Beyond The Sea

Tuesday:

I broke out the 'special crayons' and let Jack and Sophia go to town on Chloë's huge coloring book at the table. They love those crayons. Half are missing, and one of the remainders is broken, so I bought some more when we went school supply shopping at night. They must be watched with a hawk-eye, though, because those things will get everywhere, just like with paint.


My penny cup was full, so I told Jack he could have them all for his bank IF he counted them, one by one, with me. He did it! He managed with little help to count up to 56. I was very pleased with that - and I think he was, too.

For a snack, we had carrots and ranch dip. That's the awesome blue dish I bought in Pisa; yes, it's technically an ash tray, but it was too cool to pass up!

Wednesday:

I stupidly forgot my camera, so I have no pictures of this wonderful day. The children and I woke up very late in the morning, and we had a slow, leisurely breakfast while we waited for Steph to come over and go swimming. When she arrived, we headed over the to pool only to find out, oh no! It was closed until Friday. Apparently the pump broken, and we couldn't even go in the baby pool. Stink.

Then Stephanie had the brilliant idea to go to the beach! After all, it's only a 20-minute drive.

So we waited for Rob to come home and get Jack, because they were going to the Naval hospital for Jack's last-minute immunizations before school starts. Turns out he needs them after all, even though they said he was up-to-date at his five year check-up. Bah.

Once they left, it was just us girls, and Sophie's first alone time in very long time. We stopped at the pet store, so Steph could get food for her pets, and then wait straight to the ocean front. I had to pay $5 to park, even though it should have been free today for Beach Residents, because I forgot my license. Bah.

At the beach, we stopped short when we saw the red flags. Oh, no! The beach was closed, too!

But we kept going, and we could see that there were people swimming in the ocean. Phew. If they can do it, we can, too.

So we put Sophie's swimmies on and carried her down the water, a little bit against her will. "Relax, baby. It's okay. Mommy's got you." She fussed a little, but we lifted her up out of the waves, and held her close when we could, and finally she relaxed. We had a great time, until the current started to get to strong to hold a baby in, and we went up on the sand to play. Steph and I lay out while Sophie scooted around, making sand angels and otherwise getting covered from head to toe. She had a blast.

We got bored of that after a while, so we took her and her pail and shovel back down to the water's edge, where we just sat and played in the sand and let the water rush over us. It took a long time, but finally she was able to sit still and enjoy the pleasure of the rushing water. The current was super strong, though. I've been in the water all my life, and it was definitely one of the strongest I've ever experienced. It was no longer safe to bring her in.

But then Daddy showed up, with Jack! So two adults took turn going into the waves, while one of us stayed behind to look after the nontwins. The waves were enormous and powerful, and we all got knocked around quite a bit. It was energizing and draining all at once.

And Stephanie and I showed each other our boobs. It was like Mardi Gras, but without the beads. I don't know why. Don't ask me.

The biggest surprise, though, was that with each other for support, the Littles started going into the water on their own! They'd come back, screaming, "I got wet! I touched the water!" and then turn around and go right back after receiving their high-fives. They even got knocked around a little themselves but did not cry. Once, Jack got pushed up the shore by a wave, and he yelled out proudly, "Daddy! I swimmed!"

It was a great day, full of elation.

We tiredly dragged ourselves up the beach to the shower station, where we stripped the babies naked and tried to get the sand out of all their little parts and pieces. But the very high tide had claimed our towels, so drying off was a bit of a futile effort.

Jack rode home with Daddy, and we girls rode separately in the van. We all showered and waited for Tim to arrive. Once he did, the menfolk took off to pick up some Chinese take-out for dinner, while we cleaned up the kitchen and watched a little TV. Then we sat around at the table for a good, long time, laughing, telling stories, laughing, teasing each other and oh, yeah, laughing.

I love to laugh.

Tim left after that, to go home to bed. Stephanie stayed behind, so we moved down to the living room with our dishes of ice cream and goofed around some more. (The kids were in bed by this point, so our talk got a little more 'adult.') Steph drank some of the sangria that we'd all had before our cruise, and I pretty much acted like I was drinking, too.

Then Steph realized that, whoopsy, Tim had taken her car keys home with him! And it was now after midnight, and that's a good drive home back to Chesapeake for her, so... she's now sound asleep on our couch and will have to borrow the van to get home in the morning. Oops!

I guess I shall carry myself off to bed, too. Oh, but a few more things I've forgotten to share:

Chloë (who is still at camp until Friday) not only has her first loose tooth, but she also has an adult tooth already growing into the gap in her bottom front teeth! I need to get to work finding or making a tooth pillow for her!

Rob is buying a motorcycle. I guess he plans to shop around this weekend. Yikes! Yes, there will definitely be safety courses in his future. Rest assured.

I thought I had a third thing, but now it's forgotten for another day. Remember to check out the European blog! I posted two days at once tonight.

Fin.