Esme and I noticed this baby robin sitting in the grass on our campsite and watched the mom feed it worms!
We went back and forth yesterday, trying to decide when we should get up this morning. The temperature was expected to be 80 (Yay! Finally, some summer weather!) so would it be better to go to the beach in the morning or the afternoon? We doubted the teens could get up in time for a morning departure and we worried about the heat and the sun in the afternoon. In the end, we didn’t really have a firm plan on when to leave but we knew whatever time it was, it would be dependent on the teens cooperation.
Joe and I started making breakfast at about 9:30. The teens showed up at 9:45 and we did not serve breakfast until about 10:15. Then there was the clean up and deciding what all needed to come to the beach and how many cars and which cars and who was going with who…
The teens were all packed and ready and the adults were still trying to get organized enough to leave, granted the adults had more morning responsibilities.
Regardless of whose fault it was, we got to the beach a little bit before noon. We hauled all of our stuff down including a pop up tent for a bit of shade. The water was cold but eventually 6 out of 11 of us swam. The wind blew very steadily and kept us from getting too hot when not swimming.
Katy, Nova, and Esme all preferred the sand.
The other kids got right to swimming when they arrived.
The kids hunted sand fleas.
Melissa and I held a book club meeting. We finished our book “Daughters of the Dust” and we both enjoyed it. If we have time, we may watch the movie together this week. We also started a new book, though realistically, we will probably not finish it before we part ways in a week.
I sunned and relaxed and even caught some waves myself and taught the teens about body surfing. Check out this great shot that Melissa got of me!
Zoomed in…
We stayed at the beach until 5pm. I could have stayed all evening but Nova and Esme were ready to go, as was just about everyone else. We showered and made dinner and the girls did their favorite thing at this campground which is to jump over the fire pits. These fire pits are about 2-3 feet deep.
The girls and I decided to head back to our camper (on the other side of the campground from the Yatzecks) and retire early.
Tomorrow we leave for New York City! Nole, Cal and Asa will join us. I’m excited to see them and spend time with them. The girls will be sharing a bed again and are maybe a bit less excited.
One last funny thing. A week or so ago, while reading Daughters of the Dust, I came across this line about playing “knocking and kicking” and took a picture to share with Nole when I saw him next (he and Josh would play games called “chase” and “kick”).
Today, while reading the forward in our new book club book, “Free to Learn”, there was a quote from Hilary Clinton about playing “chase and run”. This must just be a universal human experience, haha.
Martins Take Flight 