Cool Mom

52: Beach Day

"Do you want to ride with me or mommy?" Daniel asks Hazel as we walk across the beach towards the water where the jet skis are bobbing. Plenty already dot the waters. We slept in late and now its past noon that we finally get to explore the ocean.

"Mommy." Hazel replies, hugging my leg.

The Jet Ski rental guy hands us life jackets. While I put on mine, Daniel helps Hazel with hers. Before the man leaves us to ride the Jet Skis, I ask him to take a picture of the three of us. Once I approve of the picture, I get onto one of the Jet Skis and Daniel helps Hazel onto the seat for children in front of me.

I make sure that she's holding on to the little metal rod in front before flicking the switch and slowly riding into deeper waters.

"Are you okay?" I ask Hazel, looking down at her.

I feel her head nod against my stomach in reply. I look up just in time for a harsh spray of water to splash over us. I scream with Hazel only to realize a second later that it was Daniel's doing. Hazel laughs as Daniel circles back to us.

"I hate you." I tell him as he stops next to us.

"Do you want to ride with me so that we can splash mommy more?" Daniel asks Hazel.

"No, thank you." I say just as Hazel screams, "Yes!"

"If you do that one more time, I'm going to push you off you Jet Ski." I warn Daniel as Hazel clambers off mine and Daniel helps her onto his.

"If you can catch us." He winks at me, before zooming off, splashing even more water over me than last time.

I wipe the water out of my eyes, laughing at Hazel's screams at the speed. I follow them further into the ocean. A few minutes pass without event before I hear Hazel call out to me from ahead. "What is it, Bunny?"

"Look!" She points at the water under us.

I look down to see a school of little orange fish swim by. The coast of Maui is a speck in the distance now which is why fish are so close.

"Nemo!" Hazel points towards a particular fish that indeed has one fin, smaller than the other.

"Oh wow, Hazel! You met Nemo." Daniel says, kissing her cheek.

I reach for my phone which is in a water proof case draped around my neck and sneak a picture of Hazel and Daniel as they watch the fish disappear into the water.

"Should we do a circle and then head back?" I ask.

"Let's do that." Daniel agrees.

This time I take the lead as we do a lap of the water towards our right and when we reach the rope that indicates the limit for Jet Ski riders, we circle around and start to head back to the beach. The beach appears in the distance as we draw nearer but I'm forced to slow down as a big wave flows out behind us.

Daniel didn't read the movement of the water right, so they're both thrown off the Jet Ski and into the moving water of the ocean. I gasp unable to do anything except frantically search for Hazel. I know Daniel can swim just fine in the ocean but Hazel, barely four, cannot.

At least I thought she couldn't.

Before Daniel can recover from the water plunge, Hazel is already swimming towards the still upright Jet Ski. I watch in surprise as she reaches it before Daniel and holds onto its step waiting for Daniel to get on and pull her up.With the drama finally over and both of them safe again, I'm still gaping at my daughter.

"What?" She asks, trying to hide behind Daniel's arm, probably because of my gaze.

"That was amazing swimming." I beam at her.

"Thank you, mommy." She says as we start back towards the shore.

Once finally on land again, I take Hazel's hand and lead her towards the sand while Daniel hunts down the Jet Ski rental to pay for the hour that we used them.I leave Hazel to play in the sand while I stretch out next to her on a blanket.

I don't realize that I drift off, tired by the water. I'm waken by Daniel's hand on my shoulder.

"I'm getting Hazel ice-cream, do you want anything?" He asks.

"How long have I been asleep?" I ask, sitting up. I was cold from the water when I fell asleep but now the sun makes me want to find shade.

"About an hour." He replies.

"I'll come with you." I reply, getting up and folding the blanket into the straw bag I got from Asos. I sling the bag onto a shoulder and hold out my hand to Hazel who eagerly starts walking up the beach towards the street lined with food stalls.

"Can I get a cone?" She asks.

An ice cream cone is a novelty for Hazel as she's usually allowed a cup to avoid her making a mess. But we allow her to get a cone today. She excitedly waits for the man to fix her ice cream and I take this opportunity to survey other stalls around me.

I spot something I want and turn to Daniel, "I'm going to get an orange slushie. Do you want to share?"

"Sure. I'll bring Hazel over to you." He tells me.

I head for the stall selling slushies and place my order. A minute later, I'm handed a cup filled to the brim with ice cold orange slush. I decline a straw because minimum plastic use means another step towards protecting our environment.I take a sip of the cold drink and the coolness that flows through my body is welcomed graciously.

Daniel arrives a moment later with Hazel is tow licking her ice cream. I take another sip before handing him the cup.

"Ah!" I hear Hazel groan and I look at her only to laugh at the sight. She has ice cream smeared on her right cheek.

"Smile, Hazel." I say, as I pull out my phone and take a picture of her, grinning with the ice cream on her cheek and cone in hand.

We have to protect our environment! No one is going to do it for us. Decline straws and lids at fast food places like McDonald's and Burger King and drink your Coke or coffees straight from the paper cups. I also try and keep my plastic bag usage to a minimum, reusable cloth bags are the best. These are little steps that I've taken to minimize plastic waste going into the oceans and dumps. Share other ways I can incorporate a plastic free routine into my life :)

-T