Staycation

How to have a good summer:

Pack huge blue Ikea beach bags. Beach blanket, towels, buckets, clothes, bathing suits, leaking sunblock (that might only be at my house),shovels.

Pack lunch in cute picnic basket that has been known to house bunnies when we take them to school to show them off. Not lunch actually, as much as snacks. Fruit, veggies, chips, junk, hide the lollipops in another bag or kids will only eat the lollipops.

Corral all the kids (cranky, half eating breakfast, putting surfboard in car, looking for shoes), put new puppy behind gate with husband, wish them luck, jam in the car and off.

Take the beautiful farm road all the way to the beach. Just when you can smell the sea you stop at Del Taco and order 16 or 22 tacos. Always fun to order the tacos. We almost go to the beach just for the taco tradition. Spill cheese all over your chest happily as you drive the last 10 mins thru Santa Paula to the lovely and serene Ventura Beach. Nothing bad happens at Ventura Beach. Even the hobos are relaxed.

There's just the one street. You park, you haul all your crap down to the beach. You set up the umbrella. The seagulls greet you. The kids are sunblocked and bathingsuited. Emma does gymnastics on the beach. Nathan surfs or attempts it. Lilly digs, looks for sand dollars.

All of us end up in the ocean. Even when it seems like no way, the water's too icy this time, somehow... it just feels too good. The waves are small enough that even though you think you might die, you still get in. That cold shock of putting your head under the first wave you're brave enough to meet - that is worth the whole trip. Float, swim, smile, relax, ride waves, watch blanket, watch kids on boogie boards, shrieking,happy.

Sometimes friends show up and dump their problems out. Sand just sifts it all away, because the sky is big there, you can't possibly hold anything in there. Friends are good because they have new ways to play, or they tell funny stories. When you've been in the water awhile and your arms are starting to go numb, you start to dream of the milkshake you're going to have at In n Out on the way home. Our other tradition.

Everyone sandy, sunwarmed, happy, going to get fries and a shake, eating it in the car.

Time stretched out this summer on our beach days. There was suddenly enough time to do everything, and all of it felt good. We are a beach family, we got good at the beach. There was less to do, and it filled us up.

After fries and shakes, we wind our way home and you're tossed by waves, everyone looks taller and tanner and relaxed, the ocean for free has given you everything you already had - you. Just the ability to enjoy you, and the earth, while you're here.