San Diego Trip - Part 3

Elias running with a spoonful of wet sand to dump on a mound somewhere

Today we went to the beach! I have to admit, I'm from a landlocked state and I'm afraid of water. Not just bath water, but giant rolling bodies of water. The kind of water you find at, say, the ocean. I've gradually worked through this fear and I never let it stop me from running into the waves and swimming, but in some ways it's terrifying. That endless expanse of water concealing who knows what sea monsters and carnivorous plant life...

My son must share my fear, because he didn't really want to go in the water. He wanted to play in the sand the entire time. He loves playing in the gravel beneath his playset at home, so I should have seen this coming. He got to the beach, pulled out his shovel and bucket, and dug and built mounds all morning. I drug him into the water one time to get him some exposure to it. He was pretty happy, but he clung to me like a many tentacled squid. It took me quite a bit of effort to get his arms off so I could dangle his legs in the water. He smiled and laughed the whole time, but he wanted to return to the beach.

I set him down in the water and reached down to hold his hand. I felt something slip off my finger and that's when I realized I had made a terrible mistake. I sun screened up Elias and I myself and went straight in for a quick dip in the ocean. I did not remove my wedding ring before entering the water. When I got married I weighed around 220 pounds. I weigh just under 200 now and most of it is in my legs. My fingers are quite a bit skinnier than they were when I was fitted for my wedding ring and it always slips off. I usually instinctively clench my fingers together, but holding Elias' hand made this impossible and my wedding ring was swept away by a wave.

I searched futilely in the sand for my missing ring for a few minutes, but when the ocean takes something it doesn't return it. I was pretty depressed by the whole thing. I felt stupid for not taking my ring off when I'm usually so good about it (on bike rides, swimming excursions, while doing yard work). Kristin was pretty upset about it too, understandably.

Eva in a rare moment of awake-ness on the trip.

The worst part about losing that ring was I continued to "lose it" for the rest of the vacation. I had grown so accustomed to checking for that loose ring after washing my hands, pulling ice out of a cooler, taking a shower, etc. that I had a jolt of surprise every 5 minutes when I realized my ring was gone. It sucked. I need to get a new one before I drive myself crazy. I can still feel it on my finger. My old ring had an inscription that said "06/00 K to C" and I wanted to get a new one that said "06/00 K to C (v2)", but Kris didn't like this idea. :) One of these days we're going to have to make a trip to a jewelry store to pick up a new ring...

The rest of the day at the beach was spent alternating between playing in the water and helping Elias build sand castles. We dug a few holes in the ground and the water would occasionally wash up and fill them.

Sam and I took a trip out to the deeper part of the ocean. Not so deep that you couldn't touch (well, not so deep that I couldn't touch) but deep enough where the waves crash over your head. The water was freezing so Sam and her 1% body fat couldn't take it for very long. When she finally did get out she was covered in goose bumps and her teeth were rattling. She had fun though. :)

Kris stayed on the beach with Eva for the most part, except for a walk to Crystal Pier with Sam. Eva did the same thing she did during every day of the vacation. She slept. We bought a beach umbrella to keep her out of the sun and she pretty much slept the whole time we were at the beach.

After the beach we spent the rest of the day relaxing at the hotel to try and recharge our kids. The previous few days were so busy our kids were starting to get fried, and we were joining them. Other than the ocean annulling my marriage, I think it was a good day at the beach!