a day at the beach

I love these iphone pictures of one of our last summer days at the beach.  There’s just something about how raw they are…..how quickly and non-glamorously they capture what our life was like that day.  Hazel normally loves doing this pose, but on this day, it was forced, by me.  She wanted to be off laying out her towel on the sand and reading her Dick and Jane book, but instead her mean old mama made her pose for this picture.  She’s such an obliging girl, even when she really doesn’t want to do something. Emmeline spent most of the day in her sweater and diaper pushing around a baby stroller (her current obsession).  I love how these two little friends are looking at each other.  I love Skye’s pants and Emmeline’s chubby little legs.    Charlie charmed over both of these boys (much to Hazel’s chagrin, she considers Ian her friend and gets pretty mad when Charlie steps in) and they were off digging and making forts all day.  Here they are anticipating the impending doom of the storm rolling in behind them. 

This storm quickly put the day to an end….we all raced to the car (as fast as I could race caring all the bazillion beach items and a squirmy little Emmeline), getting pelted by rain and sand and wind on the way.  The kids were all freaking out about getting struck by lightning.  Eva and I were trying to laugh it off and make the best of it.  Once we got in the car it stopped, no, it didn’t just stop, it ceased (maybe Charlie had a magic pebble in his pocket).  I thought about going back out….but only for a split crazy second.  Instead, I just enjoyed the beauty of driving through Plum Island right after a storm.  We listened to our Ramona book on tape on the way home until everyone but me and Hazel zonked out.  All full of salt air and sand.

I realize this is a pretty boring blog post, but these are the days I want to remember.  I want to remember the normalness of them.  The difficulty of them.  The magic of them.