Katie came home on Sunday for one of her friend's baby shower. She took Gracie back to San Diego with her to help the poor child get over a serious case of boredom. When Gracie is bored, we all suffer. I said I'd pick her up on Tuesday, so she got a two-night slumber party with her big sis!
Lexie had Monday and Tuesday off, so I was "off-duty" for watching Charlie. I figured I'd better make good use of the time I had with only one child to look after, Libby.
I took the rug doctor out and shampooed the carpets and seats in the van, I washed down the outdoor toys and the patio, cleaned the coolers and put them in the garage, took the trash to the curb (but I forgot one, whoops, it's gonna stink like crazy waiting a whole week for another garbage day in this heat), and I moved the furniture in Fenna's room to the middle and painted the whole room. Plus, I conquered a mountain of laundry and a kitchen full of dishes and cleaned the floors.
Painting took a lot longer than I thought. I thought it wouldn't take long to tape, but that always takes forever to get done. By the time I was ready to paint, I was exhausted from all the work I did but had to paint just so it would be done. This room needed a fresh coat of paint before we moved in, the walls were dull. I painted the other bedrooms last summer and I really wanted to get this one done too. I started painted at 8pm, in the dark, while drinking a beer. I finished at 2am. Tuesday morning I went in to look at it in the daylight and sure enough, it looks like I painted in the dark while drinking a beer. We'll just hang lots of pictures.
After working so hard on Sunday evening and all day Monday, Tuesday was my "day off". I needed to go get Gracie in San Diego. I woke up sore and wishing I could just lay around in my pajamas all day. My knees hurt and one was a little swollen. I'm just not as young and agile as I used to be. I think climbing over all the furniture and up and down the ladder was hard on these old bones. Old age can be repressed with ibuprophen and coffee! Yes!
Lexie wanted to come along with Charlie and have some fun too. Good idea, we packed up the kids and the beach towels and off we went. Yay! A day at the beach! It was 103 degrees when we left, wow, too hot to stay home.
The beach parking lot was packed solid, with a parking shark in every row. Katie and I both needed to park and it wasn't going to happen, so we drove across the street to the bay side. Katie didn't want to go there, but I told her I didn't want to drive up and down the beach any more, so we went across the street to Bonita Cove. Plenty of parking and not any more crowded than the beach. I like the bay for the kids anyway because there aren't any tides, the water is nice. Bonita Cove also had restrooms, showers, and a whole bunch of play equipment. We didn't end up letting the kids on any of the playground structures though because we went right to the water's edge.
We parked next to each other and turned Gracie loose. She had the biggest hugs for me! So sweet! She hugged Libby and Charlie with all her might too. That was it, mushy stuff was over, back to normal. It was just like she was never gone.
We found a shady spot on the grass right next to the sand, and we were still close to the water. It was perfect. Lexie put a good amount of sunscreen on Charlie and then he was free to run in the sand and sun. I put sunscreen on Libby before we left the house to let it soak in so that sand wouldn't stick to her, she doesn't like that.
Gracie ran right out to the water to splash around and the two little ones wanted to go too. I let Libby go on her own and I took Charlie to the water's edge. They were all thrilled! Lexie and Katie were visiting, setting up "camp" and putting on sunscreen too.
Charlie, or Mr. Daredevil, was super happy to be in the water. He was shoving his face into it all the way down to the sand and coming up smiling. He "kisses" whatever he loves, and he apparently loves the beach. And he kept crawling/walking out into the water a little farther. I'd pull him back and off he'd go again. The layer of sunscreen made him very slippery, it was like trying to catch a 25 pound fish!
In the meantime, Gracie was farther into the water splashing and squealing and giggling and having a good time. The water has such a slow slope that she had to go out a few yards to get where it was a little deeper and could get her legs under the water.
Libby was staying close to me, but Charlie was splashing too much for her tastes. She decided to venture closer to Gracie and I hollered at her to stay close. Now that I think about it, what does "Libby! Stay close!" mean to a two year old? She probably had no idea what I meant. Abstract commands aren't interpreted well by toddlers.
