Arrival: The Beach Part One

There is no place on earth Joey loves better than the beach. He looks forward to our beach trip every year with enthusiasm. Say "beach" to Joey, and if he hears you, he smiles. So the boys' grand arrival at the beach was, as always, a hit. First we put our feet in the sand, no camera so we could just enjoy and not worry about the camera getting wet.

Then the next day, it was time to hit the boards- and Trimper's, of course! The boys were so excited- better than Christmas!

Andy's favorite is the fishing the game, which is kind of a fancy version of pick-up-a-duck. Getting a stuffed toy every time helps its popularity, but fishing really clinches it. Now that we are home, Andy wants to set up a carnival of his own, and a fishing game is to be the centerpiece. (Stay tuned).

Joey also joined in the fun of fishing, and caught two sharks, so he got a bigger prize. Joey prefers the rides. Andy prefers the games.

Joey was so happy, the noise of the rides and the people were tolerable, if not exactly comfortable. Joey has had a huge uptick in noise sensitivity. Even at home, he prefers the TV set to a volume I can barely hear, and is increasingly unhappy about going into places that used to be only minor irritations, such as Walmart or the grocery store. I had his earplugs along, just in case, but he was fine without them.

We got the boys wristbands, so they could ride as often as they liked. They both would take several spins on their favorites, and tried a few others. The roller coasters are now a great favorite, even with Andy.

One problem with Trimper's is a lack of shade. They have benches, but almost all of them are in bright, sunny locations, and are therefore of limited use. To get cooled off, the best option is to slip into the indoor section, where the kids' rides and the carousel are, and sit on a bench near the door to take advantage of cross breeze.

One of the rides the boys tried was a pirate ship that was something like a funhouse. You go in and it rocks, and there are little sections of things to walk through, like big rubber bands or moving floors, and on either end are little rooms with fake pirate scenes in them. Then you go up onto the deck and slide down a big moving slide. Andy wandered in while Joey was taking an extra turn on the roller coaster, but he decided it was too scary and he didn't like it.

The boys then played games and won lots of prizes. Joey's favorite games are the water pistols- he seems to beat Mommy a lot at those. Andy like the frogs ponds and Whack a Mole, both of which require you to beat on things. Hmmmm...

While Andy was taking a turn at a game, Joey decided to check out the pirate ship. In he went, and I directed my attention to the slide, as Andy had not been in the ship long, and I figured JOey would probably run right through, too. However, the film of them sliding down stuff is often nice, they like slides.

Only he never appeared.

I started getting nervous. He had been in there a while. Alan had the brilliant idea of asking Andy to go look for his brother, even though he thought the ride was a little scary. A minute later, he came down the slide and said Joey wasn't there.

Baffled, I bought the required tickets and went in myself. Sure enough- no Joey. Can you say, "panic"?

I came back out to see Allan leading Joey over to Grandma and Andy (having that extra set of hands is a godsend, I can tell you)- he had decided he was hot, and gone in to the shady indoor section to cool off, smart little guy. Nearly gave us a heart attack, but we were cheering that he was recognizing his needs and thinking of ways to meet them, rather than melting down. And besides, he was OK, and we now had him.

We all went in and let the boys ride the carousel to their hearts' content. Joey rode it six times. Andy went four, then wandered over the the bumper cars (the kid ones- he's really in-between the kiddie ones and the big ones, but he's definitely NOT ready for the big ones).

When Joey finally decided to change animals, he gave his giraffe a hug and kiss.

Andy first rode a deer, then fell in love with the sea dragon. We were impressed with him voluntarily riding it. Remember, two summers ago, we couldn't get him on anything at all! Carousels are actually a lot more exciting than they look- the speed and passing all the lights and colors and people, it can be really something.

Joey rode it until he almost fell asleep. And so ended our first Trimper's adventure. But don't worry. We went back.