I have the words to describe this week but do not have the wherewithal nor stamina to put them together cohesively. Yes, our first full week of homeschooling was that bad.
The words are swirling around in my head and eager to get put on paper, but I need to push them away for a little longer. This week was simply too miserable to relive. Once I get some distance, I am hoping that I will be able to write about it with some perspective and humor.
Which brings me to today. I used to think that packing up four kids to go the beach was stressful. Not anymore. That is the beauty of homeschooling, it makes everyting else pale in comparison.
I deicded aroudn 5 last night that we would not all make it out alive if we spent one more day locked in this house, especailly after the week we had. I told the kids to start getting the beach stuff, that resides in our garage, into the the car. They were eager and ready to help.
This morning, we finished with the rest of the packing up (umbrellas, chairs, towels, suncreen, boogie boards, lunches, snacks, kites, sand toys, hats, backpacks, and a huge caddy to lug it all). All in, it took about 3 hours to get ready to go. I didn't even care. I was up at the crack of dawn finishing the rest of the preparations that didn't get done last night. Nothing was going to prevent me from escaping this house and getting to the beach, where I might be able to forget it all for a little while.
When we arrived, we were met with long lines to get into the lot. I didn't care about that either. As long as they didn't turn us away, I would have preferred to wait in that line for two hours than be stuck at home one more day.
We got a parking place, a lovely socially-distanced place on the sand and had exactly the kind of day we all so badly needed. I sat in my beach chair for most of the day and caught up on nearly a week of The New York Times. The kids swam, made sandcastles, flew their kites and ejoyed every carefree moment we were there.
I am eternally grateful that we were able to pull together as a family and get to the beach today, despite the 3 hours of preparation it took. I think we all knew, in our hearts, how desperately we needed to escape, have a change of scenery, and forget about this pandemic pressure for just one day.
Getting all slathered up with sunscreen.
It was such a relief to see Garin and Catherine so happy and relaxed after the tough week of shcool.
The boogie boards got a lot of use today.
There is nothing like some cold watermelon to cool you off at the beach.
Catherine and Graham both worked on their kite-flying skills today. They need more polishing, as you can see.
Catherine had fun burying Miles in the sand.
Frolicking in the water.
The entire crew relaxing and eating their lunches. A great time was had by all.
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