2018 Sunday Night at the Beach: The Dangerous Edition

On Labor Day weekend no one had a soccer game or soccer practice, and no one was working or had youth group.  We decided to make a little trip up the Shore to our favorite candy store, and after splurging, we headed to Stony Point on our way home.  All summer we somehow ended up stuck in a pattern of beaches within city limits on Sunday, so we were excited to include at least one “destination” beach for the season of Sunday Night at the Beach.

I was sitting on the beach minding my own business doing a bit of people watching.  There were actually quite a few people there because it was a really nice day.  The kidlets went off to explore, and I figured they were exploring a crevice that we’d had fun climbing and swimming near before.  One of them came zipping over to tell me about some kind of swing in the crevice, and after a bit I wandered over there only to come across this scene:

Someone had taken a driftwood log and built a swing out over the crevice.  It was super fun!  The bad part about it is that the kidlets were having so much fun that they were sometimes forgetting to be cautious, and I say that to you with the declaration that I am really not a super protective, hovering mom in general.  There is just something about kids and drop offs and water, though, that makes my heart go cold.  Several times various kidlets came close to backing up near the edge when they weren’t paying attention, and I may have had a minor meltdown when a certain risk-taking kidlet tried to walk across that log after I told him not to.  (Apparently he’d already done it while I wasn’t there, which did not make me feel any better).  Needless to say, that child ended up in a couple of extended time outs away from the crevice while I calmed down.

Even so, we had a really good time, and they loved swimming under the swing and hanging upside down from it (which I was fine with).

Devious Snail may have been just a bit obnoxious in general, but his little sister is crafty and knows how to get her revenge:  dangling his new shoes over the water. 

Eventually YaYa tried the swing too, but she got a little stuck because she couldn’t quite reach the log to pull herself back in.  The Banana encouraged her, “If you’ll just get off, I can show you how it’s done!”  Of course, that would be the point, wouldn’t it?  She couldn’t quite just GET off.  

Eventually we all headed back to the van, (on the way, the risk taker actually leaped over a narrow part at the top of the crevice and I had another small meltdown) and I gave a little prayer of thanksgiving that there were no broken bones, spinal injuries and that no one fell in crashing into some kind of rock leading to subsequent death during a wonderful evening of memory making.