We had a GREAT time, but I am red... LOBSTER red. I got so burned. I never used to burn, but I've been spending a lot of time indoors lately, and this was the first time I really got out into such bright sun. Plus, we had absolutely NO protection from the sun. We should have brought an umbrella or something, but we didn't have one. We do now! We went to Walmart this morning, and I located a lovely beach (and I'll be taking it to the park, too) umbrella for 17.00 so NOT bad! No more splurges this month though, none, nada. We also bought some aloe vera gel to put on our poor burned skin... I need to go do that as soon as I am finished with this entry. Kim and her neice Cecliy came with us, Syd got in BIG trouble for stealing money from us (silver certificates worth more than the dollar they show! And she used it for the ICE CREAM TRUCK! GRRRR!) This after she took all our quarters. She was just helping herself! So she didn't go with us. She stayed home, folded all the clothes, cleaned two closets out, and called Kim's phone some 8 or 9 times. I think we need to teach that girl some phone manners. Jane had also been invited, but couldn't come due to a lack of money. As it was, I spent the last of our cash on gas to get up to Santa Cruz. It was TOTALLY worth it though. Kim paid for parking, so we didn't have to worry about feeding any meters, that was 10 dollars. And, we only used a quarter of a tank to get there, though it was half a tank to get back... but 3/4 of a tank to get there and back isn't bad at all! Gas prices are going up though... hope they stabilize and we don't see 4 dollars a gallon again... ouch. We won't be going anywhere if that happens. We went up there to see some free shows, and ended up not seeing anything, we just spent our whole time either in the ocean or on the beach. Sammi (as usual) did NOT like the water... but she LOVED to play in the sand. I need sand toys for her, and Walmart had NONE... I'm thinking what is UP with that? I've been there multiple times over the past 2 months, and I keep looking for sand toys, and I don't find any. She loves to play in the sand, and all our sand toys are old and have holes in them. She could use them at the park, and we hope to go back to the beach, too, at least once a month. I brought lunch stuff, sandwich makings and potato salads and macaroni salad, and a waldorf salad that I was about the only one that liked it (guess I won't get that again! It was expensive! Thankfully, I only bought half a pound) and some boneless bbq wings. On the way back, Becca says to me "I don't think you should buy those bbq wings again." I asked "Why not?" She said "Because I didn't like them. Though everyone else did." Once again, the world revolves around Becca! We shouldn't get something because SHE didn't like it! Never mind the fact that all the side dishes were GONE by the time we left! Oh... we brought two bags of Cheetos, one regular, one giant hot cheetos, and the SEAGULLS OPENED the bags and helped themselves to them!!!! AGH! They literally took their talons (or whatever they are called) and clawed open the bags. The bags got full of sand, because of the birds, becasue Sammi would dig her hands through the sand and then get herself a Cheeto... we ended up throwing away both bags. Next time... no Cheetos. The cooler was HEAVY. It was Kim's dad's, and next time, I think we'll take our rolling cooler, but it needs to be thoroughly cleaned out first because my lovely children filled it with grass and stuff, and it molded. YUCK. Thank goodness for bleach... it'll clean it out good. Kim's was a nice size... it just got heavy carrying it with all the water and sodas and we even left water at the van, but really, no one wanted to go back and get it, so next time we'll want to cart it with us.
So we had a lot of fun, but we ended up leaving early. We had our choice of spots when we got there, but the girls put us far away from the ocean, and we didn't think about the fact that the sand was going to get burning hot, so we stayed there, when we should have moved closer. And of course, we were all getting burned, not enough sunscreen was applied (I totally forgot to apply it to my back when I put my swimsuit on!) We got there pretty early, like 10:30 a.m. and we left around 4, I believe... of course, this was when the sand was cooling off... but we were burned, and I didn't want us getting any more sun. Even Shabree and Sammi, who were slathered with sunscreen got a bit burned. Sammi's back got burnt, I think we must have forgotten to put it on her back once we got her suit on (oh yea... I sent Bec to put her suit on, and she didn't think about the sunscreen... and neither did I... oops.)
Becca found a bunch of some type of sand lobster that she brought home, but the bucket was leaking water, and she had quite a few in there... they died, poor creatures. I wasn't sure how she was going to deal with them when she got home anyway, since we don't have any sea water at home. I guess it doesn't matter now though. We also found a ton of great shells, I want to make a shaker box out of some of them and the sand... that should be pretty cool, so long as it doesn't leak sand!
My shoulders hurt. I thought I was healing up pretty good, but no dice.
We are hoping to make this a monthly (or so) thing, and I think it would be nice to break up the pattern of constantly going to the park or the library.
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