Skeletor's first trip to the beach

Sunday was the big day. We planned to take Skeletor to Hanna Park so he could play on the beach!  We were pretty excited for the boy, who as far as we know has never been to the beach before. The plan was for me to go for a bike ride while Mel and Skelly walked on the beach. Then I was going to join them so we could hang out and eat lunch by the sea.

Sounded easy enough at the time.

That morning we were running behind schedule (which is usually the case). We finally left the house a little after 11. We made it no further than the entrance of the neighborhood when I realized I had forgotten the camera. We turned around, grabbed the camera, and were on our way.

We had the dog, beach towel, bike, backpacks, water bottles, etc... I wanted to run into petsmart and get a stake to tie up the dog on the beach. Oh crap.. we forgot to pack our lunches!

I dropped Mel off at subway while Skells and I ran into petsmart. I found a nice cheap stake and a bag of treats, then got in line at the checkout. After waiting for the guy in front of me to nearly finish, I realized that I had left my wallet in the car. I drug the dog with me to the car to get the wallet, came back into the store and paid for the stuff. Loaded Skelly into the car and scooped up Mel from subway.

OK, now we were on our way!

Oh crap, we only have one beach towel. We stopped at walgreen's to get one. I was elected to go in. They had a very limited selection. Most of them were of very poor quality. Finally I decided on the only towel they had that looked like it would make it through a single wash. This towel happened to be bright pink and covered with flip-flops. Perfect! I jumped back into the car with my super manly new beach towel.

OK, now we were on our way!

We arrive at Hanna Park and as you might imagine are both starting to get hungry. We find a parking spot near the beach and I gear up for my bike ride while Mel and Skells get ready to go walk on the beach.

Skeletor was pretty excited about being out of the back seat after having been cooped up for an hour. Mel and Skelly headed for the beach and I took off on my bike ride. I got about half way done and my bike broke down. The pedal has been coming loose and falling off lately. I tried to put it back on and it appeared to be stripped out completely. Not so great.

I picked up the pedal and started walking the bike towards where I guessed the car was. As I was getting close, I get a text from Mel: "Not working he is too upset won't sit he is crying"

I finally made it to the car and put the broken bike away. I grabbed our lunch and headed out to the beach. Mel and Skelly were sitting in the shade on the boardwalk. She said that Skelly was terrified of the water and was burning up in the sun. Melanie and I were both working hard at remaining positive.

We busted out our subway sandwiches and had lunch. After that, I asked Mel to wait there while I took Skelly for another crack at the water.

He was certainly a bit standoffish. The waves really freaked him out. After plenty of assurance though, he seemed to loosen up a bit.  I don't know if you've been to the beach with a dog before, but this was my first time.

An item of note: dog's have total disregard for sand.

I walked the wet dog out of the waves and up the beach to get Mel. He plopped his wet ass right down in the dry sand and wouldn't budge.  I practically had to pick him up to get him moving. I was trying to signal to Mel to come down to the beach so we could hang out now that the dog was more acclimated. She couldn't see me from a distance. Finally we made it up the boardwalk to where Mel was sitting.

I told her that the dog was doing better, so we all headed back down to the beach. Skelly was now pretty excited about going in the water, chasing the birds, urinating on sand castles, etc. What he wasn't interested in, was letting me get over to our towel so I could put down the backpacks and other beach crap I was trying to carry.

All of our hard work finally paid off. We were on the beach with the dog. We had eaten lunch. He was having fun. We were having fun. The sun was popping out from time to time. It was bliss I tell ya!

Of course that didn't last long before the sky opened up and it began to pour. We hurriedly packed up our sandy belongings, sandy dog and sandy selves, then headed for the soon to be sandy car.

It wasn't exactly as we had planned it, but all the hassle was totally worth it! We can't wait to go again. :)

 Skelly was totally pooped during the ride home

He's such a vicious animal!

Somehow he managed to get his toy stuck in the dishwasher!!