Withdrawl

So there is a funky vibe in our house this week. We haven't been to the beach in over a week and I think its starting to bug us. I did sneak in a quick trip last Friday for a Mommy swim date but was promptly attacked by a flock of Portuguese Man of Wars and packed up in defeat. The plan was to swim in preparation for this weekends Na Wahine Triathlon and then for Jason to bring the kids to me at the beach. However taking my kids to the ocean and saying, "stay out of the water" is just plain mean. They are water spirits like their Mom and would end up in the water and stung at some point. I suspect that this funky vibe is withdrawl. We need salt water in our hair, sand between our toes and sunscreen tucked into the folds of our ears. Its how we're most comfortable. So tomorrow I think we need to go visit the beach. It doesn't have to be for long. Doesn't even have to involve swimming. But we do need to get sandy and we do need to get our feet wet and then all will be right with the world.

Mommy's Playdate (s)!

Its Mommy's turn! As mentioned in my profile I'm a wanna be triathlete and I have one coming up next weekend so I figured it might be a good idea to do some training. Luckily my favorite swim/bike training Mom Kelly is back in town and healthy so we met up early Friday morning to get a bike ride in. Her husband is a surfer too which means we have the same schedule for Daddycare availability- when there are no waves! We're a great match in the water but she is a much better and more experienced biker so I'm learning tons. We had a great ride and I even let go of the brakes on some of the descents! After our rides we usually meet up with our husbands and trade the little people off but this morning I got a double pass and headed to the beach.

Mommy playdate #2! I haven't been to Kailua Beach in a while due to all the Portuguese Man of Wars, the winds are strong right now and that usually brings them in in droves, but I was hopeful. I met Catherine and Kristy, two Mommy friends there and the three of us hit the water while their kids played on the beach under the watchful eye of a Dad. Since it was choppy, we walked down the beach so they wouldn't have to swim against the chop. We swam the distance from one buoy to another, I decided to swim out to the buoy line to get some extra mileage in before Jason showed up with my girls. It was tough going but so nice to be out in the water!

That's when they got me! I was rounding a buoy when my throat began to sting, I tried to pull it off me, fearing the stingers were wrapped around my neck when I saw the offending Man of War directly in front of me. I lifted my head to make sure I wasn't going to swim into it again when suddenly both of my legs began to burn. It started at my thighs and rapidly spread down to my ankles. I must have swum through a patch of them and just wanted to get out of there! I sprinted to shore and think the adrenalin burst helped lessen the pain. I've been stung a few times this summer and while this was the most stings I've received at one time it definitely wasn't the most painful. I accepted defeat and headed to the shower to rinse off any residual stingers but did enjoy hanging on the beach and catching up with my Mommy friends.

#3 In preparation for the Na Wahine a local triathlon shop offered a guided ride of the bike portion this afternoon. I waffled whether or not to go since I do already know the course and the area and but I'm so glad I did, I learned a ton. I was fortunate enough to get to ride with Michelle, who was there to offer her expertise and experience for the newbies and us wannabes. She had some technical, practical and even fashion advice for my race, it was very helpful.

I have enjoyed my long weekend of playdates (even a Mom's Night Out/Book Club on Saturday) but now its back to the grind. Hannah has decided she's ready for a North Shore Surf lesson so I need to schedule that, time to get back to my primary job which I love, Beach Mom.

This is an older post but due to technical difficulties, which almost sent the Mac through the lanai window in frustration, it is being posted now.

Cockroaches

Hawaii may be paradise but there are some drawbacks, namely cockroaches everywhere. They love my snack strewn minivan and usually stay out of sight until dark. Unfortunately my Odyssey Cockroaches have gotten cocky lately and have been popping out from behind my visor and walking across the ceiling while I'm driving. Until recently this sighting would have been enough to send me screaming hysterically into the closest telephone pole. However I've grown tired of them, they have lost their "eek" factor for me. Instead I managed to calmly reach over for the box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese sitting on the middle console (why I drive around with a box of macaroni and cheese is another story) and slam it against the roof squishing the offending bug without diverting my eyes from the road. Some mothering skills must be acquired through experience, the parenting books never mentioned bug squishing while driving 45 with two screaming girls in the backseat. I guess I wouldn't have believed it if they had.

