Summer Fun's Arrival

“Uncle Crest,” The young and chipper Ballpit said, looking out the window at the sunny but slightly cloudy sky. “It’s getting warm outside, the bugs are all loud again, and the clouds are pretty!!”
“They sure are now, buddy!” Crest chuckled as he joined his nephew at the window. After what seemed like ages of the cold, Winter had finally backed down and gone to rest, allowing the warm seasons to roll in once more. “Do you know what that means?”
“Uhm.. it means.. SUMMER IS COMING!!” Ballpit squealed with joy at the realization.
“Right on, kiddo!” Crest carefully picked up the excited little beach ball dragon, to keep him from rolling right off the chair in excitement. “And you know what summer means, right?”
“WE CAN PLAY AT THE BEACH!!”
“Right again! You’re so smart!” Crest was a little afraid Ballpit might hurt his throat from all the shouting. He carried him into the kitchen and set him up in his chair, then handed him a cold apple juice box. “But use your inside voice, okay little guy? You don’t want to hurt your throat, your ears, or your poor Uncle’s ears!” He chuckled. Ballpit drank down about a third of his juice box in one go before stopping to say “Sorry, Uncle Crest!” then going right back to sipping. “It’s alright, kiddo, I know you’re excited. I’m excited, too!! So much so, I can barely wait for our first beach trip this year.” Ballpit excitedly swallowed his sip of juice and slammed the juice box lightly down on the table. “Oooh! Uncle Crest we should go tomorroooooww!! Please, please, pretty please?” He begged.
“I’ll have to check if it’ll be a sunny day tomorrow,” Crest explained as he washed some of the dishes in the sink, mostly kiddie plastic cups and plates. “But it wouldn’t hurt to get the beach bag packed either way.”
“Yay!! Ooh ooh, let me help pack the beach bag Uncle Crest!!”
“Wouldn’t dare do it without ya! Let me finish the washing up and we’ll go get it done together!”

Once Crest had finished the dishes and set them to dry, he sat with his nephew in the living room as they began to go over a beach bag checklist together. “Alright, let’s see… We can’t forget some towels and sunscreen, and of course we need your beach toys too! I’ll go grab the towels and the sunscreen, and you can…” Before Crest was done speaking, Ballpit was already giggling and rolling toward his room to grab the toys. “*Ah, kids…*” Crest smiled to himself as he got the other items out of the closet. They both brought their things back to the living room and looked at the checklist once more. “I have a idea for the beach bag Uncle Crest!!” Ballpit said in a thrilled voice as he began packing his toys into the bag. “Let’s hear it, champ!”
“What if we got a floatie?? My friends bring floaties to the beach!!”
Crest thought about this for a moment, then let out a hearty laugh. Pointing to himself, he said “Why would you need to buy a float from the store when your uncle’s the coolest float in the world?” This made Ballpit tumble down laughing. “I’ll take that as you liking my answer!”

The two kept on packing their beach bag until the whole checklist was complete. “We’re all beach-ready now! It’s looking like the perfect day tomorrow on the weather, too!”
“YAY!! And we teamworked and packed the bag together!!”
“Sure did! Hooray for us, buddy!”
The only thing left was snacks, but knowing Ballpit would want snacks after dinner, Crest chose to pack those tomorrow instead. All in all, this was going to be the best way to welcome summer.