The beach is the best because everyone gets to pick their favorite thing to do. In the Bluth household, I’ve been observing what all three of us each like to do and here are my conclusions.
Mr. Bluth: Dig holes. The deeper the better. The goal is to reach China, or at least to where the sand ends and it starts getting rocky. It’s preferable to have a sturdy shovel (very hard to find amongst beach toys, surprisingly!), but since we are a city family, we use a serving spoon usually. It’s not the cheap plastic of some beach toys. Maybe someday we’ll invest in a good gardening shovel. If there is no shovel-no problem! You can always dig with your hands. Now the key to digging a good hole is get plenty of water. You want a standing couple of inches in the bottom so that the diggings is easy. For that reason, it is recommended that you start pretty close to where the waves are coming in. Sometimes a nice big wave will even help fill up your hole! Once your hole is done (it’s never really done, you can always enlarge it), you can fill it with water and take a bath. Or bury somebody. Just make sure that you fill it up when you’re done - no need to break any unsuspecting beach-goer’s ankles.
Mrs. Bluth: Absorb the sun’s rays. The goal here is to recharge the body’s batteries as if you were a solar panel. You need to be exposed to the sun (use sunscreen!) as long as possible so that you can replenish to the max. This makes everyone feel better (as long as you use sunscreen!). The nice thing about this activity, is that it requires minimal tools and effort. You just need a towel to plod down on. And then rotate a couple times an hour. Minimum effort for maximum reward. Unlike digging a hole, this activity should be done a safe distance from the waves. There is nothing worse than being surprised during a sun-absorption session with a cold wave that reaches your unsuspecting towel. Nothing better than pretending you’re a plant and absorbing all that energy.
Adaline: Collecting rocks. Adaline likes to carry around a little bucket (usually the one Mr. Bluth is wanting to use to fill his hole with water) and put rocks in it. She can fit dozens of little rocks in there. Usually she takes them somewhere special to organize or dump them out. At our more-frequented beach, she takes them to the lifeguard tower and puts them along the base of the structure. She then sometimes has to guard them against other children trying to steal her hard work. Or sometimes she looks for another load. She is not the most methodical searcher. She starts down the beach passes up perfectly good rocks for other rocks farther down. Maybe there is a method to her madness, but it does seem mildly inefficient.
Also, Adaline’s other favorite activity is to ruin our activities. She can cave in a well-engineered hole or interrupt a sun-absorbing nap quite quickly.
The beach has been our home for most of the summer and we have all loved it.
