Mystery trip, beach edition

So if you saw yesterday's Wordless Wednesday post and felt the need to get jealous that we were at the beach, don't.

Because we aren't.

We were.

But not anymore.

It was just a day long "mystery trip."

Yeah, skipped town on Memorial Day even though this is what our bonus room looks like right now.

this room is actually much worse than it appears in this photo ~ trust me!

It's just how we roll.  We are after all the couple that spent our last stateside Friday and Saturday before parenthood on an impromptu ski trip. 

Actually, as of late Sunday afternoon we were still planning to make the next day all about attacking the boxes.

And then we heard our kids talking amongst themselves saying things about how fun it would be to take a mystery trip (we like to toss those in from time to time ~ our last one was to the NC Zoo) on our extra "Daddy Day" this weekend.

I casually lobbed the idea of heading to the coast for the day to Ian, fully expecting to be brought back to reality.

Instead he answered, "Well, in a few years, I don't think we'll be finding ourselves saying, 'I wish we had unpacked a few more boxes before Daniel came home.' but I do think we may be saying, 'I wish we had made the most of our last days of being a family of five.'"  That's all I needed to hear.  I was off making pb & j's before he could even ask which beach we'd try to hit.

We managed to get the car packed and load the kids bright and early Memorial Day morning.  And they still had no idea where we were headed.  About an hour out, Ky began begging for clues, so I told her that where we were going rhymed with one of the things we bought at the farmer's market on Saturday.  Wish you had heard the attempts to rhyme with broccoli and strawberry before anyone remembered the peaches...

What a day it was.  Nearly 90 degrees and not a bit of humidity detectable.  There was a gentle breeze blowing and the water very cool and refreshing.  We pulled into the parking lot and while it was full, a car was just backing out when we got there.  The beach was crowded, but we found plenty of space to spread out.  All the little details were taken care of. 

We may have had a few new friends join us as we attempted in vain to hold back the tide.

what is it about the beach that makes us eager to attempt the impossible of protecting our castles? ~ again and again...

But mostly it was about the five of us.

Jumping.

Building.

Eating.

Eating (some more).

Digging.

Chillin'.

 Running.

Splashing.

Shelling.

Hugging.

Smiling.

Just being.  Together. 

Yeah, the bonus room is still a big mess.  (Probably will be long after Daniel comes home).  Yes, for those of you that know me well, it does give me slight heart palpitations when I walk by the room.  But we had ~ in the words of our biggest critic ~ 'a BLASTOFF fun mystery trip!'

So for now I just think of how much fun we had enjoying the surf and sand together, close the door to the bonus room, and walk away.  After all, the mess will continue to be there until I get time to clean it up.  The chance to create mystery trip memories?  Maybe not...