I think the girls' favorite activity that we did as a family was visiting the beach. You can't really go wrong with a good beach. There's so much to do there for the kids, it's therapeutic for the parents to hear the crashing of the waves, and there's always ample opportunity for good photographs. The downside to it is that we inevitably end up with sand in places that sand just does not belong (on our body and otherwise). And similarly to Easter basket grass, it resurfaces for a long time afterward. We will be sweeping sand from our minivan until Christmas I fear.
On this particular day, we decided to even eat dinner on the beach. So, we just grabbed a bag of tacos and enjoyed a beautiful evening on the shores of Lake Michigan. However, the girls were so excited to explore the waterfront, they elected to only eat a few bites and then scampered off. "We'll eat later," they said.
Well, that didn't exactly happen. Since we left the food unattended, it ended up being scarfed down by this guy...
I don't even want to imagine the disgusting effects that Tex-Mex has on a seagull. Nasty.
Since the temperature was only about 65 degrees this day, they didn't swim at all. Instead they scoured the beach for shells and miscellaneous items that washed up onto shore. They sorted and collected their finds. Sadly, they are not this organized at home.
A true blessing was the discovery of large sand dunes. These seemed like mountains to the kids and they repetitiously ran up and down them. The great thing about the dunes is that they require a lot of energy to navigate them. The burning up of energy yields tired children. Tired children inevitably results into them willingly going to bed early. Awesome.
While on the dunes, I noticed many narrow tracks in the sand. I found one, then another, and then realized they were simply everywhere. What could be making these strange markings? And then it occurred to me. Oh crap. It had to be these things again...
As I've already expressed in an earlier blog, I hate snakes. I hate snakes. I hate snakes. And one more time to drive the point home, I hate snakes.
I called the kids over to me and pointed out the narrow squiggly lines going in all sorts of directions. There must have been dozens of trails. I told the children that these markings were the makings of some sort of small snake. They were impressed by my animal tracking skills. That's one cool thing about having small kids. It doesn't take a whole lot to impress them.
Were we surrounded by water snakes that buried themselves in sand dunes, waiting for prey to come along? I've seen those types of slithering reptiles on Animal Planet before. It did sort of feel like we were being "watched". But my paranoia was relieved when I discovered the creator of the winding paths in the sand...
The girls just sort of looked at me disappointingly. I don't think they were let down in the fact that snakes were not producing the trails, but rather I am pretty sure they were moreso disappointed in themselves for having believed me.
I have a feeling I will see that expression many times throughout the course of their lives.
It was a great day if for no other reason than this image was the last fading glimpse of it.
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