My daughter loved the ocean. Or, maybe she didn't notice it and was just draw to the waves. I don't know, but she sure seemed to love it and she certainly was drawn to the waves because every time we weren't holding her back she was running for them and she didn't mind the cold Pacific water on her feet. She just kept on going towards the deep end. I want to say that my daughter has an affinity for the sea as I love the sea so much and I hope she will too but I try not to read too much into it. None the less, I think she loved it that day and she definitely enjoyed herself.
It was so fun to watch her just keep on running back in. Tami got the one video clip above. Then she teased me for dropping my daughter in to the ocean face first and I told her it's her dramatic ending to the video clip that makes it look worse than it is. I assure you, Ana was fine after that. Yes, she was a lot sandier. Ana didn't mind. She just wanted to be in there.
Ana playing in the ocean stole quite a bit of the show, so to speak. But that was not the only adventure. My son flew his airplane kite that grandma and grandpa gave him for Easter. He and I had a good time playing with that.
It's always fun to see where my ego kicks in. I made one weak attempt to get the kite up just to test the wind. Where we were on the beach were a lot of people and it would be very hard not to hit several people if it went down there in the process of getting it high. Then Enzo got into it so I considered it like playing. We would try to get it into the sky but not with too much concern and Enzo liked picking it up and trying to launch it as I pulled the string. A couple next to us we're watching and as I always seem to assume, were enjoying the beauty of life by watching one of my children enjoy him or herself. But I guess they thought I was trying hard and hadn't already made a plan to move to a clearer spot down the way soon so Enzo could see the kite go way up. And in an encouraging and friendly way they said, "keep going, run with it, run you can do it." I smiled and didn't even realize my ego was now aware that they were not solely enjoying the beauty of life but also rooting on some stranger who didn't know how to get a kite to fly. In my matured state this is similar to how I would have felt in the days of yore if I were surrounding by girls and was having trouble getting a fire to start. By the way, I have trouble getting fires to start all the time but my ego is far more concerned these days with getting the kite up high for my kids.
Anyway, after Enzo and I played for a bit more I took him down the beach a bit and we launched the kite with no issues. That's when The Kid finally got to hold and fly his kite.
I love doing such things with my children. I was reminded of being at my Nina's house as a small child, maybe three or four. I had a white kite with red fireball like eyes. At least that's how I remember it. It may have been a turtle as I have learned how fallible even the clearest memories can be. I remember it flying at my Nina's house from her little back yard. I remember my cousin Liz helping me and holding it. I remember, after the line broke and the kite drifted off and crashed somewhere that Liz said "I'm sorry mi'jo it's gone."
I think my son is too young to remember this first kite experience. But like my daughter, I think he enjoyed that day and I hope he loves to be by the grand Pacific as I do.
And my ego? Right. So after we fly for a while but before we reel it in I tell Enzo let's walk it back to our stuff. As if it would be fun. Which it is. But I realize my true goal was to make sure those people saw that we could get a kite up. They did. And that all makes me chuckle. I know so much intellectually that my body and brain couldn't care less about.
But we flew a kite and that was one of my goals for the day. That, and my daughter played with the ocean. A fine day.
(Driving home with our new bug.)
In other super cool news, I bought my first bug! Which my wife thinks is her bug that I get to work on because she likes it, too. So, we got a new bug! We bought it from Matt. He is always buying and making super cool cars. Some of my favorite cars are cars he has owned and now we have a Matt original. Awesome. I already have added some of my own custom flavor to the bug to make it ours. As Matt says, you're never "done" with a car. That would explain the list in my head and a couple of more boxes in my garage arrived from the nation of Internetlandia. I am very much enjoying this '65 as are my kiddos.
For the record, we only drive like this in the driveway and cul-de-sac. It's because they enjoy it so much, I say. But, Tami chimed in when I said that in front of others with "It's because YOU enjoy it so much." So, let's just say that we all like it. Check out the rear window blinds and Mexican blanket in the back seat that I added. Nice. There are more touches here and there and more to come.