Yes, Yes I Did Have Lots Of Fun In The Sun

This week I’ve taken the boys to the city pool 4 times, twice at night and twice during the day. For the day trips we were there for a total of about 4 ½ hours, 2 on Tuesday and 2 ½ on Thursday.

Like I said before, I always put sunscreen on them but generally don’t on myself. I’m pretty fair skinned but I don’t tend to burn short of being out for hours and hours, which has only happened once. My sister and I floated along the Russian River for I don’t even know how long and my legs where so red I had to wear jeans the rest of our trip because I was too sunburned to shave. Yeah, and that was the first day of a weeklong family vaca, awesome.

Good thing I had a hat on. Good grief.

And before we lived here we lived in Orland, which is nothing but hot (100*+ with a nice hot breeze) all summer. We had a doughboy pool at our old house and pretty much lived in it all summer; not once did I get sunburned.

Maybe you’ve already guessed where I’m going, but I’ll continue anyways. So after 2 measly little days and just a few hours I now look like a lobster. Ridiculous. The best part has to be my stomach, a good example of why you shouldn't slouch. And my thighs are killing me! It's a good thing I can sleep on my back.



And I have found that when you go out with a very noticeable sunburn people like to comment on how much fun you've been having in the sun. Gee, thanks for noticing, I almost forgot how ridiculous I look.

But anyways, here’s what I think about why I got totally burned after a couple hours 2 days apart and not while being out (and laying out) all summer in Orland. Orland has an elevation of about 160 ft while Placerville’s elevation is around 1886-2000 ft, depending on where in town you are (foothills remember, nothing flat).

I told Todd my theory and he gave me the look that probably a few of you have on your face right now. The look of “Um, sure, you keep telling yourself that.” So to figure out if my theory could be correct I googled it. I found that UV radiation increases by about 4% for every 1000 ft, at least according to this site. But hey, I’ll take it because that means it’s about 8% stronger here than it was in Orland.

So my excuse theory was right! Take that Todd! Oh, sorry, hehe.

So I either need to start eating my sunscreen like Averie, drinking my sunscreen like Meghan or actually start wearing sunscreen. The problem with wearing it is that I can’t stand the way it feels. I feel so sticky and tacky afterwards that I can barely sit or get comfortable. Meghan has one that you can make yourself (I have a feeling it would get a 0 on the Skin Deep Data Base, that’s a good thing) and actually my cousin makes a body oil that's supposed to help protect you from burning. Hmm…maybe I should give her a call, because lobster red really isn’t my color.

So how's your summer going so far? ;)