A Day at the Beach
Published August 22nd, 2007 in L.A. Mommy, L.A. Toddler, It's Really Just All About Me..., Holidaze.I highly recommend, if it’s at all possible, that you don’t have an allergy attack while you’re on your way to work. On your motorcycle. With a full-face helmet on. It’s not pretty. You have to use your finger to act as a little windshield wiper. Totally gross.
So, how was your weekend? We’ve been overly stressed at the L.A. Family residence so we decided to take this past weekend off. And usually when you take a vacation of any sort, you end up working harder than you do at work. How bad does that suck? It’s hard work to relax…
We went to the beach on Saturday. Just a bit South of Santa Monica to Will Rogers State Beach. We got there early (for us) and it wasn’t crowded at all. I’m pretty sure we brought enough item with us that there was really nothing left in our house. And guess who had it carry it all? Oh, not the pregnant woman! And certainly not the Toddler! Oh, no. I lugged all the crap across the 8 mile wide beach through sand that had to have been 2 feet deep. Uphill. Both ways.
As soon as I was through with that, I noticed some young teens hauling all their stuff. They had put coolers and bags on top of their boogie boards and easily moved them across the sand with little tow ropes. Who says with age comes wisdom? I’m not that worried about the future.
We got some sun, played in the sand, and I swam in the water. The freezing cold Pacific Ocean water. My testicles are still afraid to come back down three days later. L.A. Toddler got her first taste of swimming in the ocean. Literally. She didn’t like the saltwater all that much. She was afraid of the waves at first, so I held her in my arm. We got hit by a few waves and ended up with a mouthful of water. But once we got past the breaking waves, she was happy. Until she realized how cold it was.
All of us ended up with some sort of sunburn. But only in certain places. We all were careful and tried to make sure all our pieces-parts were covered, but… we must have missed a spot or two. L.A. Toddler got a mild burn just under her eyes — it looks like she has light pink bags under her eyes. L.A. Mommy got a little toasty on her shins and the sides of her legs. My scalp got fried and… I now am a literal redneck.
It’s a little surprising that we missed some spots, too. L.A. Mommy bought this new sunscreen that comes out in a different color, other than white, so you’ll be able to notice which spots you miss. But she made the mistake of buying the blue version. Now, I don’t know if you can picture what it looks like to put something blue all over your skin, so I’ll give you a hint:
Not pretty, is it? Well, she is, but it looked funky on us. We started rubbing this goop on us and we turned severely blue. We honestly looked like we were dead. Like some rotting corpse lying on a coroner’s table. People were walking by us and gawking at us like we were applying brake fluid to our skin. After about 5 minutes, the blue tint faded but it was a bit humiliating. So much for relaxing. Unfortunately, we were so busy not trying to look like extras from an Addams Family episode that we must of missed a few spots and got too much sun.
And this was only our first trip to the beach this year. And we live 20 minutes from it. How sad is that? Why is it that we never enjoy what we have around us, because it is around us? I suppose that we believe that it will always be there so there’s no need to rush off and see or do something… Well, I for one, am going to make more of an effort to feel like I’m always on vacation and if I don’t catch something now, I’ll never see it again. It’s too much fun.
Except the hauling of all the crap back and forth. That’s no fun.
I’ve never heard of the colored sunscreen. That’s pretty funny. It will probably last as long as purple ketchup.
We don’t go to the beach much either, even though the wife loves it. I’m just too hairy and flabby to lay around comfortably.
I can relate. When I lived in Santa Monica (AND WAS A SINGLE CHICK), I used to haul myself to the beach semi-regularly. Once I moved inland–I think I went once. And vowed to return often. And never did.
We live about 10-15 min. from the beach and go pretty regularly…esp now that my husband has time to surf again. We just went this morning, in fact. We like to go to the more local, non-crowded beaches. I still can’t believe there is such a thing, but it’s true.
In England if you go sunbathing at the moment you turn blue without the aid of sunscreen.
Freezing cold? Just a bit south of Santa Monica? I think you must be exaggerating. You don’t know freezing cold until you’ve been in the North Atlantic.
It’s been freezing here for a couple days…barely over 60. If it even goes over 70 on Saturday we’re headed to the beach once more before school starts.
And that would be the big thing I dislike about Ohio: the lack of ocean. I love water, but Deer Creek lake just doesn’t cut it. Which is why most of our vacations involve an ocean and sand.
Must avoid the blue sunscreen. I don’t want to look like a giant Smurf.
I was thinking “Mystique is hot, blue is good.” but you corrected it to say you guys weren’t ok with blue skin. Honestly, none of the colors are better. Yellow makes you look jaundiced. It’s not good. But, you know, when I was a kid - we were all about zinka which was colored on purpose because that was so cool.
