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Phil pulled into the parking lot of the beach, smiling and glancing into his rearview mirror to see all his kids in the back.
Each one seemed more eager than the next to try and climb out of the vehicle as quickly as possible.
As soon as the car was put into park and the doors unlocked, Techno and Tommy wasted no time opening their doors and were quickly followed out by Tallulah and Chayanne.
Phil just chuckled to himself, glancing at his wife who simply shrugged and smiled at him.
He got out of the car and made his way to the trunk where all the supplies were.
Tommy looked mischievously at his brothers.
“I bet I could beat you both in a race to the beach.”
Techno scoffed. “In your dreams, squirt.”
Chayanne puffed his chest up proudly. “I definitely could win!”
“Alright. First one to the water wins!” Tommy shouts before taking off.
Both of the remaining boys then started running but Phil looked over at them.
“Hey! Are you forgetting someone?” He called out, looking down at Tallulah who stood by Kristin looking sadly as the boys ran off without her.
Techno circled back and bent down enough so Tallulah could jump on his back, which she happily did and pointed forward.
“Onwards!” She exclaimed as Techno ran off, catching up to his brothers quickly.
Kristin laughed at her sons before looking over to Phil who just shook his head.
“They really couldn’t even help us unpack the car.”
Kristin walked over and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. “They are kids, Phil. The beach is exciting for them. Besides, at least now we don’t have to worry about any of them breaking something.”
Phil couldn't help but laugh a bit and nodded. “You’re right.”
He and Kirstin grabbed all of what they could before heading down to the beach to find the perfect spot.
They could see their boys wrestling in the water, Tallulah now on Tommy’s shoulders as he fought off Chayanne and Techno from knocking him over.
Kristin immediately set up the chair she brought along with the umbrella and applied sunscreen as Phil set up the rest of the supplies.
As soon as he finally settled down and got a chance to sit, Tallulah was running up to him.
“Dad! Can I have my sand castle set?” She asked, bouncing on her toes.
Phil smiled, getting up once again and digging around in his bag before pulling out the buckets and shovels that were brought for sand castle making.
Tallulah’s eyes lit up as she quickly took them.
“Thanks dad!” She squealed before running off near the water line where the sand was wet but not constantly covered by waves.
Next, Chayanne ran up.
“Dad! Did you remember to pack my floatie?” He questioned, trying to peer into the bag.
“Of course I did Chayanne.” He said, grabbing it and pulling out the deflated duck.
Chayanne smiled and sat on the edge of the towel Phil had set up for himself, now soaking it with water.
“Can you blow it up for me?”
Phil, who really just wanted to sit down and enjoy the sun, agreed as it made his kid happy.
He spent the next few minutes blowing up the floaties before handing it over to Chayanne who put them on and went running back to the water.
“Thanks dad!”
Finally, Phil had some quiet. He sat down on his towel to relax and realized it was soaked. He sighed and exchanged it for a dry towel, hanging the other one off an unused chair they brought for the kids, and had a chance to settle in.
“Don’t forget to put sunscreen on yourself, my love.” Kristin said and handed it over.
“Right right. I knew I was forgetting something.” He said, applying the sunscreen to himself.
“Just be thankful I made the kids put the sunscreen on at home so we don’t have to drag them over to put it on now.”
Phil let out a laugh. “God, could you imagine trying to get the four of them to sit still while we applied sunscreen at the beach?”
Kristin just smiled before pulling out her book and leaning back in the shade to read.
Once the sunscreen was applied Phil laid back, excited to finally get a chance to rest.
“Dad!” Phil heard Tallulah cry out, causing him to look up.
“Chayanne totally ruined my sand castle!” She whined, looking like she was on the brink of tears.
Meanwhile, her brother's foot was placed in the centre of what used to be the sand castle, holding his arms in the air.
“I’m a big scary monster! You have to defeat me!”
Phil got up from where he was lying and walked over to his kids, bending down.
“Now Chayanne, you know it is not nice to go and destroy Tallulahs sand castles unless she is okay with it,” Phil spoke calmly. “Would you like it if she did the same to you?”
Chayanne shook his head before putting his hands behind his back.
“Sorry Tallulah…”
Tallulah wiped the tears that were forming in her eyes, muttering a soft “it’s okay” before looking back at her now destroyed work.
“Chayanne, why don’t you go play with your brothers?”
The youngest boy sighed dramatically. “Because Techno is burying Tommy and that's boring.”
