simple is sometimes better

Over the past couple of weeks 6’s blog has been focused on the strange things that we tend to see on the beach each year. That is not always the case, at times we actually see mothers and fathers interactions with their children that actually give one hope for the goodness of our society. 6 would have to admit that they can at times be bland, at the same time cause enjoyment for all.

Well lets us start from the beginning. This was a couple who cared more about life, than the way they looked going through life. They had two children a boy and a girl who were probably under 10 years old, one could easily see that they possessed a real gusto for life! 6 is not real sure when they arrived at the beach each day. After all it was pre-vacation vacation (PVV) and sure enough when 6 dragged his sorry butt down to the beach, there they were! They were not supper organized like the first lady 6 blogged about, 6 would call them minimalist, for all they had was two chairs, a couple towels, and a small cooler for some drinks and snacks and a beach bag. The father and both children were defiantly beach ready, each of them had hammer shirts on, and the father had matching swim trunks (not that 6 noticed but it was the same one for 5 days) . The father could have warn 6 hammer shirt and it would have been tight on him, but just like the mother, 6 thinks that these were some real down to earth people and body image never crossed either of their minds. They were there to do one thing (encroach on my real estate thus blocking my view) enjoy every second while they were on the beach. They would spend hours in the water, 6 thinks that they only time they ever left the water was to grab something to eat or drink. Ok that is somewhat of an exaggeration, the mother would come out and sit in her chair, fly her mini-kite and read for an hour or so. The father would spend time rolling around in the sand with his children while the sand clung to his hammer shirt and shorts. We now know the source of Lake Bundy! When he would leave the beach and go back in the water he had enough sand on him to disrupt the normal tidal action thus  create Lake Bundy. The other interesting thing about this gentleman was he wore glasses, and he would spend hours in the ocean and never once lost them, can anyone explain how that can happen? His eye sight must have been really poor, because he wore sunglasses over his glasses and never lost those either. If 6, and 71 walk into the water up to our ankles we both will lose them! Go figure! This family did have a fascination with kites, each day they had a kite flying tied to the fathers chair, and they also had a mini-kite flying that was tied to the mothers chair. About know you all are probably wondering why 6 had such a fascination with the kites, especially the mini one. Well we do have a little more insight into the family then I am letting on. One afternoon 6 got out of his comfortable chair and went over and asked the mother where she got her kite. That is a ½ hour of my life that 6 will never get back! To make a really long story short, the kids just got out of school, and they decided to come to Kiawah early this year, and because of that she did not have the time to get to Walmart and purchase items for the vacation, so she had to go over to Newton Farms and at the grocery store there which is outrageously priced, to look for something’s for the kids to play with on the beach. 6 did not have the heart to tell her that the kids have yet to touch any of the toys she purchase, and the only kids who have been playing with them where her and her husband! As you can see there really are some normal people on the beach at Kiawah, and of course we all fall in to the normal range as well.

One last thing, if anyone can guess what the W in Clark W Griswold means, there will be a nice gift waiting for you this year on vacation for the first correct answer!

Words of wisdom: Take people for who they are, not for whom you want them to be.

Time to let them fly

6 has very few opinions about most things, life is what it is and we just need to be ourselves. 6 goes about life gathering facts, that is why he is often referred to as the one with superior Intelligence, for 6 has no opinions but only makes statements about issues that are fact based. For example we had a long discussion on the pre-vacation vacation as to who the best hockey player in the NHL. Some 41,7 and 8 said hands down it was Crosby, good player 6 would conclude but the best? Why did he not win the Hart Trophy, well he has in the past but so have Malkin, and OV in fact OV has won more times that Crosby. What about just comparing Crosby and Malkin.  Crosby has him by 4 points in 142 games in the post season now that is what some pendant for ESPN would call a massive difference. One could argue that he has won Stanley cups, wait a second they both are on the same team. Take away Malkin and yes OV has never won a Stanly Cup, but so was Terry Bradshaw on a team that won several super bowls, was Terry the best player in the NFL? Once again one has to live with the facts. Let the debate continue.

Now my real point it of this here blog is actually a question. Why do people live on cell phones? 6 hears that it is a great resource for knowledge,( which is a threat to my superior intelligence) so people spend time doing research on the internet. If that is so, then why have Americans dropped so far behind the world in education? Oh it is social media (Facebook, U-tube etc.) then why do we have such a difficult time communicating? This one 6 doesn’t have an answer, other than to let the phones all fade away. It would raise our test scores, by putting the focus on people, commination and family values. After all who cares about what kind of dress Kim has on, or what Bouncy is going to name her twins.

