Jan. 7, 2008 - New Year, new sunburn!
On New Year’s Eve we went to the beach, not to the ocean but a fresh water beach. This is on a river that is about 45 -50 minutes away. The river is so wide that you can't see to the other side. When we went on the 31st it was the coolest day that we have had since we arrived in August. The girls were cold when they got out of the water. The wind was blowing hard so the waves were like the Galveston/Crystal Beach waves that Joel enjoyed as a child. We played about 1-1 1/2 hours and then came home.
We came home and went to another missionary’s apartment to enjoy fireworks from the roof of their building. The view of the city was wonderful. At about a half an hour before midnight the fireworks began. They surrounded us. We had a panoramic view with fireworks going off in all directions. It was really neat and noisy and a little smoky.
On the 3rd we decided to get up early and go back to the beach. With plenty of sunblock and our picnic lunch we headed off at around 7:15. We were one of the first to arrive at the beach around 8:00. We put on our 50spf sunblock and the kids headed out to play. The older girls in the water and Joshua had bowls and cups from home ready to make a sand castle. Joel, Abigail & I sat down under a tree. It started off overcast and the sun was not shinning, but the sunshine ensued. When we ate lunch a little before 12:00 we reapplied sunblock. The kids played for about 45 min to 1 hour after lunch. On the drive home we started feeling the sun's affects. We knew we were in trouble when we noticed Sarah had one of her first sunburns of her life (she's 8 1/2 yrs old.) Her sisters & brother are fairer skinned than she. When we got home we started tearing apart the aloe vera plant in the back yard and put it on the sunburned areas.
We are thankful that Joshua did not get much; only around his eyes where I was afraid of getting sunblock in his eyes. Also, Joshua did not play in the water much. He enjoyed playing in the sand. The other children are a different story. Saturday and Sunday was miserable for all.
On the back end we learned a lesson. We are an early morning swimming family, out of the sun by 10:00am. We are all doing fine now. We are in the pealing stage and out of the pain and misery stage. We are thankful God is watching over us. We won't be going back to the beach anytime soon. The girls start back to school next week.