“What?” Phil exclaimed, looking over to see his eldest son pushing sand onto his middle son whose head was just barely poking out of the sand.
“Techno! Stop burying your brother how many times do I have to tell you.”
Techno looked up. “Heh? He asked me to!”
“Look, dad! I’m a little sand boy.” Tommy grinned happily.
Phil got up and walked over with Chayanne.
“Tommy you know this always ends badly with Techno getting bored and leaving you to unbury yourself, which usually results in me unburying you.”
“No see this time is different! Techno promised not to leave me this time.”
Techno just looked smug. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far. You can’t do much with your entire body under the sand so there isn’t anything stopping me from just leaving you like this.”
Tommy’s eyes widened. “Techno you little bitch! When I get out of here oooo you’re gonna get it.”
The blonde was clearly struggling under the sand to try and push his way out but was failing miserably.
“Chayanne, help me unbury your brother.” Phil finally said.
It took a good 10 minutes given that the boys had first dug a big hole and then buried Tommy in it so he was sitting up instead of the usual lying down.
Once he was free, he ran after Techno, screaming profanities at him.
Phil was going to go over, but he glanced over at Tallulah who was still poking at her destroyed sand castle.
“Hey, Chayanne can you go watch your brothers for me to make sure they don’t kill each other while I go talk to Tallulah?”
Chayanne just nodded happily and went running after his two older brothers.
Phil walked over to Tallulah and sat down.
“What’s wrong?”
“It's ruined.” She said dramatically.
“Well, can’t you build a new one?” Phil asked.
Tallulah shook her head. “What if Chayanne ruins it again?”
Phil thought for a moment. “Why don’t I help you build it then? We can make a better one than before.”
Tallulahs eyes lit up and she nodded.
The father and daughter spent the next few hours, making a giant sand castle, one that Tallulah was able to crawl into and use.
“This is so cool!” Tallulah exclaimed as she looked over everything and ran over, giving her dad a tight hug. “Best dad ever.”
Phil just smiled and hugged his daughter back tightly.
When he walked back to where his wife was, he saw both his eldest children were sitting in the two chairs, digging through the bag.
“Daaad.” Tommy whined. “I’m hungry.”
Phil just chuckled. “We have some drinks and snacks in the cooler by your mother.”
Techno’s eyes lit up a bit as he got there first, opening it up and keeping it away from Tommy.
The younger started to complain and tried to fight him, causing them to nearly drop the cooler entirely but Phil managed to catch it.
“Jesus, it is like you boys have not eaten in ages.”
Phil reached in and grabbed them each the same snack and handed it over along with two drinks, which seemed to be enough for the boys to return to their chairs and eat.
Before Phil could settle down, his boys had finished eating and decided it was time to drag him into the water.
All four of his kids convinced him by each grabbing him by one of his arms and dragging him into the ocean to swim with them.
He wanted to argue but decided to play along and, given it was quite hot, the water would be nice and refreshing.
Phil couldn’t tell how long he had been in the ocean but once he started to get cold he got up and headed back to dry off.
Once he was dried the man sat down on his chair and took a breath, finally having a minute to himself to relax.
However, he noticed Kristin first closing her book and then her umbrella. He seemed surprised.
“Done reading already?”
Kristin just laughed and pointed towards the horizon above the sea. “We’ve been here for a while, the sun is getting ready to start setting so we are going to have to leave soon.
Phil could not believe it, where had the time gone? The once painfully hot air was now cooling down a bit and his kids were making their way back to shore, looking tired and ready to go.
Kristin noticed the confusion on his face but just reached down and grabbed his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“I know this must have been not the most relaxing for you but, it is nice to spend time with your kids. I mean with Techno going back to university soon, and Tommy going into his last year of high school. Not to mention the twins are now getting into more serious academic stuff and will be busy with all their extracurriculars, we aren’t gonna have much more family time like this.”
Phil thought it over and she was right. He couldn’t remember the last time the six of them got to spend the day together, let alone Phil being able to spend time with each of his kids. It was nice, he wouldn't lie.
Once the kids arrived back at the spot they had chosen, they began getting dressed and drying off before collecting stuff to help carry it back to the car.
They got everything reloaded into the car and before long they were headed back.
As Phil drove he glanced back to see three of his four kids fast asleep, while Techno sat reading his book quietly using the glow of the sunset to read the pages.
A warmth spread in Phil’s chest as he appreciated the moment with all his favourite people in the world.
Although it wasn’t a relaxing beach day for him, Phil would not change a second of it.