Our super "FUN" beach outing....

Oh Man, I totally forgot to publish this!!! Written Feb of 2013!

There are so many thoughts running through my head right now. As I sit here and think about what to write about all I can think of is how sad my heart is right now. Nothing in life is guaranteed, days that we are blessed with, are just that... a BLESSING!

Last night Violet and I had an opportunity to have "OUR" time. You see, Bill took Preston to a basketball game, the twins were in bed, and I had a NICE, MUCH NEEDED special time with MY Violet girl. We were sitting at the dinner table talking and I just felt like we were having a very adult conversation. We had many topics to talk about, but the one that we seemed to be focused on, was the BLESSING of LIFE. We prayed for many friends of ours. Mostly for our friends who just lost their sweet baby during labor. I don't know the details so I am not going to expand more on it. All I know, is that friends of ours are hurting. Which makes my heart hurt. So with all that going on in my mind and my heart, I thought I should do something nice with my children.


Earlier that day, I thought it would be a good idea to take ALL the kids to the beach. I just figured, WHY NOT? Life is too short and too valuable not to enjoy and appreciate where we live. A beautiful day should be spent outside enjoying and ceasing the day. LIVING OUR LIFE, not just living life... Therefore, I thought, lets tackle a couple hours at the beach.... You see, I get questions all the time about what's it like taking 4 kids out?

Here's MY Nitty Gritty Truth on our last minute Beach outing!

It's 3pm on Tuesday afternoon, I just picked Violet up from school. We are headed home with the windows down. The cool air is hitting our face while the sunshine is beating down on me. I couldnt help it, I wanted to be outside. I wanted to take my kids to the beach. You may be laughing to yourself a litle, thinking that I am a little crazy. I mean, taking 4 children to the beach... WHO, in their right mind, would want to do that... Oh yea, This Girl! I thought it was a great idea.

The kids are super excited! Violet and Preston run in the house, changed their clothes and we're off. We get to Siesta (a beach access of course), We park, We get unloaded and We then start to make our way to the beach. Again, I am so excited! I think that this is going to be the BEST afternoon. The kids are going to have such a great time. They are out enjoying this day, we are ALL going to have such a great time. As we start to walk towards the beach, we are stopped by a couple. They look at me and say, "WOW, YOU have TWINS?" I kindly, say Yes.... (mean while Preston and Violet are standing there... ) I am thinking to myself, I dont just have TWINS, I have 4 children. If they were the first family to ever say that to me, I would understand. But, I get that ALL the time. Sorry, singleton babies, when there is a set of twins around, you have now become chop liver.

It bothers me to my core when I feel like MY sweet Violet and Preston are ignored or disregarded just because Juliana and Parker are with them and they are twins. Needless to say, when that kind lady, asked me how old THEY are... I kindly said, "Well, My Oldest Violet is 5, My Son Preston is 4 and my TWIN baby's Juliana and Parker are almost 11 months" Her husband looks at me and says (with a smile), "Wow, You really have your hands full.." hahha!!! I smiled. Then I got the comment of "You're Brave..." then "Good Luck.." I then, Smile and Nod... Ok, well now WE are all on our way to enjoy our couple hours at the beach.

We start to head down one of the beach access sandy paths. I am pushing a double stroller with the twins while Preston and Violet are walking a head. Another person passes us, they look at me and smile. Then they add the comment, "What a workout.... You're Brave..." Again, I smile and nod. Which he was correct, it was a little bit of a workout. But WORTH IT, in my mind! We finally made it! We are at the beach. As we walked on the beach, we got looks from every direction. We had a couple of comments as we were looking for a spot to park our gear. Again, I heard "You're Brave" & "That's a lot of work, just to even pack them up, let alone getting them ALL out here..." I continue to show respect, while I nod and SMILE at every person who felt the need to tell me "HOW BRAVE I was for taking MY 4 children out to the beach..."

I often wonder WHY? Why does everyone look at me like I am crazy! Yes, I have 4 children. What am I supposed to do, sit in my house all day and do nothing? Yes, they are right. It is A LOT of work. It takes A LOT of time. I suppose I am BRAVE for taking them ALL out. BUT, as a MOTHER do they really think that WE think like that? I think, I am a MOTHER and they deserve to have fun too! They deserve my BRAVERY. They deserve MY BEST! They are WORTH IT!

Did my couple hours end up in a day full of BLISS???? HECK NO! It ended up being a TRAIN WRECK! We lasted an hour and a half and then we had to leave. I didnt plan it out perfectly. Juliana was upset. Her blanket was at home. Preston was being a 4 year old boy and sand was flying everywhere. Violet was trying to be helpful and Parker ended up sticking his face in the sand. They may have caused me to have a mini anxiety attack, but all in all... it was worth it. We didnt have a senseless day sitting at home. Violet and Preston played in the sand, Juliana and Parker felt the sand for the first time & Mommy got a glimpse of the BEAUTY of our beaches. I had 2 minutes in the 90 minutes that we were there, to just BREATHE in APPRECIATE MY LIFE, MY children and OUR World.

So the answer is YES It was worth it! Juliana screaming her head off, Violet and Preston crying because they werent ready to go and Parker just chillin sucking his thumb, was ALL worth it, while we walked back to our car. The looks that we got on our way there and the looks of disgust that we got on our way out, was ALL WORTH IT for me!

That's MY Nitty Gritty Truth,

Anne