Knightmare
04-05-2007, 02:28 AM
I had Emily yesterday. Picked her up in the morning at Gramma's house. We get into the Family Truckster and start driving.
Me: "So... what are we doing to do today, Emily?"
Em: "Hmm..." while tapping her finger in her chin. "Hmm.. I know! Let's go to the park!"
Me: "Are you sure? We do that every time we're together."
Em: "I like the park, daddy. I like to swing, high into the trees."
Me: "I know you do, sweety. Ok.. which park?" We are lucky enough to have 3 large city parks within a 20 minute drive.
Em: "(name of town)!" Her favorite park.
Me: "Ok. To (name of town) we go!"
So we drive for a little bit, and I see a billboard for a surf shop in Cocoa Beach. My brain starts firing electrons, neutrons, protons, quarks... whatever I had in my brain at the time.
Me: "Hey, Em. Would you like to go to the park, or... TO THE BEACH?"
Em: :eek: "The beach! The beach! The beach!"
She's only been to the beach once, with her mother. She and I have never been there together.
So I make the turns and head to Daytona Beach. Emily is excited! She likes these little "adventures" of ours. It was spur-of-the-moment, so we don't have bathing suits, extra clothes or towels. I did, however, have sunscreen. I keep some in the car.
She's making up a beach song, which she just had to teach me, and kept telling me I was singing it wrong. :) Then.. she falls asleep 15 minutes into the ride. Ah well. At least I can listen to the radio.
We arrive an hour later. I wake her up, and we get something to eat at Wendy's.
We sit at a window seat. I tell Em to look out the window.
Em: "Daddy, what is all the blue?"
Me: "That's the Atlantic Ocean, sweety."
Em: :eek: "WOW! Wow! wowwowwowwow! It's BIG!"
We finish our lunch and head for the beach. You can drive on Daytona Beach. And it was busy. Cars all over the place. 10 minutes after arriving at the beach, we find a spot.
We get out, take off our shoes and she runs to the ocean. And stops 20 feet from it because she sees a little tide pool. She's much more interested in that.
The water was warm, and she splashed for a little bit. I told her not to get too wet; we don't have a change of clothes. So what does she do? She jumps into the pool and splashes herself and me. Her shorts are very wet, so I think "what the hell. It's only water."
Me: "Come on, Em! I'll race you to the ocean!"
Em: "I'm going to win!"
We run the 20 feet (of course I let her win) and splash around. The ocean was unusually warm; it felt very refreshing. We run back and forth, build little sandcastles (which she destroyed) and draw faces. Then she has a "great idea." She's going to bury her feet. She digs a hole, steps in, and asks me to cover her feet with sand. She wants to help, so *plop* she sits down, getting sand on her shorts.
I don't think she noticed the wave coming into shore. If she did, she acted like it didn't bother her. But here it comes, breaking about 5 feet away, and washing up to us. Her wet shorts and now soaked. And all she did was laugh. So we get up and run into the ocean, soaking her shirt. We splash, play, have fun.. all the things you do at the beach. She even gave me some seashells as a present.
Then a family with a baby and little boy walk up and Em asks the boy if she wants to play. Off they go! The parents and I talk while watching the kids. The kids wind up playing the game of "Oh, no! The waves are coming in and are going to get us, so lets run away as fast as we can, then run back to catch them!" Apparently is was a very fun game because they played it for a long time. The family is on vacation from New York City, I found out.
It was finally time for us to go home. The NYC family had to go back to the hotel for an early dinner.
Guess who threw a tantrum because she didn't want to leave? Me.
No, just kidding. It was Em, of course! You silly people.
So I had to physically pick her up and carry her under my arm away from the water. I walked to a t-shirt shop so Em wouldn't have to wear wet clothes. I bought a very redneck t-shirt that says "Daytona Beach, FL" and some shorts. She's crying about having to leave. I bought her a Sponge Bob ice cream, and it was all good after that. (An ice cream truck drove by, and was playing Christmas music. "That's just silly" Em said.)
And then we head to the car and the trip home.
We both had so much fun, we're going back very soon. This time I will bring bathing suits and towels and food and all the other stuff that's required for a day at the beach. This year she is definitely learning how to swim.