That's when it happened, while I was taking pictures with one hand and controlling wet, slippery, happy Charlie with the other and trying not to get wet. That's when Libby got away from me and tried to catch up with her sister. She was in water up to her hips and I saw her fall forward, just like she did in the driveway earlier in the day, she lost her footing and fell forward with her hands straight out to catch herself.
Libby was face down in the water with her arms out to the sides and her legs dangling; she couln't stand up. She couldn't turn over; she just flailed in a panic.
I panicked too.
I shoved my camera in my hip pocket, scooped up Charlie with a sudden disregard for getting my clothes wet, I planted him on my hip and ran out to scoop up Libby. I took about three big strides and bent over to scoop her up with my free arm. She was sputtering and coughing so I think she got water in her mouth and nose, but I got to her quick enough that she didn't get any in her lungs. I have no idea why, but I was screaming to her and I was screaming "Gracie!". Didn't make sense but in the moment that's what I did.
Gracie was confused. I was screaming her name and her sister was "swimming". She is such a good big sister, she clapped and cheered for Libby and told her "I'm so proud of you! You put your face in da water!" I like her optimistic viewpoint so very much!
I was soaking wet up to my middle (how did the water level at Libby's hips become the water level at my hips?) and I had one dripping wet kid on each hip. I waded back to the shore and told Gracie to come too. We all went up to our little towel camp where Katie, Lexie and Henry were visiting. Lexie looked over her shoulder at us approaching and I heard her say, "Oh my God. Mom is soaking wet!"
I laid Libby down and she was shivering, so I covered her and let her recuperate from her ordeal. Told the older girls what happened and they didn't see it at all. It happened so fast, it doesn't take much to miss a kid slipping under the water, and it's a quiet catastrophe. I'm glad I didn't let Libby go to the water with her sister while I stayed nearby on our spot; I may have been tempted to do exactly that thinking she wouldn't be brave enough to go in past her knees. I am surprised she went out into the water, but with Charlie and Gracie so brave in the water she was being brave too.
Libby and I rested on the towel, I moved a towel out of the shade and into the sun so I could try to dry off. I wore khaki shorts and a yellow shirt. I suddenly wondered if my clothes were see-through when wet! Yikes! Luckily, they weren't but I didn't bring any extra clothes for myself so I just had to air-dry. My camera had to air dry too! It was wet, but not dripping soaking wet. It still seemed to work ok for a few minutes and then it just died. It works again now, a day later, the battery was wet and needed to dry and recharge. Whew!
Libby wouldn't go near the water again after that and I didn't push her. I did take her back out and waded in ankle deep water just holding her. Charlie went back out with Lexie and Katie took Henry. We stayed and played at the beach long enough for me to dry off and Charlie to completely wear himself out. Lexie looked exhausted too. Not Gracie, she was still full of energy as always! Henry too!
I brought dry clothes for the little girls and Charlie. We changed them all and headed to Ikea. I wanted to do some fun shopping too. Katie, Lexie and I were so cute pushing our strollers into Ikea! I wish my camera would have worked to capture us in our little family stroller parade. Gracie ditched us at the ball pit, and then we went shopping. The child care area gives you one hour to shop, so we made our way through the store as quickly as three stroller pushing mommies could go. Afterward, we walked across the parking lot to Costco for a cheap meal.
Lexie was too tired to do anything else, actually we all were. We said our goodbyes to Katie and Henry, buckled up the kids and headed north. All four of my passengers were asleep right after I got on the freeway. I had alone time! Sort of. I did get to listen to the radio instead of Disney music. Traffic was great, but I wouldn't have minded if I got stuck in a traffic jam just because it was a nice quiet drive after a wonderful day.
Once I got home, I realized how exhausted I was. I was suddenly completely worn out! After working so hard for two days and then taking all six kids to the beach and shopping all day, my old bones were barking at me. Going to the beach to relax and unwind was a lot harder than it sounded!
By the way, cleaning the van one day and then taking the kids through a fast-food drive up and then to the beach the next day is totally backward. Totally.
You need to buy each one of those kids life jackets. You go to the beach enough and that's not the first time you've had to rescue.
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