Kryptonite

Some days being a Beach Mom requires a cape and ingenuity, especially when faced with our own menacing Kryptonite -Flash Flood Warnings. And don't think its cause I'm a wimp and don't take my kids out in the rain fretting over dirty clothes or catching colds. No, flash flooding means things flood and things get backed up, like sewers, and then crap washes out into canals and heads to the ocean, aiming directly for our favorite beach parks! Nasty. We've seen this before, spring 2005 brought 40 days and nights of rain. We're talking Biblical proportions of rain and as a result sewers were backed up, manhole covers popped off from all the pressure, people were sandbagging their front lawns and beaches were shut down. And Beach Moms were stranded indoors with their children. Thank heavens for bathtubs.

My children are happiest (and truth be told so am I) when immersed in water. Could be the ocean, a bucket, a sink or a public fountain, doesn't seem to make much difference to them. So being a resourceful Beach Mom when it came time to buy a home I knew it needed to include a pool. A maintenance free pool mind you. I spent enough summers as a lifeguard scoping dead rats and frog out of pools to know that was more hassle than I could handle as a Mom. So after visiting many different townhouses and condo complexes we found one with the perfect pool. It took us about 6 months to find the right unit, which in my view was secondary anyways, that's just where we sleep, pack lunches and throw our stuff on the floor.

So this afternoon, after 5 days of rain,books, play dough, fighting and more PBS than I think even my daughter could stand we tip toed through the rain drops and hit the pool. The girls had a great time swimming, they used up a lot of energy and I think we all felt better being back in the water, regardless of the weather.

Rainy Day

The sun can't shine everyday but that doesn't faze my girls. Today we've got crazy, torrential downpour, can't even see the mountains, rain. We spend the first part of the morning reading, coloring, watching PBS but then its time to dance in the rain! The girls throw on their swimsuits and run up and down our driveway. It has a nice slope to it which can make learning to ride a bike difficult but is perfect for floating boats down the stream to the storm drain.

Family Fun

Luckily we have a Dad who likes to be a Stay At the Beach Dad, however his day at the beach usually needs to involve some sort of movement or action so a kayak, surf board or even bikes are usually loaded up when Dad is coming. We haven't had the kayak out in a while so we decided to head over to Kualoa Regional Park and paddle down to Secret Beach. Last October we went on a camping trip with the Hawaii Homeschooling Association to this park and had a great time. I believe the beach is on the ocean side of an old fishing pond and can only be accessed by taking a boat operated by Kualoa Ranch Inc. across the pond or coming around from the ocean side. We've always been the only people there whenever we've ventured down the coast. I believe "Lost" used it as a location if that gives you an idea of how isolated it is. Hannah tried our her new paddle and, as she has done every single time we've put her in the kayak, Ella fell asleep. I guess its the rocking motion and the fresh air but it does her in every time. Ask her what she does in the boat and she immediately makes the sign for sleeping.

Sunday Dad got up early and headed back to the ranch, this time for the Mountain Man triathlon. We've been waiting for Hurricane Felicia and heard a prediction of 4-6 ft waves for the swim but she has continued to be downgraded and for that we are thankful! As a result the water was relatively flat and Dad had a great swim, dodging the large coral heads in the shallower parts on the course. He also had a gorgeous bike ride and run and finished injury free! Go Daddy! Next Mom got in a nice long 3 km swim to make up for wimping out of the North Shore Challenge on Saturday. We finished the weekend with dinner at the Kailua Pub and chocolate cake and lilikoi cheesecake at the Kalapawai Market. Delicious!

On Sunday

The Adventures of the Jellyfish Hunters

Once upon a time there were two little girls named Hannah and Rian who went to the beach with their Moms and little sisters. The girls were busy playing princess in the ocean and didn't realize there was a jelly fish right behind them. "Ouch!" yelled Hannah, "A jellyfish stung me!" The girls ran out of the water and while Hannah's Mom ran all the way back to the van to get her vinegar (which should have been in her beach bag along with the Benedryl), Hannah used buckets of water to try and rinse away the sting. The vinegar helped with the pain but it still hurt, Hannah was very brave.

