Mother Of Four Ignoring Children At Beach

photo courtesy of FreeFoto.com

We decided to spend Saturday at the beach. Celebrating Father’s Day a day early seemed like a great idea. A three hour drive turned into a five hour drive. The clear, sunny day, turned into an overcast, scattered showers day. We arrived at the beach around 3:00, only to find out that it was temporarily closed. No one was allowed on the beach until the stalled storm passed. It was frustrating, because the side of the sky over the water was clear and sunny. Then you turned around, and there were dark, storm clouds.

The kids were extremely disappointed. So were my husband and I. We decided to find a restaurant to eat at and then go visit some campgrounds. We wanted to plan a long weekend camping in that area, some time in the future, and wanted to see what the campgrounds were like. After we did all of this, it was about 5:30, and the sky looked better.

We returned to the beach, grabbed out gear, changed in the restrooms and headed down to the beach. After we set up, we all went into the water. It was a lot of fun. My daughter was a little afraid of the waves, but we were able to get her into the water with a little encouragement. Once we had enough, we all went back to where we had left our things. I sat in the chair that I had to insist that we get out of the truck and bring down to the beach. I had my husband set out the sheet I brought, and our son sat on it.

My daughter grabbed her beach toys and started playing in the sand. At first, she was up by us, and then she moved down to where the sand was wet. She started playing with a little girl (approx. her age) and soon was running towards the water with her. I watched carefully, tickled and proud to see my daughter overcome her fear of the ocean and play in the water with the other girl.

That was when I started noticing that I was the only one watching the other girl in the water. The girls would run back and forth, from the water to the sand castle that a woman was building. I thought, and it was confirmed by the little girl, that the woman was her mother. When I heard the little girl call her Mom, I knew I was correct in my assumption.

There was also a little boy, about 2 or 3 years of age, that kept trying to play, but the woman kept pushing him away from her sand castle. Then there were 2 boys, about pre-teen in age, that started interacting with the little boy and the Mom. It didn’t take long before I started getting upset with what I was seeing.

The woman was so involved in building her castle, digging out her moat, that no one was watching the children. The woman wasn’t even paying attention to where the dirt was landing that she dug and threw away from her field of obsession. The toddler boy was often playing by himself, close to the water. No one watching him. The little girl, who looked just slightly younger than my daughter’s almost 7 years of age, was often in the water, with no one watching her. The mom never looked up to check out what her children were doing. She was completely focused on her sand castle.

There was no sign of any other adult with them. No one else was watching what was going on. There was a life guard in the area, but she seemed more interested in examining her skin then what was going on around her.

Part of me wanted to say something to the woman. I didn’t. You may thing that I was wrong to keep my mouth shut, but I didn’t want to approach the woman and cause a disagreement in front of all of our children. I worry about that decision, especially since we left before the other mom and kids did. On the other hand, was it really my place to comment? What would you have done?

Pictures From Carolina Beach

Look Mom It's A Dinosaur Butt

I couldn’t believe it. I swear, it sounded like she said “Look Mom! A dinosaur butt!” What she actually said was “Look Mom! A dinosaur foot!” It was hilarious. My daughter is always coming out with things that take me by surprise, so I wouldn’t have put it past her to have said “butt” instead of “foot.”

We didn’t get to spend that much time on the beach. We arrived at Carolina Beach in the evening. It was too cold and too dark to take a walk on the sand. Our hotel was right on the beach and our room had a view of the water.

It also had a window right in front of the bed I was sleeping in and the sun rose right there. It was like waking up to a bright light aimed right at your eyes. We got up early Sunday, which is usual with our kids. After getting everyone together and everything together, we went for a walk on the beach and collected shells.

My daughter loves looking for shells. My son, not so much. As you can see from the picture, he just wanted to leave. Walking along the sand was no fun. The water was too cold for swimming. We didn’t even bother to bring swimming suits.

We ended up taking a short walk on the beach, collected a few shells, and then went in search of a store to get a drink. First, we had to stop and deposit the shells and the “dinosaur foot” into the truck. Yes, we brought it home. It was heavy, but my husband was a good sport about it. He carried it all the way to the truck. I wanted to see what it looked like all cleaned up. I thought it would be nice in our garden. My husband wants to break it up and see what is inside.




It turned out to be a nice day at the beach. It warmed up as the day went on. Carolina Beach, NC is a really nice place to visit during the off season. It costs a lot less to rent a room. We rented a two-bed efficiency at the Savannah Inn. I like staying in a room with a kitchen. We paid $75 for the night. That’s a little higher than what we usually pay, but the room was nice and the beds were comfortable. They have a pool, but I didn’t bother to find out if it was heated, since we didn’t bring bathing suits.

We had a great time at the Aquarium. I’ll tell you all about that, tomorrow.

Birthday at the Beach This Weekend

This will be a busy weekend. Tomorrow is my son’s birthday. My daughter has to go to school for half a day in order to make up a snow day. I asked my son what he wanted for his birthday, and his answer was the beach.

He’s a lucky boy, because it is supposed to be about 61 degrees at the beach on Sunday. The water will be too cold, but the kids can have fun playing on the sand, chasing the birds, and visiting the aquarium. The aquarium used to be a big hit with my kids, but now they seem to be getting bored with it. This time around, I think we will need to find something new to do at the beach to capture my kids attention.

The problem is that it is off season. Most of the fun, family activity places are not open this time of the year. We will play it by ear. Sometimes, the most fun you can have is by being spontaneous. It can be hard with an autistic child to change your plans or make plans at the spur of the moment. Luckily for me, my son handles changes pretty good.

I am doing better this week. The swelling has gone down a lot. It is now just around the main surgical area, instead of the whole right side of my face. The bruises are barely noticeable. I still have pain, but it is manageable. I have to be careful around the house. I have been trying to get myself into doing everything that needs to be done around my home. Big mistake. Yesterday was my first day of really getting back into the swing of things. Today, I am miserable.

Two of my blog friends, Blessed2BaMommy and GrammyMouse, have suggested using homeopathic oils. I need to look into that. I haven’t had time to do so, yet. Next month is Autism Awareness Month. I will be posting autism only articles for the whole month of April. I have the giveaways that are currently going on now and one more to come for this month. I have a couple of reviews to get posted for the month of March. That will bring us to April and there will be no reviews or giveaways scheduled for April.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.