When I lived in Manhattan Beach, my boys and I would cringe at those dip shit families lugging all that crap down the beach. Now, I am that dip shit only I no longer have a real beach. We had to do it at a shitty reservoir in Denver.
Hope your balls descend soon.
Oh my gosh, I have tears streaming down my cheeks from getting this picture of your family in my head! True life is funny and speaking of funny, the comments here have made me laugh harder. Thanks for sharing your life. Stalkers like me LOVE IT!
It’s good to hear you were off having fun at the beach. After your last post, I was thinking the Jeep fell on ya and you couldn’t get up.
We took a snorkeling trip down to some island in Mexico out of San Diego one time. It was summer and we had to wear wet suits and we were STILL freezing. People automatically think the Pacific is warm. Not.
I’m with you on the hauling-things-across-the-sand. Ugh. I know what you mean about being near the beach, but never going. Part of it’s just that gathering all the supplies is such a pain.
Visions of Tobias Funke of Arrested Development fill my head after reading this post. “I think I just blue myself” is but a drop in a bucketful of great lines from that show.
Hailing from my land-locked town I have to say, THIS IS THE 1ST TIME YOU’VE BEEN TO THE BEACH?? Tisk-tisk, California dude. I totally miss the beach. You make me jealous.
I’ve used a blue one by Avon that wasn’t so bad. You just had to keep rubbing. You should have taken a picture though.
Imagine how trips to the beach will be with a new little blue baby in tow. Twice as much crap to lug back and forth, and twice as many kids!
Hey LA Daddy,
Long time… Rachael here (formerly CrankMama)… I look at those gorgeous white beaches and I want to get the HELL out of the Pacific NW (today it’s gray rainy and 65)…
Thanks for the beautiful pics… I’m going to check airfares now
:)
Rachael
I’m putting your link up on my new site now …finally getting organized
I hear ya on visiting the beach only once this summer. I don’t have the ocean but we do live within an hour from many tourist attractions, yet I can say I haven’t been to one (Rock Hall) and I rarely venture out to the others.
And hauling stuff at the beach? I’m the dumbass who had to carry a sleeping 45 pound Amara from the exit of the Magic Kingdom all the way to a ferry boat and then up a dock and then all the way over to the other end of the resort because Dad2Amara thought she was too old for a stroller. Gack.
Sorry, I never read this entry. I got stuck thinking how incredibly cute LA Toddler (Preschooler?) is!
i grew up in your neck of the woods and have no meomory of ever going in the ocean. i live on the central coast of cali now, and have been in the ocean maybe 5 times, and 4 of those times i was wasted. whoever thinks cali beaches are full of white sand and warm water, has watched too much baywatch! i commend your for even taking the fam to beach and actually partaking. you are the bomb daddy! my daughter is almost 2 and has been once. and i dread the day she asks to go again.
oh great! now i am crying cuz you called me a wimp. stupid pregnancy hormones.
have you ever been to the beaches in pismo or avila beach? i promise it’s freeeeeeezing!
but now, i feel like a bad mommy. so tomorrow we are packing it up and heading to the ocean. thanks a lot.
ps: only 20 days to go. i am due sept 15th. but i think she’s debuting on the 10th.
What a brilliant and trenchant question, LA Daddy.
Having grown up in South Africa (but with my father in the USA) we never really ahd the packaged loveliness that can inspire Proustian lustings as an adult. But oh boy did that ever intensify my adoration of Fruit Roll-Ups and Count Chocula, which I consumed on my annual vacations to see my father.
Merely recounting the taste for my school friends in Africa was almost enough to send us all into paroxysms of misery and joy. There we were with our crappy lunchboxes and there was I who had eaten AMERICAN treats. I became something of a celebrity for having tasted a real Amercian Twinkie, the kind we all drooled over in our Archie comics.
Oddly enough, as an adult I long for South African candies and lament the loss of that great Commonwealth pantheon of chocolate and sweets that I have left behind. But the power of the American Fruit Rollup and Twinkie…I can still smell their manufactured heaven…I can smell the POWER I had over my classmates and friends. And when I brought actual samplings of these treats back to Africa, you can be sure I had a lot more friends than I ever realized.
A great post. I do hope you will visit me sometime.
oops, I’m sorry LA Daddy. I somehow posted on the wrong page. The above was meant for your latest post. Apologies.
Despite growing up in west LA, my family rarely went to the beach, and when we did we were slathered in sun screen and covered by long sleeves and hats. Being the daughter of a dermatologist in LA means you’ll never starve, but it does cut down on opportunities to sunbathe.