With the temperature rising, a friend of mine made the comment she'd like to take her kids to the beach. Wow! That's a 2 hour drive both ways + 5 kids in the car = CRAZY.I was up for it, but when we found an alternative in our thin handy book called "The Guide" containing various places within the country worth exploring, I have to admit I was relieved. The drive to this "beach" would only be a half hour. It would be on the Flemish side of the country. The southern part of the country (where we live) speaks French, and the northern part speaks Flemish.
With thoughts of sand and water, the kids eagerly dressed in swimsuits while I packed lunches, put the address into the TomTom, packed sunscreen and towels, and we were off. The other mother wanted to get there early since the picture in the "The Guide" looked pretty crowded. At about 10:00 we were paying our 3 Euros for parking and surprisingly found a wonderful gem of a beach. We set camp close to a wooden play structure made to resemble a boat, and pulled out shovels and buckets to enjoy the sun filled day. The 7 children (another mom and kids came too) played and played for 5 hours without one single dispute. We only witnessed cooperation while our kids swam, jumped off a small dock, dug moats and rivers in the sand, carried buckets of water to fill the river, and just plain enjoyed hanging out together! What a pleasant surprise of a day!
We of course noticed the pleasure in this day...kids playing while moms chatted and shared travel plans, cultural struggles, parenting styles, and much more. We made another date for the following Monday and had just as much fun again without any of our houses being destroyed with so many children playing together.
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