Family Beach Day

Yesterday (Saturday, July 31st), Kenny, myself and the girls went to Ocean City (Mom and Aunt Arleen met us down there later in the day). It's the first beach trip Kenny has taken with us since Karis was a baby. It was also one of the most stressful beach days I've ever had. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband and he loves his kids but I think he brought a totally different dynamic to the group.

First, we left waaaaaaaaaaaay too early in the day for the girls. When I go with Mom, Carrie and whoever else, we don't leave until after lunch (sometimes closer to 1pm) and it works out GREAT. The girls will take a little nap in the car on the way down and will be good for the rest of the day. Kenny INSISTED that we leave by 10am (we left around 10:40) - MISTAKE #1. It took over an hour to get there and then we drove around for at least another hour trying to find parking (since it was still early in the day no one was leaving the beach yet so we couldn't get into our usual 9th Street parking lot). We ended up having to go all the way down to 36th Street...never again.

Second, sometimes I think that HE thinks he's still a bachelor and that a trip to the beach (with kids) is going to mirror that of his beach trips during his single days. NOT. I "warned" him the night before that a beach day WITH kids is totally different than what his expectations might be for the day. It's A LOT of work (I think he thinks I'm just always having a grand ol' time...no, I'm working), there might be a lot of waiting around, there's a lot of pit stops (potties, hermit crabs), etc. Well, judging by his attitude that day it seems he FORGOT about my forewarning.

Third, I've come to the conclusion that Kenny is not a very good traveler. He has no patience (he hates standing around and waiting); he doesn't know how to just go with the flow; and he hates being in overly-crowded situations (i.e. the Boardwalk's Food Court). All of this made the trip VERY stressful for me because not only did I have to worry about two tired and cranky kids I also had to worry about not overly-upsetting a 35 year old man. I wanna cry just thinking about it.

Fourth, I tried to ignore the "little" (and some not so little) things because I wanted him to enjoy his time with the girls on his rare day off. I tried to ignore the fact that he turned his back on Karis while she was wading into chest deep water while the waves were coming toward her, or that he made her walk all the way out to him instead of GOING TO GET HER. Grrrrr. Or should I say DUH???

The kicker is when all he was talking about was how HE needed to get washed off and HE needed to get changed, blah blah blah. So while IIIIIIIIII took care of the kids (as usual) he walked 2 blocks to the bath house to get washed and changed. He came back just as I was RE-packing the car (didn't offer to help). For being a FAMILY trip I felt completely and utterly alone. That's not true, my Mom and Aunt Arleen were gracious enough to stay with me and offer any assistance they could with the kids, taking time away from taking care of themselves (getting changed, etc). After 3 1/2 years I still don't think Kenny has caught on to the "KIDS FIRST" mentality (he'll say he has but I just don't see it most of the time). I put myself LAST on the list for pretty much everything (eating, bathing, etc) but Kenny does pretty much the opposite (taking care of himself, or of other things that can wait, first).