Magical Realism, Part 1

In English, we're currently learning and writing about magical realism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_realism) in connection to another theme; family stories. We were told to choose a family story and write it out, and then rewrite it adding elements of magical realism. This is the first part of my magical realism project-- the story as it happened, with no imaginary elements added.

When my dad was six years old, he went with his family—his sisters Laura and Susan and his parents— to the New York World’s Fair. Afterwards, before heading home, they stopped at Jones Beach on Long Island. That was where my dad saw the ocean for the first time in his life. He and his sisters were fascinated by it, and, not having bathing suits, went wading as deep as their parents would allow them. But despite their efforts to keep dry, they quickly got soaked due to their inexperience with the ocean. After that, they gave up on wading and began playing around in the water, splashing each other and diving under crashing waves.

Their parents watched them, having long since given up on trying to keep them dry.

Water fights quickly ensued, and then fort-making and sand-ball fights out of the water. The grown-ups retreated up the beach so as to keep clean, but the kids had no such intentions. Within minutes they were covered with sand from head to toe. After Laura got sand in her eyes, they returned to the water and the still-novel idea of waves, which they had never seen before.

Finally, after several hours, their parents intervened and reluctantly loaded their soaked and sandy children into the once-clean car. On the ride home, they patiently listened to the endless chatter about the sand, the waves, and the water, until finally the kids succumbed to their exhaustion, and fell asleep.