Labor Day Beach Trip
I'm coming to understand that I'm a man who is unduly influenced by his own inertia. If I'm doing something, I don’t want to stop. If I’m not doing anything, I don’t want to start. This can be helpful if I’m in the middle of getting something important done. It’s not such a good thing when it comes to getting off my butt and taking my children places.
Mostly I like to stay at home and watch movies.
My friend Tim likes to do things. He actually makes elaborate family plans and then goes ahead and does them. I so admire people like Tim. Sunday he said, "Hey, I'm taking my kids to Padre Island on Labor Day. You should come with us."
Why is it that my first reaction to this kind of thing is always to say, "No, we’ve got a lot to do?" I say this while I try to think of things I might need to do. I have no explanation for why I am like this. It’s not like I had a lot planned for Labor Day. Okay, I didn’t have anything planned for Labor Day, but I didn’t want to go to the trouble of hauling the kids to the beach.
I couldn’t think fast enough to come up with even a lame excuse, so I told him we would go. Normally this isn’t any big deal because I can always call later and cancel after I think of a good reason. In this case I made the additional mistake of mentioning the beach trip to Reiley, my fifteen-year-old, who immediately cheered and told the other girls that their dad was finally going to get off his ass and take them somewhere, and not just somewhere but somewhere cool for a change.
Side note: She didn't say, "Ass," but that's kind of how she meant it.
There really wasn’t any way for me to get out of it after that, though I continued to try to think of something up until the moment I had to start the car.
So yesterday Tim and I drove the six children we have between us to Padre Island National Seashore. This is not “South Padre Island,” famous for its tourism and Spring Break crowd. This is a separate barrier island, left undeveloped and managed by the U.S. National Park Service.
Jeanene had to work, so I was on my own. Not good. These are the things I remembered:
These are the things I forgot:
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Three towels aren’t enough for four people
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My folding chair in a bag that is perfect for the beach
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A blanket or something to lay on the sand
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Lunch
I manged to buy sandwhiches from a convenience store, plus two cans of Vienna Sausages and some Oreos. Everything sucked except the Oreos.
I also forgot to double-check to see if Lillian had done a good job of putting sunscreen on her face. She had swiped her hand across each cheek under her glasses, but totally neglected her nose and the area under her eyes. Her mother would never have made that mistake. By the time I noticed Lillian's face getting red, it was too late. Bad sunburn. She looks like a sad little racoon this morning. Poor baby. What kind of father let's a seven-year-old run around on the beach without proper protection, I ask you?
But in spite of all that, a good time was had by all, as they say, and I was glad that Tim got me up and out of the house.
I would like to share a nice picture with you, but I have a policy against posting pictures of my daughters in their swimsuits online. This is one policy the older two agree with. I think they deserve their privacy. Same with Tim's two daughters. Here is a picture with the girls cut out so they won't yell at me.
I do not know why my mouth is open or why Lillian decided at the last minute to put her beach towel on her head.
rlp & bits of the three sisters - Labor Day 2004
I do have a great picture of Jacob, Tim’s son. He’s little and Tim doesn’t care if I put a picture of him online in his swimsuit.
Jacob - Labor Day 2004
It's something of a monkey pose, but then Jacob is something of a monkey!
Oh, I wrote a couple of stories about Tim and Jacob sometime last year, only back then I was trying to be anonymous so I changed their names to Tom and Joseph. You can read those here and here, if you want. Oh yeah, Jacob is also mentioned in this story.
rlp
11:09:45 AM 
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