At the Beach with Pappy

This week has been an interesting one, and downright educational for my father, as you will soon see.

Tuesday afternoon phone call:

Pappy: Hey, I'm coming down there and taking the boys to the beach tomorrow. I'll bring them back sometime on Thursday.

Me: Joel will be here Wednesday and Thursday too.

Pappy: Well, I wouldn't think of not taking Joel to the beach with us. We'll have a great time.

24 hours later...

The car is packed and loaded, boys are strapped into booster seats, an unsuspecting Pappy sits at the wheel. The mommy is on the driveway, with helpful reminders like "don't fight!", and "remember your sunscreen!" and "listen and mind Pappy!" Us mommies always get a teensy bit nervous when our babies are out of town without us, even when they're in the capable hands of their Pappy. I was looking forward to reassurances from Pappy while they were gone, happy text messages like "having a blast building a sand castle!", or "Dane volunteered to pray before dinner!"

The texts from Pappy started about an hour after they left the house, but they weren't quite what I had envisioned:

"3 packs of gum in 70 miles...Is that a record?"

"I don't feel so sorry for those boys at Normandy anymore. I went to the beach with Dane, Aidan, and Joel."

"What do you mean there were floaties in the bag?"

"Your son is a hound dog. Dane could not keep his eyes off a group of half-naked young ladies on the beach."

"I was questioned when I told Aidan to quit peeing in the tub when they were all 3 in it...but I didn't say anything when he put his pizza on the motel room floor between bites."

"The hotel manager called and told us that we were being too loud and needed to be really quiet so we didn't get kicked out of the hotel."*

"On the third cup, I tried to get him to switch to decaf, but they were out. On the plus side, you now have someone to drink coffee with."

"How, in Joel and Aidan's simple yet beautiful language do you say "don't put the snorkel you found on the side of the pool in your mouth"? So far, no luck with English.

"Aidan just nuked the 1/3 piece of pizza that spent the night on the floor. He seems to enjoy it."

"Does Aidan have any extra shorts? His got wet when he was peeing in the Gatorade bottle."

*Pappy had a pre-arranged agreement with the hotel manager. He requested the obliging manager call their room at precisely 9pm with a "stern warning" to stop being so noisy otherwise they would be kicked out of the hotel.

Sounds like the trip was, um, eventful and memorable for everyone involved. Thank you, Pappy for treating the boys to a trip they will never forget!