Sometimes the sun doesn’t come out when you want it to. But don’t let the weather dampen your spirits on what’s looking to be a wet summer. My family braved a trip to Burlington’s
North Beach on a recent rainy Saturday — and we were rewarded with our own private, sandy beach on the largest lake in Vermont.
Having watched the Doppler, we were confident that the showers were thunder- and lightning-free. So we packed our tent on top of the other beach supplies and hit the road. It was a thick, humid morning when we arrived at North Beach with our party of five kids under the age of 9. We were all ready to have some fun, with or without the sun.
We freed the children from the cars and they immediately dashed to the playground. To their delight, they found that the slide had transformed into a waterslide! The passing showers had also weeded out the normal crowd of beachgoers. Under these deserted conditions, the kids remained in sight the whole time as they chased seagulls, ran in and out of the water, rode their bikes on the grass, played on the swings and built sandcastles.
The adults cooked burgers and hot dogs on the charcoal grills on the beach, and pitched our big tent over a picnic table for protection from the rain. When our waterlogged, blue-lipped children finally stopped running long enough to eat, we wrapped them in dry towels and put on their sweatshirts as they ate marshmallows with their sand-covered hands.
It was a glorious day, one we all agreed was made even more magical with the rain. And let’s just say there was little fuss at bedtime — everyone got a great night’s sleep!
It’s a goal of mine to teach my kids to adapt to life; it’s not always going to be sunny. That day, we taught them to dance — or rather, swim — in the rain.
Brooke Bousquet is the lead designer of Kids VT. She lives in Winooski with her husband and two sons.
