The 4th at the Beach

The Boys

    The 4th of July was a day packed full of activity beginning with an early morning surprise trip to the beach.  I woke each kid by whispering, "do you wanna go to the beach today?" Each one shot up with a "Yeah!"
     It was crowded, hot and wonderful.  With the exception of our cars getting stuck in the sand, along with every other car that drove by, everything went as planned, down to the restaurant on the beach where I got my mandatory chips and salsa, and Kenny happily ate a cheap crawfish plate. The kids even scored with the biggest popsicle ever.
   We went to Surfside with two other families, both families with a set of girls.  Count my two girls and that's a lot of giggling and screaming.  Poor Elijah, he was the only boy of the group and with two sisters, he is often the only boy of the group. His usual response is a whiny, "Moooommmmm, I'm the onnnlllyyy boy.  Why can't I bring a friend?" But not this time.  The beach doesn't cater to one gender over the other, so he happily dug holes with the girls, jumped waves with his dad, spotted a dolphin (which for a few fretful minutes we thought was a shark), and hung out with the adults and little 1-year-old Addie in the tent without complaint. 
    While I don't necessarily love sand in my shoes, or my car, the beach really was a perfect place for all us, both for my silly girls and my lone boy.  We could have walked across the street to the chlorinated pool, but there is something more celebratory, more 4th of Julyish about driving to the shore, digging in the sand, jumping in the salty water, and being with friends.