Life's a Beach

So I got brave last Friday and decided to take the kids to Panama City Beach by myself! (We usually take the kids to a private beach and I usually go with friends, but no one was available and Maddie had been asking to go for a few weeks- so anyway....) After finding a parking spot and carrying Sam, a backpack, a bucket full of sand toys, three pairs of shoes, three towels, and a beach blanket (Yes, this is possible!) to a good spot we settled in for a nice day at the beach. Maddie, who has no fear, ran right in the ocean. Sam was more content to play in the sand. Then I ran into my first dilemma - I didn't have anyone to help me put sunscreen on my back. The kids were fully covered before we left the house to avoid the sand sticking in the lotion problem. Well I thought, we won't be out here too long and I didn't want to ask a complete stranger to rub lotion on my back, so I just did my best. When I looked up from applying the sunscreen, Maddie was emerging from the ocean with only half her bathing suit! I quickly explained to her that bathing suits were not optional at the beach, but she just didn't want to leave it on. In the mean time Sam had found a stick and was using it to hit anything that he could find. While I got Maddie situated back into her bathing suit a rather large guy was passing us. Right as he walked in front of us Sam dug his stick into the sand and flicked some sand into this man's face. I quickly decided to look around and see if there was another family that I could make it look like Sam was with, but unfortunately he was calling me mommy. As the man glared at me while taking his designer sunglasses off to get the sand off his face, I decided that family fun day at the beach had come to an end. So we packed up all our stuff and started the very long journey back to the car. Even though we were there less than an hour, my back has a ridiculous sunburn that Troy says looks like I was hit in the back several places with an iron. So I guess when you are a mom, the beach isn't a place you go to relax or get a good tan, but it is a place to make great memories with your kids!