The Sandbox ... (Day 6)

Building sandcastles Pacific City, OR 1993

Our family loves relaxing on ocean beaches. When we lived in New Jersey we had a summer “ritual” every Monday. If the weather forecast for the day sounded good, we were up and in the car by 6:00 a.m. It took us just about an hour to make it to Island Beach State Park. Joe would stop at a little sandwich shop and buy some coffee, bagels, and a large hoagie (known as a submarine sandwich to some) just outside the park. We enjoyed the bagels for breakfast. Later in the day we would split the hoagie for our lunch, while the boys enjoyed the sandwiches I had made for them. Most Mondays we were usually the first ones on the beach, so we would pick a spot and “set up camp.” The boys loved playing in the sand and running along the water’s edge. They were typical kids at play on a beach, with plastic pails and shovels to dig for things, capture the ocean water (along with a starfish once), and of course, build their sandcastle. The older TJ got the more elaborate his sandcastles became. TJ was thrilled anytime he was able to spend time at the beach. 

Once we moved to the west coast, whenever we visited his favorite beach in Pacific City, Oregon, he always had to climb the huge sand dune. Then he loved to roll all the way down this over-sized mountain of sand to the water’s edge! And if Mom was tagging along, then I had to climb it with him. Getting down and dirty in the sand was NEVER a concern of his!

TJ at "Sand Box" training Las Vegas, NV 2010

So, is it any wonder that TJ is thrilled to be deployed to “the sandbox”? Even the grueling “sandbox training” was fun to him! They lived in tents and were dealing with 90+ degree weather just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. TJ took a lot of pictures while he was there and posted them on the internet. I pulled this photo from his Facebook page. His caption for it said, “There’s an awful lot of moon dust out there!” But don’t be fooled: He was having the time of his life!

From what I’ve learned, Kuwait is pretty flat. So, he probably won’t be climbing or rolling down any sand dunes. But, I am certain that he will be able to find his fair share of dirt to get into and will love every moment in the “sandbox!”