Who Wants to Grow Up?

Yesterday I took the kids to the beach for the first time this summer. As we unpacked our stuff, I looked around and thought, "Why are we not taking advantage of this more often?" It is easy to forget how lucky we are to be living so close to so much.

We met some friends there, and Jake quickly took to running in and out of the waves with his pals. He was so excited, it was hard not to laugh at his beaming face. About ten minutes into being there, he looked up at me and said (waving his arms around as Jake does), "Mom! Don't even think about going home! I'm having too much fun!"

Grace was hilarious. At first she was terrified by the ocean, but that quickly wore off and soon I was terrified by her bravado. She loved getting knocked around by the waves. Every time the water receded, Grace followed it. Then she would crouch down and yell, "Nook out, Mom, nook out!" She refused to hold hands with me and would shout, "Don't touch!" when I tried to grab her from the tide. She is so independent, it's scary.

On the way home, Jake said, "Mom. I don't want to grow up."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because when you're a grown up you don't get to do fun things like play toys or bounce in the waves with your friends."

I tried to explain to him that you can do these things when you are a grown up, but most of you know how stubborn Jake is, and he refused to believe me. His comment made me kind of sad at first, but then I realized that if my little boy loves being a kid so much so that he doesn't want to grow up, the maybe Matt and I aren't doing too bad of a job.

A side note ... Earlier in the day, I was upset and told Jake that it would be nice if I could have a little more help around the house (translated: CLEAN UP YOUR TOYS!). An hour lated Jake told me that he had a great idea ... "Mom. I have an idea. This way you will not need to clean up, AND Grace and I will not have to do it either. Why don't we buy a robot that will clean up for us?"

If you have Judy Jeston's phone number, please let me know.