of the things I was considering was a trip to the beach. Not a long trip to a real beach at the coast, but a lakeside beach in the area. Owen and Ivan have been asking to go to the beach for the past couple of weeks and I have explained that we don’t have any beaches around here but they keep asking anyway. I will definitely have to take them when we go to FL next time or even MI if it’s in the summer. They really just want to play in the sand which is precisely what I HATE about beaches but I am willing to overlook my disdain in order to give them a fun experience at least once.
I found a couple spots on local lakes where we could go and I was all set yesterday to make it happen. However, other than the cleaning aspect I am a little leery of going somewhere like that with the kids by myself without having checked it out first. I think Kris and I should make a run out to the place without them sometime and see if it’s the kind of place they can be free to run around. The beaches are somewhat remote and I’m afraid they might be dirty or unkept. Sand is bad enough…gross sand is scary.
A little story from the middle of the night. I’m dead asleep and I hear what sounds just like one of my kids crying hysterically outside the door leading to the back porch from our bedroom. I mean…it sounded just like Owen. My first thought was that he was sleepwalking and found himself out on the porch in the dark, got disoriented and tried to get back in from the wrong door (there are two doors leading to the porch, one from the kitchen and one from our bedroom). I knew it had to be one of the boys and I couldn’t quite make heads or tails of where the sound was coming from. Was there really a child outside on the porch at 3 in the morning? I headed toward the hall, then turned toward the porch, the hall again…then woke up a bit more and confirmed that yes, the sound was definitely outside and it probably wasn’t my boys at all. It was cats. I cracked the door and scared the two lovers off, but they continued just beyond the steps of the porch. I grabbed a broom and chased them off further. I hate cats. I know some of you are cat lovers and I am sorry to be so mean. I just get cold chills when I hear that sound…you know what I’m talking about. They sound just like babies. Ick. It gives me the heeby jeebies. I do like kittens…they should just be prohibited from becoming cats that’s all.
Yippee, we are going to the beach next spring! I really wanted to take the boys last April but we just didn’t have the time or energy. We will do it this year!
Cats can be great, but I know what you mean about that crying. The first time I heard it in the middle of the night, i was sure that a baby was outside screaming!
What about a little water park? There isn’t usually sand at them, but it’s a great time for little ones. They may forget about the beach altogether after a day playing in the kiddie area!
I’m not sure why it is but in my experience every time I’ve gone to a lake beach the crowd there is, well, maybe a little scary. The same goes for springs. All my experience is in FL so maybe it’s different here.
Amy – yes, I’ve had some experiences like that myself. The lakes I grew up at (most of them didn’t have beach areas…just grass and a dock) but the ones that did were often “scary” and crowded. The few that were nice were more private and secluded. Which is what made me think twice about just going without checking first.
I’m glad you’re going to put up with the sand so the boys can have a little fun in it 🙂 Hope to see some pictures!
I’m with you on the cats thing. Our neighborhood is overrun with them. We’ve gotten sadly accustomed to the sound. Bleah.