"Maybe you should check the rest of the beach for jellyfish," Hannah's Mom suggested. The two girls grabbed their buckets and started scouring the beach for the dreaded Portuguese Man of War Jellyfish (or Pork and Cheese as Rian calls them, too cute!). Over the next two hours the girls found 50 jellyfish, they scooped them up with their shovels into their buckets being careful not to touch the long tentacles. They decided to warn others about the creatures. While they were showing their bounty to the public they came across many other swimmers who had been stung and some of them had pretty good sized welts to show for it. Before leaving the girls buried the jellyfish deep in a mass grave so other people wouldn't step on them and get stung. Despite a rough beginning it was another great day at the beach.

When we came home this is the story Hannah and I wrote (illustrations by Hannah are included in the paper edition) to remember our day. She's creating quite a little library of stories of the adventures she has with her friends. We always research our stories and were quite surprised to discover the Man of War isn't actually a jellyfish and isn't a single organism but a colony! Check it out
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/printable/portuguese-man-of-war.html

Beach dates

Its a rainy morning, that doesn't usually stop us from heading out to the beach but our beach playdate is this afternoon so we're having a mostly quiet morning of playdough and puzzles. We're taking a Sesame Street break and I'm happy to report a refreshing update they've done to fairy tales. The princess kisses the frog, he turns into a prince, they become friends and live happily ever after! Last year Hannah and her preschool pals went through a whole prince/princess phase which was very difficult if anyone was out sick and we were short a prince. Their next phase was playing dead and throwing flowers on each others dead body on the playground. It was a little disturbing but I guess this is how kids figure out and deal with life's issues.

One thing I've discovered about playdates is that they often work best in a neutral zone without any toys to fight over, that's why the beach is such a great location, there is plenty of sand, waves and space for everyone. Although nothing is fool proof, I've had kids fight over sticks and even imaginary babies. The other Mom and I actually had to ask the kids to take turn holding the invisible baby. The best playdates are ones where everybody gets a playmate, and this afternoons is one of those! Her girls are the same ages as mine and she's a super cool chick so everybody wins. We've got our fingers crossed for sunshine and a fun beach date.

This season it’s all about the bag

The beach bag that is, a successful Beach Mom is prepared for anything. Your beach bag needs to be portable, well stocked for any situation, organized and if you can manage to make it trendy kudos to you. The basics:

• Sun block: To be most effective it should be applied at home and then reapply throughout the day. At our house this is very often a cardio event involving running, hiding and heavy lifting. A few strategies that have worked sporadically for us have been having the kids put sunscreen on us, pretending its make up and of course bribery.

• Cell phone in a zip lock bag: Because at some point a juice box or bucket full of sandy water is going to land on it. All veteran Beach Moms have an assisted cellular death story.

Mine was two years ago, I was checking out this great beach that could only be reached by wading around a cove when a wave came out of no where and soaked my beach bag complete with unprotected cell phone (I was more focused on making sure the child didn’t wash away). My poor phone, it was horrible, it shook and flashed and beeped, trying to find some reception and then it stopped, forever.

• Benedryl cream tube: The day you forget it is the day your child will have a jellyfish tentacle entangled in their swimsuit leaving behind barbed wire style welts all over their tiny body accompanied by heartbreaking sobs and excruciating pain.

• Swim wear: If you’re going to be spending long hours at the beach its worth the investment to get long sleeved rash guards. We use a lot of EXCEL, Lands End and an awesome Hawaiian brand Oiwi Ocean Gear.

• Don’t forget the hats and sunglasses: Yes, it’s a battle of wills but even if they only wear them sporadically its better than nothing.

• Beach toys: Doesn’t need to be anything fancy; a shovel, bucket and watering can will entertain them for hours. Due to the trade winds here, I avoid inflatables, my attention needs to be on the kids not chasing after a lousy beach ball which has suddenly become my daughter’s most prized possession as it floats off to the Moks.

• Beach friendly snacks: Nothing works up an appetite like being in the middle of nowhere, with no option to purchase food. We have a small lunch bag with a cooler. My kids like PB & jelly sandwiches, cheese sticks, yogurt tubes, granola bars, raisins, tangerines and packages of seaweed.

• Water: While juice boxes are easy and convenient, they do produce garbage you will have to lug back to the car and the fruit sugar will only make the kids have to pee, just like your morning coffee. If we’re going to a facility free beach, I’ll often skip the morning coffee by promising myself a trip through the Starbucks drive thru on the way home.

Despite great preparation, its important to remember that there is nothing you can put in your bag to fix overtired melt downs once they’ve started. As a result it is essential you can carry both this well stocked bag and a teary, sandy, wet child back to the car in one trip.