Sunday
The bad temperatures were coming. We knew they were coming. Some of us would have the chance to escape.
But some of us would not.
Jason could not escape. Desperate times. Desperate measures. We have a ladder, broom, dust mop and foam board so Jason did what any sane person would do and placed the boards up in our windows that we can't reach and have no blinds.
So far it seems to be a decent solution to the problem - they block some of the light and likely some of the heat.
Monday
Josh had a couple of appointments, so we left him and Jason to the heat. The rest of us plus Nana drove to Fort Worden where the sun was shining, the sand was hot, and the water was FRIGID.
When the beach started getting crowded with lots of people (many of whom were unable to understand keeping their distance), we hiked up to check out the battery buildings. Mom was not amused by uphill climb and then subsequent stairs, so we left her chilling on some stairs so the kids could go up the tunnel to heaven before heading back down (with Nana) and heading back to a toasty house.
When we first got to the beach, I handed the sunblock to Michael and Ben along with some instructions on parts of their bodies to spray.
It's really difficult to listen to your mom when the water and sand are beckoning to you.
It was aloe night at the Millers.
For a moment I considered that possibly I had a bad bottle of sunblock, but Isaac (whom I sprayed) came home with only slightly rosy cheeks.
Wednesday
The boys had complained a bit about the hot sand, so I found a solution to that problem - a beach with partly cloudy skies and a high of 65F weather.
Then they complained that they were too cold. (They had hoodies/jackets.)
Life lesson: you canNOT have it all.
Personally, this is my kind of beach weather. Isaac agreed.
This is my favorite beach weather, but I also don't get in the water that much. The fact that the water here is so cold it makes my feet hurt doesn't help.
Usually the boys aren't bothered by the cold.
This was one of the days when having teenagers was exhausting. When the older boys were little, people told me that teens were more tiring than little kids. I thought that they were just so removed from life with small children that they couldn't remember.
Well, I am not that far removed so I do remember (though, yes, Isaac was something else) and I do have to say that teens are their own special kind of exhaustion that puts toddlers to shame at times.
The older three were not interested in the beach, water, sand, frisbee, balls, sand toys, board games, kite, or books that I brought.
The food was generally acceptable. But mostly they asked to go home and generally pined for their electronic devices.
And so Isaac became, for once, the "easy one".
We did eventually convince Ben to let us bury him in the sand.
He really wanted to take a nap.
Saturday
We got a late start to our Saturday walk and ended up getting back home in the dark. Dusk to dark happened pretty quickly.
