Water, Sand, and Popcorn: The Perfect Solution for any All Boy Dilemma.

Nate has this magical ability when it comes to fixing things.
He can fix anything and everything.

So, when the water heater decided to stop working last night with Nate miles away...I panicked. Colton still smelled like butter, Conner and Caleb just plain smelled funny from playing so hard, and I wanted a shower.

Out of desperation, I called a neighbor to fix the water heater and the boys and I went to the beach. Alone. By ourselves. I have never dared such an outing by myself with three boys. My independence was quite shocking to me... but then again lack of hot water does crazy things to a girl.

The boys loved the sand, the water, and the sunshine.
The beach was absolutely perfect.



We made sure to rub sand in between each and every toe.
We built sand castles to only demolish them thirty second later.
And Colton explored the beach.





At first I was shocked at how quickly he warmed up to the beach. I half expected to sit on a blanket with my "baby" and spend my morning watching the big boys play.

I even almost brought a book.

Good thing I did not bring that book, because Colton was a crazy beach boy animal. There was not a grain of sand on that beach that did not meet his cute little knees, toes, and hands.



Colton loved the sand, but we started to have some issues when he wanted to eat it for lunch.
That is where I draw the line.
Sand is not lunch, no matter how hungry you are.

So, we spread out our little blanket, used a million baby wipes to remove the sand, and we had a make-shift picnic with a loaf of bread, almond butter, agave nectar, apple slices, lemonade, and cinnamon-sugar-popcorn.

I am learning that good food has the possibility to solve any problem with little boys.
Any problem.

Forget the water, sand, diapers, dry clothes, towels, or even the sandbox toys. All that really mattered is the fact that I brought some decent food along the way. And the cinnamon-sugar-popcorn is definitely the food that distracted baby Colton from his grand idea of eating an entire beach filled with sand. Thank you popcorn.



Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn

1/2 cup popcorn kernals
1 TBSP coconut oil (you could use any kind of oil, but coconut oil really tastes the best)
1 TBSP sucanat (brown sugar)
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
Pinch of sea salt

1. Pop the corn in an air popper.
2. Transfer the popped corn into a clean brown paper bag.
3. Drizzle the coconut oil over popcorn while shaking up up and down. Top with sucanat, cinnamon, and salt.
4. Close the bag and shake with all your might, mind, and strength.
5. Eat.



Thank you sand, water, sunshine, and cinnamon sugar popcorn for saving the day.
Now if only this amazing combination had the ability to move laundry, make dinner, and weed my garden....