Thanks for reading!
Me: "So... what are we doing to do today, Emily?"
Em: "Hmm..." while tapping her finger in her chin. "Hmm.. I know! Let's go to the park!"
Me: "Are you sure? We do that every time we're together."
Em: "I like the park, daddy. I like to swing, high into the trees."
Me: "I know you do, sweety. Ok.. which park?" We are lucky enough to have 3 large city parks within a 20 minute drive.
Em: "(name of town)!" Her favorite park.
Me: "Ok. To (name of town) we go!"
So we drive for a little bit, and I see a billboard for a surf shop in Cocoa Beach. My brain starts firing electrons, neutrons, protons, quarks... whatever I had in my brain at the time.
Me: "Hey, Em. Would you like to go to the park, or... TO THE BEACH?"
Em: :eek: "The beach! The beach! The beach!"
She's only been to the beach once, with her mother. She and I have never been there together.
So I make the turns and head to Daytona Beach. Emily is excited! She likes these little "adventures" of ours. It was spur-of-the-moment, so we don't have bathing suits, extra clothes or towels. I did, however, have sunscreen. I keep some in the car.
She's making up a beach song, which she just had to teach me, and kept telling me I was singing it wrong. :) Then.. she falls asleep 15 minutes into the ride. Ah well. At least I can listen to the radio.
We arrive an hour later. I wake her up, and we get something to eat at Wendy's.
We sit at a window seat. I tell Em to look out the window.
Em: "Daddy, what is all the blue?"
Me: "That's the Atlantic Ocean, sweety."
Em: :eek: "WOW! Wow! wowwowwowwow! It's BIG!"
We finish our lunch and head for the beach. You can drive on Daytona Beach. And it was busy. Cars all over the place. 10 minutes after arriving at the beach, we find a spot.
We get out, take off our shoes and she runs to the ocean. And stops 20 feet from it because she sees a little tide pool. She's much more interested in that.
The water was warm, and she splashed for a little bit. I told her not to get too wet; we don't have a change of clothes. So what does she do? She jumps into the pool and splashes herself and me. Her shorts are very wet, so I think "what the hell. It's only water."
Me: "Come on, Em! I'll race you to the ocean!"
Em: "I'm going to win!"
We run the 20 feet (of course I let her win) and splash around. The ocean was unusually warm; it felt very refreshing. We run back and forth, build little sandcastles (which she destroyed) and draw faces. Then she has a "great idea." She's going to bury her feet. She digs a hole, steps in, and asks me to cover her feet with sand. She wants to help, so *plop* she sits down, getting sand on her shorts.
I don't think she noticed the wave coming into shore. If she did, she acted like it didn't bother her. But here it comes, breaking about 5 feet away, and washing up to us. Her wet shorts and now soaked. And all she did was laugh. So we get up and run into the ocean, soaking her shirt. We splash, play, have fun.. all the things you do at the beach. She even gave me some seashells as a present.
Then a family with a baby and little boy walk up and Em asks the boy if she wants to play. Off they go! The parents and I talk while watching the kids. The kids wind up playing the game of "Oh, no! The waves are coming in and are going to get us, so lets run away as fast as we can, then run back to catch them!" Apparently is was a very fun game because they played it for a long time. The family is on vacation from New York City, I found out.
It was finally time for us to go home. The NYC family had to go back to the hotel for an early dinner.
Guess who threw a tantrum because she didn't want to leave? Me.
No, just kidding. It was Em, of course! You silly people.
So I had to physically pick her up and carry her under my arm away from the water. I walked to a t-shirt shop so Em wouldn't have to wear wet clothes. I bought a very redneck t-shirt that says "Daytona Beach, FL" and some shorts. She's crying about having to leave. I bought her a Sponge Bob ice cream, and it was all good after that. (An ice cream truck drove by, and was playing Christmas music. "That's just silly" Em said.)
And then we head to the car and the trip home.
We both had so much fun, we're going back very soon. This time I will bring bathing suits and towels and food and all the other stuff that's required for a day at the beach. This year she is definitely learning how to swim.
Thanks for reading!