Hey Folks! Here is my latest installment of Lazy Sunday Morning. This time I borrowed from my own childhood where we spent a week in the summer at Ocean City, NJ. Please R &R Thank you - Love Carebearmaxi
Lazy Sunday Morning At The Beach
Donna sat with Rachel on the Ocean City Beach. She was wearing her magenta pink one-piece bathing suit and Rachel wore her black one piece bathing suit. Both ladies were bereft of their husbands who were working together which had brought them from Seattle to this small ocean side town in New Jersey.
"Wow, I didn't know this place existed. Never went to beaches too much when I was a child. We usually went skiing," Donna said as she shaded her eyes with her hand from the bright sunshine.
"My parents always chose some foreign place from where we lived except for one year when we had a "staycation," Rachel responded lying flat on her back lying on a towel. She wore dark sunglasses and her dark hair was pulled up in a messy twist at the top of her head.
"I'm going for a dip in the ocean. Then I will have to redo my sunblock. I really don't need any more freckles on my skin."
Rachel just smiled. "Have fun."
Donna walked to the edge of the beach where some of the foam left its residue on the brown thick sandy beach. She held her arms across her middle and dipped her toe into the water. It was not unpleasantly cool. She stepped a little further in and floated a little way out. She let herself drift for a minute always mindful that the undertow was extremely harsh and could pull one further out into the ocean than was recommended.
She thought about Harvey and the case that he and Mike were working on. It was real estate fraud carried on throughout many resort towns. It started in the westernmost parts of Washington State and apparently peppered through to the east coastal towns as well. Many of the people who had been duped had poured some of their retirement funds and/or vacations savings into these places but yielded no return or confusion with other people who had purchased or rented the same homes.
Donna felt the sun shining on her and closed her eyes.
Meanwhile, Harvey and Mike who were really working on the case but decided since it was Sunday morning that they could surprise their wives with a day to themselves. Therefore, both men took care of their respective children together. Harvey had his little daughters, Lily and Mimi and Mike had his son the ever fussing James.
"Who would have thought that you and me would ever wind up like this?" Harvey remarked as he bent down to pull Mimi's outfit back up over her body.
" I knew I would someday but never in a million years would I have thought you capable of a long term relationship let alone marriage and fatherhood."
Harvey smiled at that remark because at one time he thought none of this was possible for him. If it had not been for Donna and her unconditional love and patience, he knew he would have been that restless, angry man who wanted to live down what his mother had done to him.
"Things are so different now," he murmured and smiled.
Harvey was helping Mimi dress herself for the second time that morning. Potty training was not the part of child rearing Harvey liked best. Most of the time Donna, her sister, or even their mothers would take the girls for potty duties, but as he had promised his wife, he could take care of it.
"Harvey, they are girls. So show them that you know the difference. Mimi sometimes has accidents, but Lily is hitting the mark pretty well. Just remember to take a pair or two of training pants in the event they mess up their girlie panties and extra clothing," Donna had said to him that morning when he had told her what he and Mike had planned. "I'll just pack up their bags."
"Donna," Harvey said as he stayed her hand with his. "I can handle it. I've watched you enough when you're packing their things for a day trip. Go to the beach or whatever. Just go have some fun with Rachel."
"Ok, Rachel and I are going to the beach for a bit and then we thought that we would have lunch at that Tiki Bar over the bridge. The one we saw-"
"Woah, Donna, I didn't like the look of that place," Harvey admonished.
"Too bad. Why? Don't you trust us?"
"Of course, I trust you, it's those guys at that place I don't trust," Harvey said taking her into his arms.
Donna had put her arms around his neck and leaned up kissed him full on the mouth.
"Does that feel like I'm going anywhere?" Donna had said with raised eyebrows.
Giving her his delicious little pout with the big brown puppy dog eyes, " I guess not. Have fun."
"Daddy!" Mimi cried as she squirmed while Harvey tried to dress her.
"Mimi, it's ok. Daddy's got you," Harvey said as he managed to get Mimi dressed. He held Mimi's hand as she jumped from the bed where Harvey had decided to dress the girls. Mike was already finished with James and had taken him into the other room to keep an eye on James and Lily.
