Skipping Town

Our last full day at Bethany Beach. It was a gorgeous morning. I went to beach yoga at seven, and then we took our time getting out to the beach. Molly had brought some mosaic coloring pages, and the kids colored for a while. We had breakfast. We got changed and packed. The weather was perfect for the beach, and the water--for the first time all week--was manageable for swimming. I finally felt comfortable swimming out past the breaking waves, bobbing in the water, being lifted by the surging waves. Right when I was coming into shore, I misjudged a wave, tried to dive through it, came up short, and got pummeled and spun violently. The water ripped out my ponytail holder. I wasn't hurt, just a little stunned. Lucia really got the hang of boogie boarding, wading bravely out into the waves; all the kids were more willing to go into the water now that the waves weren't insanely violent. Mom and Dad went back to the house to heat up leftover pizza and cut up fruit, and brought it ...

Another dire weather forecast that was completely and totally wrong. We had another beautiful beach day today. I went to beach yoga early in the morning. We were supposed to go out on a boat today for a "Sandbar Exploration" excursion, but it ended up being cancelled because of high winds. So we headed to the beach again and set up camp for the day. The waves were even more wild and powerful than yesterday, so there wasn't really a chance to swim, but everyone had fun regardless: walking on the beach, jumping waves (ankle deep only, maybe knee deep after the biggest waves), digging holes in the sand, etc. We ate lunch on the beach and headed back to the house around two. We didn't lose any kids today, thank goodness. (Greta made Andrew walk with her all the way down to Sand 1 because she wanted to see how far Lucia had walked.) We spent a relaxing hour or so at the house. The kids worked on a puzzle and watched something on the iPad. I read a book. Andrew went for a...

Fri., 8/11 Our last day at Bethany Beach. I went to yoga at 7:00 a.m. again--three times in one week. So lovely. Molly gave all the kids a set of Squinkies Do's when they got up, which they all loved. Then we put in another full beach day--lovely weather, despite the prediction of rain from earlier in the week. In the morning, the kids mostly played in the sand. "Remember when we were being chased by that baby?" Greta said to Luca. "Yeah," Luca laughed. And Greta said, "That was so fun."  One notable part of our week--Andrew twice found a horseshoe / helmet crab in the sand. Huge and monstrous. Once he picked it up and threw it into the ocean, tail thrashing. The next time it was already in the water. Everyone hoped to see it on our last day, but it didn't appear. After lunch, when the tide was further out, we all swam. Lucia, like in previous days, was in a new kind of watery, wave-jumping heaven. Molly carried Luca out a few times, and...