It was extra amazing though, as Daddy arranged to have relatives over to celebrate Mama's birthday! He rented two houses, across from each other, and we had a blast hanging out on the beach with our "neighbors"!
Heading across the street, down the hill to recruit beach-goers. . .
There were wild strawberries in the grass in their backyard! I was sitting on the grass, waiting, thinking about strawberries, and how good they smell, wondering why I *was* smelling strawberries. I had a happy, impromptu picnic. . .
Cute cousins!
Heading out to the beach. . .
Strolling on the beach, watching family. . .
. . .Set up the kites! We've never done this before- so fun! Thank you, Auntie!
Took some getting used to. The camera had a few close encounters with the kite, but despite photographic evidence, no one was injured during the kite's sporadic temper tantrums!
Mama and Aunts chatting away. . .
Apples to Apples!
Scrabble! I had Nigel's new nutcracker spying on me. I must say, he did a good job pretending not to be reading over my shoulder, what with that stiff posture and innocent wooden face. . .
My sweet mother opening her gifts. My gifts were of the edible variety. I made a caramelized-onion-zucchini-mushroom-specialty cheese frittata for lunch, and Clara and I collaborated on dessert.
We made this. It's a torte of sorts. It was pretty much pure chocolate all the way through, just separate layers.
Much origami was created, adventures began, stories told, nails polished and strawberries eaten. The girls were delighted to have cousin time and were with each other 24/7. They read Nancy Drew, killed a moth (apparently it was big) and played on the beach's playground.
They also involved me in an adventure involving a fish named Percy.*We interrupt this blog post for a special broadcast: "Sophia's Adventures in Fishing, Episode 3: Percy Charles"*
I've only been fishing before once in my life. I think I was about four. Wet, cold, rainy, boring. Perhaps I'd like to go fishing again.
I met Percy in a little "crik" off of the ocean. It was starting to get hot, and I was playing in the water with sibbies and cousin when we came to the realization that there were little fish in the water oh-my-gosh let's catch one!
We all agreed that it would be very fun to catch tiny fish with our bare hands, so we rounded up some buckets (mine had holes in the bottom) and sat in the water to wait. . .
An hour passed of chirping, being very still, being very fast, splashing, falling and team-work.
I stood near the bank to stretch. Suddenly, I felt a very two-inch-fish-burrowing-under-my-foot feeling. Trying not to squeal I demanded a bucket (without holes, please, darling) and scooped it up.
On the trek back to the house (about a five to eight minute walk) we dubbed him Percy Charles. My co-conspirators spent the next day checking on him, lavishing upon him pets and pats and crumbs of bread.
The day after that, he was (tearfully) returned to the ocean after his visit to the yellow, plastic, breaded hotel he had most certainly enjoyed. Probably.
And so my adventures in fishing continue, eventually culminating, surely, in a very large catch.
The End.
The mirror at the bottom of the stairs, right next to my bedroom. . .
. . .Where there was a very handsome young man who came to watch boats on the ocean from my window :).
Leaving the beach was tough. Emotionally, it was hard to say goodbye to the resort, the family, the fun. I miss my ocean view. Physically, the van wouldn't start. We spent a very hot twenty minutes in the van, eating sour-cream-and-onion potato chips, seeking and obtaining a willing vehicle for a jump start. (Thank you, bearded man with the huge truck who came to our rescue!)When we left, it was drizzling, but by the time we hit the capital it was pouring with lightening, thunder, and hail.
