Beach days

Don't tell Caleb, but Jackson got ahold of Ears.

Noticing a huge crowd gathered way down the beach one day, we took bets on what the spectacle was.  Drowning victim?  Heart attack?  Egg-laying turtle?

Nope.  Some fisherman had caught a 4-foot shark.  By the time we got down there to gawk, the crowd had dispersed but it was still twitching. (!)

Caleb, realizing the imminent doom to his sand castle as Wyatt approaches.

It was a sanctifying week for Caleb, who is unaccustomed to smaller people wrecking his stuff.

Jockey's Ridge

Playing the game of Life with Ada...and Jackson.

Despite my pessimistic expectations of catastrophic juvenile meltdowns, we braved the hike up Jockey's Ridge, thereby reliving Jason and Jo's childhood tradition, and it turned out quite lovely.

The kids actually perked up at the novelty of a mountainous sand dune.

We went up just before sunset, as per tradition.

Jeddy did not carry me up, as suggested, in repayment of our last Jockey's Ridge visit when he was eight weeks old and rode in my carry pouch (which memory may have had something to do with my dread of Jockey's Ridge).

This year that privilege was Jackson's.

The sunset on this particular evening was spectacular.

There were races down the hill.

Family photos were taken.

There may or may not have been total stripping of clothing and rolling around in soft sand and then standing up and facing the crowd when the sun had set and a hundred people were headed down at once.

(If it happened, it was only the youngest among us.)

Few tears, no catastrophes, minimal sand in the eyes, a sublime sunset, and no arrests for indecent exposure.  And no covid exposure.

I'd say the outing was a triumph.

Back to the beach!!

With less than a week of school under our belt, we packed up again and headed to the beach!

Jo heroically persevered until she found this house with a cancellation only a few weeks out.

What fun to be the only grown-ups in sight.  No elders around to supervise us.  

Good thing Ada was there.

We had a pool, a hot tub, a tiki bar, string lights, a baby cousin, and volleyball...

...as well as a game room with arcade games, darts, and billiards.

And plenty of opportunity to hone my emergent photo skills.