As Harvey let Mimi jump down from the bed freshly changed, Lily tugged on his black T-shirt.
"What is it, Lily?" Harvey asked and then he saw the wet stain on her shorts and could see Lily had missed the potty time.
"I peed," Lily said with a finger in her mouth looking sheepishly up at her tall father.
Harvey just rolled his eyes.
Mike smiled jovially at Harvey.
"The joys of fatherhood," Harvey remarked as he lifted Lily holding her a little ways away from his body so she did not get him wet as well carried her into the bathroom to wash her.
Donna now lay on the beach allowing the air to dry her. She had placed her large dark glasses on her face once again and laying back put her head into her voluminous straw hat to give her more shade. She had reapplied her sunscreen so she would not burn too badly. From years of warning from her mother who had the same complexion and coloring, Donna had learned that the sun was sometimes not kind to those of red hair and fair skin.
"What do you think our husbands are doing?" Rachel asked turning to look at Donna who looked like a model from Vogue just peacefully lying there wearing her shades and soaking up the sun.
"Harvey is wondering why he told me I could have a day and act like a single woman again and Mike is probably playing games with all three kids."
"I think they are both probably tearing their hair out," Rachel laughed. "I know Mike will wonder sometimes how women do it."
"Harvey wonders, too, but pretends like he can do just as well. He knows I know that he tries his best and most of the time he is great with his girls, but there are just some things he cannot get the hang of."
Rachel said, "Let me guess-potty training."
"Yes. Perhaps if we had boys instead of girls, it may have been easier but we won't find that out until we have one."
"Take it from me. Either sex will not make a difference. We have a boy and Mike has tried but he thought that James had it down pat to pee standing up and the toilet lid almost slammed on James' little penis!" Rachel laughed again.
"What times is it?"
Rachel looked at her watch. "It's almost noon."
"That was a quick two hours," Donna quipped as she rose from her reclining position. "Let's go have lunch at that Tiki bar. Do you want to change first?"
"No, I'm dry and not too sticky. I'll just put my clothes on over my suit. How about you?"
"I'm good. I'll do the same."
Meanwhile, Harvey and Mike had taken the girls for a picnic lunch at a park. The park was full of children on this summer day. The swings looked crowded and Harvey spotted too many people in line for the baby swings, so he steered the stroller to a little hill filled with purple wildflowers and a big tree which afforded a lot of shade and a lot of space where all five could spread out.
Mike had convinced Harvey to stop at McDonald's and get their lunch. It was not that Harvey disapproved, but he knew that Donna would have a conniption if she knew what he had fed their daughters for lunch. In her mind, McDonald's was great in a pinch and if you were poor; but their little family was neither.
"I hope the girls don't get addicted to this stuff," Harvey said as he watched Lily and Mimi pick up their chicken McNuggets and bite into one. Both girls chomped down on the little piece of chicken and smiled.
"Here drink some milk," Harvey said to Mimi who seemed to really be enjoying her lunch.
"Hey, at least you got them milk and not soda. Is Donna really that strict with their diets?"
"Not really. She just doesn't want them to form any bad habits like when she was growing up. I grew up on this stuff and look at me. I'm fine."
Mike thought something, but decided not to say it out loud. Meanwhile he threw some French Fries in his own mouth and smiled. He then handed James some who was still hungry but had wolfed down his own Kid's meal of cheeseburger and fries.
After the girls had finished, Harvey stood up and said, "Let's pick mommy some flowers, ok?"
Mimi and Lily set off in the grass with Harvey just walking behind and holding the flowers they picked.
"Come here, girls," Harvey said. When Lily and Mimi returned to him, he took one each of the purple flowers they had picked and tucked one on each daughter's ear.
"Pretty girls," Harvey said and they smiled.
Lily took a flower and said, "Daddy, your turn."
"Me?"
Lily and Mimi both nodded emphatically.
Harvey helped them tuck a flower on his ear. They both giggled when Harvey pretended to preen like a girl.
"Let's save the rest for mommy."