Beach Day

This morning got off to a slow start. The kids woke up at almost 9, which was very nice of them. They were playing nicely and keeping themselves occupied so I wasn't rushing to get out of the house and do anything. I asked Simon if he wanted to go to the mall to play in the castle and he said "I do, but first I want to play and then watch some tv." That turned into a long time, during most of which Simon was lying on the couch completely naked because he got distracted from getting dressed. Eli lay on the couch as well and shouted orders at me. First it was him pointing towards his room saying "banket...banket..." so I went and got him all 3 of his blankets because I didn't know which one he wanted. He tucked each one around himself and after each one he said "ahhhh" and let out a big sigh. Then he pointed again and ordered "pillow-lach" so I got his pillow. Then it was "bear" so I brought his bears. Then he put his head down and said "n'night." He didn't really go to sleep, of course.
At some point I realized that I really wanted to go buy a bathing suit because we had plans to go to the beach in the afternoon and I hate all my bathing suits (and lent the one that I usually wear to Jess and will get it back from her when we're in Boston in a few weeks). So I told the boys that we were going to run and errand. This wasn't all that appealing to them until I said the magic words "if you are good, then we can go to Toys R Us." That got Simon running to the door and Eli too because he does whatever Simon does.
They were excellent in the bathing suit store and Simon helped me pick a bathing suit. He actually said "that one is cute...but I don't like that other one." Very helpful. I also saw a cute dress, but Simon said "those stripes are really not good. Don't get it." So I didn't.
We went to Toys R Us and they each picked one thing--Simon got an auto-carrier truck with 3 cars (to add to his collection of basically the exact same thing) and Eli got a microphone that plays music because he always picks the thing that makes a lot of noise!!
We came home and my plan was to give the kids lunch and put Eli for a nap. I thought Eli would eat Shabbos leftovers while I was making noodles for Simon and then go right to bed. He ate some leftovers, but was having none of going to bed. I am finally putting my foot down and taking away his bottle. I'm doing it slowly so he can still have it before bed at night, but not for naps anymore. Today was day 2 and he fought hard. I tried bribing him with candy but in the end he got me to give him the candy and then still take him out of his crib. He kept saying "eat noodles" so I finally gave in and let him sit at the table with Simon and have noodles. He ate an entire bowl full so I guess he was actually hungry. He was so tired but got mad when I brought him to his room. I left him in his crib with a cup of milk and he cried and cried but then got quiet right before I was about to go back into his room. He slept until we woke him to go to the beach and I was happy to see the cup was empty because yesterday he refused to drink the milk from a sippy cup.
Marcia came with us to the beach and we met Tali, Boaz, Uri, Lauren, Lauren, Asher and Meirav there and we had an amazing time. We didn't get there until almost 5:00 so it wasn't too hot and sunny. The kids had fun in the water and in the sand and the adults had fun chasing them. We had brought food and they all ate a decent dinner. The water was a bit rough, but Simon absolutely loved going in in an inner tube and letting the waves push him forward. Eli preferred to stay closer to shore, but he likes to stand by himself and try to keep his balance when the waves come.
David was home already when we got home and had even run the tub already so the kids went straight in. The only bad part about the beach is how sandy everything is after...I haven't unpacked the beach bag yet because I just hate wet sandy towels!! I guess I should go put them in the wash before I forget.