As you might guess this is a Kiawah beach story. Average American family, Mother and Father and two children and one iPhone. They would pull up to the beach everyday about noon, and yes if you are interested each day sat right in front of us, as if we were not even there. Lesson learned we need to get people down to the beach early this year to stake our space (61, 62, 63, 21A, 71) The old man would put up the chairs and small tent, then sit down pull his phone out and spend the rest of the day with his head down looking at the phone as if it was the most important thing in the world. That would not be a problem but remember 6 said that he had a wife and two children. The first child was a little boy about 4 years old, the second child was a baby about 4 months old. The boy would hang around there area throwing shovels of sand in the wind, while the mother would feed and then put the baby to sleep, in her mini tent. Once the baby was asleep the mother would take the little boy down to the water and spend several hours in the surf with him. We figured the father was supposed to be watching the baby, but he never once made a move to the mini tent. When the mother would come back to check on the baby, the little boy would just scream at the top of his lungs, because he wanted to be in the water. Every once in a while the father would put the phone down and tell the little boy that he needed to stop that because he would wake the baby. This went on from noon till Rex time for three solid days. Back to the question, why would a grown man with two kids and a wife spend hours at the beach doing nothing but looking at his iPhone? Remember he was in paradise one could possible think he had the perfect life, but to him the perfect life was him. The only conclusion 6 could reach is that either he could not leave work (he did not bother asking Jenny if he could go on vacation) or, he is the great communicator and is extremely knowledgeable about everything. Yes 6 is concerned about having competition about 6’s superior intelligence, this man may know even more than 6.

Words of wisdom: The best times are spent with family and kin, so take advantage of that time, Bouncy’ s babies names can wait until your vacation is over.

Nothing like a little planning

This year on the pre-vacation vacation, 6 learned many new things. Since we are in the “getting ready” phase of our yearly pilgrimage to paradise this lesson learned is extremely timely. It is lesson for the beach as well as a life lesson.

Every day at about 1:00 while 4, 4A,6,7 and 8 were sitting on the beach minding our own business, some lady (we could never figure out her age) my guess was that she was old, other were thinking she was young and just had an old husband. BTW that seemed to be the theme there this year old men with young girls. Would pull her little cart down to the beach, stop right in front of us, as if we did not exist, and begin to unload her house for the day. This was an amazing site, first she pulled out an electric drill and proceeded to drill a hole in the sand for the umbrella, they unfolded her umbrella and placed it in the hole, filled two bags with sand using a small shovel (not a plastic one mind you) and fastened them to the umbrella so that it would remain stable for the day. Then she used that same shovel to level out the area so that she could put a beach matt down. So now she had created a floor (the matt) and a roof (the umbrella) and it was time to move in the furniture. First was a standard old  beach chair, then unfolded her lounge chair, to this day I have never seen anyone bring a chair like that to the beach! One would think that the setting up of the house would be complete with the umbrella and the chairs but wait, not so fast, she continued to pull some amazing things out of that cart. Next came a beach table, and on that table she put a plate and a glass, if we were closer 6 is sure that she probably had some silver cutlery. Next came some sort of hanger that she had made with a Velcro strip that she put around the pool of her umbrella. (Now that is a good idea!) She took off her shirt and pants then hung them on the hooks keeping them from falling in the sand. Next as a typical person would do, she took out a large can of sun block and proceeded to cover herself, as well as anyone in a 10 block radius with sun screen. At this point we began to think that she was done because no one could fit that much crap in one little cart. Well 6 is here to tell you that if you thought that you would be wrong, next came a towel for the char and yet another for the lounge chair, but wait she also pulled out a pillow for the lounge chair! Next came the food, not sure what she had, but he pulled the food out of another container and proceeds to put it on her plate, followed by a thermos from which she filled her glass. Now she was ready, she sat in the chair, ate her lunch and read her book. Soon a flock of seagulls would surround her home, and at that point I think that she decided to put her food away and move to the lounge chair for a well-deserved nape. On around 4:00 her husband would show up, sit in the chair for about 5 minutes and then leave, soon after that she would reverse the process and pack up and call it a day! It was truly an amazing site.

Now you all are by now wondering what this has to do with anything…. Well let us look at our preparedness for a day at the beach. 10 people all gathering towels, books, iods, phones, sun block, shoes, shirts, hats, water bottles, tea bottles, beer bottles, wine bottles, cheese, fruit, samwiches, chairs, bags, shades, etc. We all come down to our spot, dump the chairs, hang our shirts on the rusty stays of the umbrella, drink hot water/tea/beer/wine eat sandy cheese, fruit and samwiches and hit the water. What a difference. At the end of the day 9 people leave 6 with 5 chairs, 10 towels, empty wine bottles, sand filled glasses and a belly full of wine, and a long lonely walk back to the condo! Oh if I only had a cart!

So on my text this morning, we all said that we are ready, well I think the lady on the beach was ready, us well who knows.

Words of wisdom: There is no substitute for organization and readiness.