BEACH BLANKET BINGO AND OTHER EVENTS

Jene’ and I just returned from an overnight adventure (courtesy of Jene’s employers) in Galveston. We left last night after I got off work and we fought traffic for an hour and a half and we finally arrived at Moody Gardens. (Go to http://www.moodygardens.org) We had a lovely dinner, highlighted by the squeals and activities of Jene’s employers’ children… three girls, one who will turn 4 in August, and twins who will turn 2 three days after their sister. Follow that?

We woke up this morning to sunny skies. Jene’ mercifully brought up a bagel and cream cheese for me while I fumbled around to get ready. I know… how difficult can it be to get into a one piece bathing suit? Well, I made it into the suit and we joined the family at “Palm Beach” a pool area with sand brought in from Florida (if you’ve been to Galveston, you know how ugly and dirty the sand seems/is). Three pools (one that’s four feet deep and has a “mushroom” shower in the middle, one with a waterfall and one with an octopus slide) are surrounded by blue umbrellas and two beach chairs each. We arrived on the scene at 11 a.m.

We had been there about fifteen minutes when it rained softly for about five. Then the sun came back out. After an hour of visiting each pool, including the “mushroom” and no, I did not go down the octopus slide, sand castle construction began. One of the twins decided it would be fun to eat sand, while the other tried to decide if she wanted to get “dirty” with the sand or not. The almost four year old lived in the water for the most part (Her swimming lessons have equipped her quite well), except when she’d try to build a sandcastle and the sand-eating twin would stomp on it. A few minutes later, it was decided it was time for lunch, and we headed for the beach showers.

We were all dressed (except for mother and almost four year old) when it began to rain. At first, it was a soft rain like before. Then, the mother and almost four year old come out of the dressing area and the monsoon is unleashed. We are on a covered patio area and are not getting wet. After ten minutes when it really starts to come down, we are joined by the other beach faithful. We all study the sky, wondering when it will let up and how long do we wait? The twins, at this point, have inhaled two small containers of Honey Nut Cheerios and assorted Teddy Grahams and are both signing and gently screaming for more. Finally, I get in front of the double stroller with the tarp and Jene’ and the mother hold the other end of the tarp over dad (the double stroller driver) and the stroller while the almost four year old hangs on to the stroller handle. We wait until it lets up a bit and make a break for the restaurant door. We make it, and we’re still dry. 🙂

After lunch, with food everywhere (three tired children… it gets wild, but fun), we leave and eventually decide to call it a day. We leave for Houston and her employers are behind us somewhere and we fight lovely Houston traffic to get home. It starts raining again as we about six miles from our house, and continues for an hour or so. For some reason… I am tired and randomly blogging… so I will go…

P. S. I am happy to report that I did not get a sunburn. SPF 45 rocks!