I don’t think there is anything better than the feeling of being on a beach, especially when it is 35 degrees, sunny, and you’re in a bathing suit (or not completely, if you’re on a beach in Europe as our 14-yr old male visitors excitedly discovered).  As long as you have a beach blanket, towels, some snacks, cold drinks and sunscreen, life couldn’t be better.  And, if you have the pleasure of being on the beach with some boys aged 6, 13, 14 and 18, the concept of beachtime takes on an interesting perspective.

Being the only parent there, I spent most of the time sitting on the beach blanket watching the bag with our wallets and Little T.  But, I also got to observe how the other boys liked to spend their beachtime:  digging big holes in the sand and burying each other, playing Frisbee in the ocean, whipping mud at each other, and checking out the babes and later taking a few pics of the topless ones.  Luckily they were spared the vision I had of two older ladies changing their drawers on the beach, completely shameless of being very bare-bottomed for a very length of time (and these cheeks weren’t snow white, so they obviously had some sun time too). In fact, I think they finished their conversation before continuing to pull up their pants.

Lots of junk food was consumed including Pringles, a bag of candy and a few bags of cookies. Maybe a few too many were consumed by one young boy visitor as he developed a nasty stomach ache (or perhaps it was the multiple litres of Cola he gulped and the ice-cream before the hamburger he ate for lunch). And, they also occupied themselves creating a vision of beauty out of sand, led by the 18-yr old.  I had no idea they were all so artistic.

At first, I was a little nervous with this vision of beauty, fearing that a beach official would order us to leave.  But after a number of people walked by and burst into smiles when they saw her (and a few actually took her picture), I was reminded of the more liberal approach Europeans have towards that sort of thing. I don’t think you would find a similar appreciation of sand art in Grand Bend.  But, when I found myself alone on the beach blanket in front of the vision of beauty, I suddenly felt rather awkward as the passerbys looked at her and then at me, obviously thinking that I created her.

A day of fresh air, sun, walking on sand and swimming in salty sea water can leave you feeling quite content. There is no concept of time. I was amazed when learning it was 6:30pm as the sun was still high and strong in the sky.  After my boys had enough, we headed back to the car. 

 During the drive to my brother-in-law’s place, Little T belted out “I have to go pee!!!” 

My nephew turned to him and asked “Why didn’t you go in the water like the rest of us?”

Boys will be boys?