Wednesday

Because Harper's school starts a few years (a week) after everyone else's, we're basically losing our noods over here. We've been out of regularly scheduled programming for 3 full months and that's not safe. We wake up, do the breakfast and nursing and dog routine and then all stare at each other.

"I want to go to school."
"And I want you to go to school."

Twiddle our thumbs, pick some flowers in the garden and make "perfume" (mash petals in tiny dixie cups and then scatter said cups all around the house), cut very very very tiny shapes out of construction paper and scatter them under all the things, take off our clothes, trip over the dog, scream back and forth with Bea because that's her favorite, eat our 12,000th snack, put on PBS Kids.

I try and do one real thing a day. Either go to a playdate or host a playdate or visit the library or get froyo or go to the lake or. This is difficult to maneuver because Bea takes 3 naps a day and you really need to move it move it to stay on a loose schedule. She definitely gets her fair share of car naps and carrier naps, but I try and keep those to a minimum for a few boring reasons.

Anyway. Today we went to the beach. ("No! It's the ocean!") Okay. Today we went to the ocean. There's also a massive, massive playground there and a crazy snack bar with things like lobster rolls and gold flaked ice cream sandwiches. I was semi-insane for taking this on, since it's a 40 minute drive both ways and it was blazing hot and I don't have a beach umbrella and it's 30 dolla to park and all the stuff one must bring on such a journey is ludicrous. But Harper loves the beach so much and she's only gone a few times this year, so off we went.

Good things:

• Bea didn't make a peep other than sweet coos on our drive there.
• The credit card machine was broken, so we gots in for free.
• Bea took a carrier nap while Harper did up the playground first.
• Both girls let me slather on sunscreen without their brains leaking out.
• The water was so warm and felt amazing on my brutalbrutal yellow jacket sting. #itswarnow
• We got ice cream and sat under a roofed pavilion with picnic tables and we shared with Bea.
• Neither girl konked on the way home.

Bad things:

• SWEET MARY AND JOSEPH THE BLAZING SUN WHAT WHY?
• The mom at the snack bar who let her kid take 45 minutes to pick an ice cream. He only wanted Spongebob "with the eyes of gum" but she "couldn't approve" of the artificial coloring. But would approve of every single other ice cream novelty available. Oh, she got death eyes of gum from me.
• Bea screaming for the last 10 minutes home and Harper frantically yelling "you're ok you're ok you're ok you're ok you're ok!!!"... Pretty much a peace mantra. 

I felt like a superhero, though, and damn if Harper didn't think that whole trip was just the greatest. I got both kids bathed and in clean jams and fed (Harper may or may not have had cinnamon toast for supper high five) and read to without tantrums from any source. Okay yes fine I might have yelled at the dog. 

Four more days!