Who Said Mondays Are Bad?

Monday, August 1st

This morning it was Little Man's turn to pick from "The Jar".  He pulled out, "Hunt for sand glass".  This was something we did before, spontaneously at the beach with the family.  Chris loves this...we do it all the time when we are at the beach for family cookouts.  We have never just gone during the week.  So, he was pumped....Lauren, not so much.  I am not sure what this is about and even after some heart-to-heart conversations, I am still as unclear.  She said she wanted to go see Nana (my mom) at work (she owns her own wellness center) while we went to the beach.  At this point, I am not about forcing her to participate.  That has proven to make all of us miserable and since suffering is optional.....
I did tell her that I felt sad, and that I feel that it is not so much about the activity as it is about us, as a family, spending time together.  I let her know I felt like she was telling us that she did not want to spend time with us.  She said, she does, just not doing that...
So, we drop her off with Nana.  Nana then asks if Lauren can go with her to babysit my nieces tonight.  My brother and his wife are going out to dinner for their anniversary.  Lauren ADORES her baby cousins, so she was thrilled! 
Chris and I headed to the beach, and it was great!  It had just stormed, so no one was there (it is a private beach anyway...).  We started at one end, walked to the other end, slowly searching out the best pieces of sand glass.  Because it has just stormed, the waves were kind of big.  At one point, we both had our back to the water, and a huge, rogue wave came up and crashed over us! I screamed and Christopher laughed!  Normally, I would be worried about what my hair looked like! (really)  I chose not to care....it was hilarious and we were both soaked!  We spent about an hour looking and even took a break to skip rocks.
Chris wanted to leave and go get dinner.  His place of choice RRRRRRED Robin!  And, bonus....Papa (my step-dad) joined us for a fun filled, yummy dinner.  (Damn the bottomless basket of fries!!)
When we arrived home, Chris asked me if he could play with our neighbor, Evan.  So, as usual he takes off on his bike and asks Evan to play.  E and his dad come out, and the boys ask him to play baseball with them....him verse them.  Now, normally, I would take this as a time to "run" home and get some things done around the house.  I fought the urge, and instead offered to play with them...grown ups vs. kids.  I have not swung a bat since I was forced to play softball as a kid.  Yes, I said forced.  I am not a fan of any sport that has a ball flying directly at me!  Nonetheless, I stepped up to the plate, literally, and joined in. 
Next Evan's older sister came out and joined in and then Evan's mom.  Grown-ups vs. kids....It was fun!  I was hitting the ball better and farther than Evan's dad! I even slid to 1st base to tag Kaitlyn out!
The kids started melting-down one-by-one, so they got to top the night off with popsicles and capri-suns! 
Whoever said Mondays suck....they should come visit us for an afternoon!