We spent much of Saturday at the beach before Drew and I got up very early Sunday so he could drive me 21/2 hours to Rock Mount, NC so I could catch the train back to D.C. and work a late shift. (Next year, this will not happen. We will ALL drive back TOGETHER on Sunday or Monday of Labor Day weekend. Harummph. My fault.) Anyway...Rachel had such a great time catching waves, it was a joy to stand with her, her little hand curled in mind, while she screeched, "This is AWESOME!! This is the funnest beach EVER!!" and then she'd ask me or Drew to jump her over the waves, and she didn't even mind (too much) when a wave slapped her in the middle and got in her face. The water was absolutely the perfect temp -- cool enough to feel refreshing, but warm enough to want to play in again and again (I went in three times yesterday!) I also sunned myself on the beach while reading the newspapers and a bunch of old issues of the New Yorker. I got so tan, in fact, that a colleague of mine said to me tonight, "You look TAN! Where have you been?" She has fair skin and her sister is getting married next weekend, so I think she was a bit envious of all the color I've gotten this summer.
Drew reports that the water was calmer today (the waves were receding a bit toward the end of yesterday) and Rachel had fun again with Sarah (Mammaw's daughter), who kindly texted me a photo of Rachel on the beach; Chrissie (Sarah's partner) and their daughter, Kaia, who is two years older than Rachel. They had a sleepover last night in the living room and watched a T.V. show of cute kitties, puppies and duckies on Animal Planet -- they fell asleep to the T.V., in fact. Mammaw made an awesome rib roast and Yorkshire pudding, and we had a chocolate-chip cake that I had made and brought with us for dessert.
The great thing is that for years on, Rachel will always have fond memories of summers at the Outer Banks -- beaches, the aquarium (PopPop and Mammaw took both girls there while Drew drove up and back from Rocky Mount), picking honeysuckle along the path, the big crazy dogs that PopPop and Mammaw have that Rachel used to be scared of, but now she's just delighted that they keep wanting to lick her and she laughs nervously. Of such moments are lifelong memories made...
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