"DON'T STEP ON THE BLANKET!"

I love going to the beach.  I find it to be very relaxing.  I also find it to be a very interesting experience.  There is the whole personal experience.  You know, sun, shade, water, sand.  Then there is the people watching aspect.

This beach visit was a great personal experience.  The weather was perfect and the water wasn't too cold.  That means I actually got in the water (doesn't happen too often at the lake, just ask my kids).

The people watching portion was very entertaining.  Next to us sat an elderly couple who were catching some rays.  After awhile, a woman with a (4-5 year old) girl came walking up to the blanket.  As they were approaching the blanket (with her grandparents laying on it), the mom yells, "DON'T STEP ON THE BLANKET!"  Not once, but five or six times.  They stood by the blanket for several minutes waiting (not sure for what) and the little girl asks, "Can we go back in the water?  My feet are burning."  The mother says yes, grabs her hand and SLOWLY walks the little girl back to the lake.  You could tell the little girl was doing everything to keep her feet from burning off in the sand.  About 10 minutes later, another woman with her two kids comes up to the blanket and grabs towels for her kids.  This time the grandfather is yelling, "DON'T STEP ON THE BLANKET!" (not once, but several times).  One of the kids runs across the blanket and the grandfather is ticked.  They all ate on the blanket.  The little girl asked for something, and, she didn't say please, so the grandfather refused to give it to her.

At this point, all of us decided to go in the lake.  When we got out and back to the blanket, the people to the right of us were gone.  The grandparents on the left?  They moved so close to our blanket that we could almost touch them.  No  there wasn't anyone on the other side of them (the grandparents).  RT was putting things next to our blanket just to give us a little space.  I think they were trying to catch some shade from our umbrella.  If they got any closer, I was going to yell, "Don't step on our blanket!"