kris and i aren’t really the regular beach going types. i guess we never understood the appeal of baking yourself slowly in the sun while getting sand in every nook and cranny of, well, everything. and then there’s the fact that if you live in michigan, going to the beach usually means visiting one of the great lakes which as early as fifteen years ago were described as a hazard to human health and while the situation has improved in recent years they are still giant sinks soaking up livestock waste and mercury emissions.

i mean, am i the only one who is a little leery of wading around in an already polluted body of water while surrounded by thousands of the unwashed masses who are doing who knows what in the water? apparently given the turn out at the beach, i am the only one.

but i guess, as a parent, one must occasionally rise above one’s own obsessive idiosyncrasies and head out to the beach with friends and family – you know, for the children.

and your children will reward you by showing you how much fun it is to eat sand.

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