Invincible - Part 3

Fortunately, we are quick learners. Because we didn't plan our first day at the beach very well.

Being from Wyoming is no excuse - we have lakes, with, um, beaches. But we haven't taken a baby to the beach in years. And we've never taken three of them at a time.

So you'll forgive us if we didn't plan well to push, or pull, or drag the triplet stroller through the ankle-deep sand. In the end, it wasn't really that tough. But as I stood, looking past the thousands of other people who also decided to go the beach on a Thursday morning (what do these people do for a living, anyway?), I had no idea how we were going to get everyone down near the water.

We finally decided to take each of the babies out of the stroller one at a time and carry them to our chosen spot. Then all of our gear. And then, at last, the stroller itself.

By the time we got everyone within a stone's throw of the ocean, I was already tired of being at the beach.

The girls were so excited, they were all but uncontrollable. Chasing seagulls, kicking sand on innocent sunbathers, losing their sandals in the deep sand. Thank God we had the foresight to dress them all in matching swimsuits - it was like they were wearing pink uniforms that made them a little easier to find among the mass of Frisbees and tents and coolers and other little kids who were running around as crazy as ours.

Meanwhile, we spread our beach blanket out perfectly on the sand, set out our lunches, surrounded the blanket with beach toys for the girls and the triplets.

And then we took the boys out of their car seats. And that's where the fun ended.

Jack hated it. Despised it. Cried almost from the moment his little board shorts hit the blanket. He stopped crying just long enough to scoop up a handful of sand and shove it in his mouth.

More crying. And then, of course, he rubbed his eyes. Babies are apparently not fond of a cement-like mixture of sunscreen and sand in their eyes.

Luke took off crawling into the sand. He could not be stopped. He crawled off the blanket, and we put him back. He crawled off, and we put him back. Ben tried to crawl away, too, but for some reason, he didn't want to put his knees in the sand. So instead, he hiked his butt up into the air and elephant walked on his hands and feet.

It was funny, but there was no time to enjoy it. Jack had more sand in his eyes. And the girls were there somewhere, we were pretty sure.

And just when it seemed as though the agony had reached its apex, my wife (and God bless her for this) wanted to take pictures of the family at the beach.

I don't know if there is a single one of us in the picture who appears to be enjoying our little trip to the ocean. Maybe the only person who really enjoyed it was the random beach-goer who was chosen to take the picture.

It wasn't long before we lured the girls away from the beach with the promise of lunch on a patio and ice cream - and we got out of the sand as quickly as we could put all the boys back in their car seats, pack up our lunches (now fully coated in sand), organize our beach gear and toys, carry each boy back to the sidewalk, and pull the stroller through the sand.

But they, and we, learn quickly. We were in California for the annual TripletConnection convention, part of which was a beach party on Saturday evening. Suffice it to say, after our Thursday afternoon sojourn, we were not looking forward to the beach party.

This time, though, I put the stroller behind me, got low to the ground, and pulled it through the sand with the boys still attached. It looked a little like the training scene in Rocky III, but it worked. And we sat next to someone with a huge umbrella - and this time much closer to the water.

Turns out, when sand is wet, it packs. And babies have a much harder time eating it. And everyone has much more fun.

The girls played in some powerful waves, the boys played in the ocean, too, and we really enjoyed the last major event of the convention. The Orange County Register even took our picture and published it in the Sunday paper (you can see the picture here: http://www.ocregister.com/photos/convention-beach-triplets-2492123-one-three/pid2492125 ).

Good thing we're relatively quick learners. Or next year's vacation to the Caribbean would have to be in Wichita.