Post-Beach Grab-Bag: Ho-Ho's, Our Flat Earth, and A Parents' Right of Passage

Last week me and the family were at our annual visit to the glorious beaches of Ocean Isle with Kelly's step-dad's family. A few thoughts from the beach:

1. Why is it that going to the beach instantly makes me want to eat like I'm 15 all over again? "Anything you want from the store?" my wife innocently asked me on the way down as we were making our shopping list.

"Ho-Ho's" I responded without even thinking. What?!? I haven't had or even thought about a Ho-Ho in twenty years. And that's not even what I really meant. I was picturing Swiss Cake Rolls.

My wife gave me a strange look, but made the purchase. They were freakin' good. Doritos tasted especially good last week, too, and it was a particularly good week last week for hot dogs and popcorn.

What is it about the combination of salt water, sunscreen-residued hands, excessive sun exposure, and sand in uncomfortable places that makes you love junk food all the more at the beach?

2. I read "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman during the course of the week. I think I'll blog more about it later on this week, but suffice to say it was really good and really thought-provoking.

For all my students who spend their days in classes that do nothing but hate on globalization all day every day, Friedman's work might make for some interesting counter-balance.

3. So I felt like we went through a parents' right of passage last week. We sent our children unsupervised with their grandparents to the local "Waves" to purchase a new hat for Davis. They came back with our first hermit crab. We are now a real family.

After much deliberation, we christened him "Hammie." I'm not so sure about him, though, he hasn't moved much the past day or so and my track record with small aquatic-like animals is not good.

Why is it that all hermit crab stories that you hear seem to fall into one of two extremes: either the thing dies hours after the purchase or it survives the entire rest of the family. I have a bad feeling that our story might end up in the former category.