Hey Everyone! I hope you enjoyed last night's episode as much as I did. I thought the kids were absolutely adorable! They said many really cute things. I'm really looking forward to seeing next week's episode with the guys from American Chopper. I have seen pictures of Jon and Kate's new wheels and they're pretty fancy! According to the TLC website Kate and the kids recently took a trip to the beach. I'm not sure where they went, but it looks really nice in the picture. I hope their trip is going to be a new episode. I got the following story about their trip from Kate's blog on the TLC website. The disclaimer at the end (written by Kate) actually made me laugh! Enjoy!
Every time I have the privilege of visiting the beach -- any beach -- with my children, I am reminded of how amazing and entertaining the shore can be! On the first day, the sand was very amusing, and it took a bit to remind them that sand is absolutely washable...once we are done and return to the house. Collin had a particularly difficult time adjusting to the sand and its ability to enter each and every crease, fold and surface. He adapted by managing to fill buckets of water and dump them repeatedly over his head.... only to end up with a fresh collection of sand that formed a perfect mound on top of his head!!
The waters edge called to each of my children and as each wave lapped the surface it mesmerized them and drew them in. This year, having two 8-year-olds and six 5-year-olds, I fought my urge to call them in when the water hit their knees. Each time I got worried, I took a deep breath (something I have been doing A LOT lately!), and tried to remind myself of the purpose of this trip: to have fun with my kids...it's all about the kids!
The second day, we further discovered the world of sea shells. They were amazing at this beach and Mady proudly showcased her sand dollar that she found, even if it was in three pieces. It was coveted by the rest of us for sure! By the end of the second day, each child had their own collection, and even I and my babysitter had started our own collections. It was ex-shell-ent fun!
On the third day, a very large piece of monstrous driftwood had come ashore (we had tracked it's movement all the way across the ocean in front of us the night before and the boys SWORE it was a sea monster!!!) and the boys needed to cover it with wet sand and smooth it with their best cement worker skills! Thank goodness for the sea monster. He provided us with a days worth of fun!
By the fourth day, I had found some sand castle paraphernalia to renew our sand enjoyment and we created a lovely sand city together. I hadn’t built one in awhile so it took some trial and error in order to find the correct wet/dry sand combination that equaled success.
And then the fifth day -- my personal favorite -- began with a very ,very low tide which not only meant that shells were excessively abundant on the shore but also that sand crabs in mass armies were available for the harvesting! My babysitter (who has several brothers) began the digging, and with the three we found initially, we had to find quantities divisible by six in order to keep the troops happy. So this inadvertently began the 'sand crab lottery' whereby the kids each carried a bucket with some wet sand in it and followed me or my babysitter to become the next lucky recipient of a squirmy ocean outcast! I soon realized that while I was NOT at all interested in picking up the sand crabs, I could dive quickly on the telltale lumps in the sand and scoop up an entire handful of sand surrounding the crab and call the next eager child on the list to claim his/her new pet. Amazingly, I was hitting pay dirt (or pay sand as the case may be) with my beginner's luck, and the kids were following me closely, knowing that a find was never very far away.
All in all, each child ended the day with a bucket of 6-8 sand crabs each. What a crabby day! I am proud to be able to add 'professional sand crab locator' to my list of skills! And so, once again, the ocean proved its power to amuse, amaze and entertain as we were able to fill each of our days with new and exciting beach adventures.
Like nowhere else I know of, the beach is a place to refresh, regroup and renew my bond with my children and I am so thrilled to have had the opportunity to slow it down and see life through their eyes as the waves crashed all around us.
~Kate Gosselin
****Disclaimer: No sand crabs, children, camera crew, or even paparazzi were injured in the making of this blog (or "show" for that matter!) All hermit crabs were safely and peacefully returned to the ocean before lunch on the fifth day...and I wish I could say the same thing about the beyond obnoxious paparazzi, but no such luck! :(
haha sounds like they had a fun day..... the disclaimer was very funny
ReplyDelete-darriann :)