Sunsets are cool

After a not so "hot" spring, summer is kicking in with a bang.  It is officially beach season in my household.  We, especially Derek and I, have beach fever.  When we first moved here 13 years ago, one of the selling points to me was the close proximity to a public beach. I definitely have made good use of that proximity over the years and didn't even realize how much more we would get out of it once we had kids.  Both my kids are fish and love being on the lake in a boat or just some time on the sandy beach.  For the second year now, my 7 year old has made it his personal goal to be the last one out of the lake every day of the summer.  He didn't make it last year which I'm sure was my fault, but, so far, through 4 days this year, he's on pace to do it.  Only about 88 more days to go.  We'll see. Each night of this season has been blessed with an incredible sunset.  Hey, maybe I'll post a sunset pic every night of this season.  Maybe not.  Saturday was my son's birthday and he had a party.  One of his friends stayed the night and we hit the beach after dinner.  I already knew that most people don't make it a regular ritual to run from the dinner table and throw on their swimsuit and hurry to catch an hour or so of beach time, but it really hit home when my son's friend turned to me on the way home that night and said, "You're the bestest dad in the world."  Now, I know it was the heat of the moment and that he might tell that to any guy not telling him to clean his room, but it was still cool to hear just because I took them to the beach after dinner.  Perhaps the best thing about beach season is once you are there, there are no phones( I don't bring a cell), no computers, no TV's, no video games, etc.  It is strictly one on one time with the kids.  And that is probably the real reason to throw your swimsuit on after dinner and head on out.  Oh yeah, the sunset's are really cool, too.