By the Sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea....

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea, you and I, you and I oh so happy we'll be..... come on let's all sing it together. Really, you won't? I'll just humm it while I write.
      About six weeks ago, (by the sea, by the sea) the girls wanted to go to the beach. So after much reflection, self doubt and the realization they would eventually go on their own even if we didn't say yes we said yes they could go to the beach. (by the beautiful sea) They went had a blast and sometime around this time I think they asked us to go with them. Teri's busy season at her job is the summer so no vacations. at least for her. I won't get into it too much, it just has to do with part timers and friends of the boss who got time off. Anyway (you and I, you and I , you and I oh so happy we'll be) I started talking about going to the beach on a weekend. Teri likes to go in August and I think the week after July fourth is the best time to go. We looked over our schedules and decided that the best time to go was the first Saturday in August. Technically it was still July type weather, but it was August.
     
 The Plan was to leave early and stop for breakfast at Perkins Pancake house. The high point for me was to be Perkins. Sally Ann, Kenny and Katie were to join us along with Nancy. We left at 830. picked Nancy up in Nyack and got on the road by 9AM
    Traffic is heavy, but moving. It slows in the Oranges. Our projected time getting to the beach is late. If we stop at Perkins we won't get onto the beach until almost noon. Teri asks if we have to eat at Perkins. I say yes, then I think about how selfish I'm being for the next half hour until I finally tell Teri let's just go to the beach. She calls Nastia who relays the message and we go directly to the beach. When we get there everyone starts saying how they were looking forward to Perkins. I felt bad and angry at the same time.
   

We set up our chairs umbrellas and whatnot as always right next to the lifeguard and the high water mark on the beach. At least I hope it is. The girls, all three of them immediately go running off into the surf. I remember in my good old teenage years most girls would spend 99% of their time  getting sun on the beach, Not our girls they were in the surf most of the afternoon. Of course Nastia would complain about sand in places it shouldn't be. We settle in still I haven't eaten anything. I get a soda out of the cooler and break open the chips and settle in.
      About an hour later people complain about being hungry. I'm not looking forward to getting food on the boardwalk, but what are the choices. I don't want to go to the Beachcomber or whatever it is called that Nancy likes, so we wander on the boardwalk until someone gets tired and we settle on a pizza place. Nastia wants seafood so I go with her to a seafood place that is a sit down restaurant and we go back to have pizza. It was bad, but the slices were huge. I ordered two slices, one for me, one for Nastia and some french fries with a cheese sauce. The fries weren't to awful. The pizza I didn't finish. With a very large soda I spent $28.00. Well north of what it was worth. We sat at several tables in the back, no table being big enough for all of us and we ate.
      Back at the beach Nastia and Katie went back into the water,

Elena started digging a hole. She kept at it with the occasional side caving in until the lifeguard said there is a rule you can only dig holes up to your knee. Then her, Nastia and Katie get in the hole and we fill it in. I have a video of them trying to get out afterwards. It's the highlight of the day.
       Teri asks what time I want to leave. I say about 4-4:30, she says how about between 5-6? I say as long as it's closer to 5. At 6:30 Nastia is off buying a crab and Nancy want to get ice cream before we leave. Forgetting it's Saturday, not a week day, I'm thinking traffic will not be good

going home.
We get on the road about seven. Traffic is heavy, but moving. Around Paramus I notice a flash in the clouds to the east. I think we've missed the thunderstorms coming out of the west. The lightning show continues and gets better as we hit the Thruway going east. It ends and I think that is the end. About an hour after we are home the night sky opens up with a storm of heavy rain and lighting. A great way to end a long and sweaty day. I hope everyone had as good a time as I did. And we'll definitely do Perkins next time, I swear.   

I know this song because of  Bugs Bunny Cartoons from the 40's and 50's
"By the Beautiful Sea" is a popular song published in 1914, with music written by Harry Carroll and lyrics written by Harold R. Atteridge.^[1] The sheet music was published by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co.^[2]

The song was originally recorded by the Heidelberg Quintet, topping the early American music charts for six weeks in the summer of 1914, during the outbreak of World War I.

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
You and I, you and I, oh how happy we'll be
When each wave comes a-rolling in, we will duck or swim
And we'll float and fool around the water

Over and under and then up for air
Pa is rich, ma is rich, so now what do we care?
I love to be beside beside beside beside beside
Beside the sea, beside the seaside, beside the seaside
Down by the beautiful sea