life's a beach

One thing I love about living here is that we can jump in the van, drive down the road, and spend a few hours at the beach, all without spending the entire day doing it! Andy came home from a middle school retreat late on Sunday night and said that he could spend Monday morning with us (hooray!) before he needed to go into church. We therefore braved the red tide and headed for Barefoot (our absolute favorite beach down here). It was wonderful! Either everyone else was afraid of the red tide or had better things to do. The weather was perfect, the beach was empty, and the water was calm. We saw maybe two dead fish and the water sometimes gave off a funny smell when the wind was right (or wrong), but everyone had a great time. The girls both got buried in a hole which Michael dug. We had a great last day with Dad before he headed back up to Ohio (Dad's been here for two weeks doing an unexpectedly high amount of childcare) and then on to Canada for Thanksgiving. Everyone is a little pinker than they were on Sunday, despite the sunscreen (for the kids, not me). And, as always, the side benefit of a morning at the beach is that everyone sleeps well that night.