Beaches and balls

School is out and the kids are home, but it has taken me a few days to gear down from the frenzy of May to the slower pace of summer. This year we took a last minute trip to the beach over the long weekend. We spent most of our three days there on bike trails, and I think it was just long enough to bring all five of us down a few notches. Something about being anywhere near an ocean is good for the soul.

The girls’ only complaint about the whirlwind weekend is that certain parts of the South Carolina coast are heavy on reptiles. We had an alligator sighting and countless lizard run-ins. This particular creature that hid out in a bush near the entrance of our place caused them all sorts of stress:

I’m not one to camp, but if I was ever tempted to think we should camp as a family this trip reminded me of our limitations. At one point the 3rd Grader was floating in the deep end when she became convinced she saw a snake in the pool filter. Chaos ensued in and all around the pool with lots of flailing arms and high-pitched screams, but in the end we think she mistook a piece of loose rubber for a slithering snake. After a thorough inspection of the filter (which I photographed from a safe distance while standing on top of a lounge chair), we did discover two dead frogs.

All of this led to real tears, and it took everyone awhile to recover from the potential sighting of a reptile in the water. The Kindergartener sat cross-legged on the concrete for awhile saying through her tears, “This is a house of death.” Apparently that’s a line from a movie, but it gives one an idea of the level of drama we deal with on a typical day. I usually have a hard time getting our crew out of the pool when it’s time to go home. But, my new plan is to yell, “I see a snake!!” And, I think that announcement should get us on our way much more efficiently this season.

 

Another trick I’ll be using this summer is having them do challenges to earn screen time. The Spouse came up with the idea that anyone who wanted to use the iPad for twenty minutes would have to balance three golf balls on top of each other. We should have anticipated the 3rd Grader’s level of determination. She, of course, had them balanced in a matter of minutes. But, it’s much harder than it appears. I have shaky hands and still can’t do it.

The Spouse has learned to balance four golf balls and was convinced he might need an award for his feat. But, when we looked up the world record, someone balanced NINE on top of each other back in 1998 and that incredible record still stands! So, if you want to do away with technology for the whole summer or maybe the rest of your life, you might challenge your kid(s) to balance nine golf balls. You can tell them it’s been done before.

Well, here’s to the first day of a brand new month. May your pool be free of reptiles and your weekend full of fun!