Vacation, Part II

- The bulk of the week was spent beating a path back and forth from the pool, to the beach, to the pool. On our second day we found Breakwater Beach, which is where we spent most of the rest of vacation. At first, Jack was either tired or sulking, hard to say; he'd liked the previous day's beach (more than we did, since it wasn't much of a beach) and wanted to return. So we let him sulk for a few minutes and read our books. After a bit he got up and walked down to the water. Next thing we knew he was digging in the sand with another little boy, then running back to the towels to get another shovel, then coming back for another pail. So he warmed up to the new beach.

- Found a lot of cool stuff at the beach. Hermit crabs. Fragment of shell that looked like a big shark tooth, so of course I told Jack it was a big shark tooth. He thought that was pretty cool. On the downside, he kept bringing me up other shell fragments to ask if they, too, were shark teeth.

- At one point when I was wading around in the water with Kate and Jack was digging in the sand on the beach, an ice cream truck showed up. Jack saw it and it was like a TV commercial, with him standing on the beach, running a few steps toward me, then a few steps back toward the ice cream truck, then stopping and yelling at the top of his lungs, "ICE CREAM MAN!!! Daddy, it's the ice cream man! ICE CREAM MAN!!!!"

- If I have to be honest, the truth is that both of them ended up loving the pool even more than the beach. Kate got braver and braver each day with the water wings. After swimming with Mommy a bit, then with me, she said excitedly, "Mommy says I'm a brave girl."

- We went to a reading at a book store where a little old lady was reading books to kids. Jack was riveted for most of it. Early on, Kate showed no interest, instead walking around pulling books off shelves and such. By the end, though, she was bringing the lady over books ("Can you read this one? This one?") and asking "Can I sit next to you?" Sure! said the lady, who yes kind of reminded me of my Mom.

- One night, Emily got fresh scallops and made pasta with cream sauce. This really has nothing to do with the kids, who had plain pasta, but the scallops were simply fantastic.

- It was cold one day. We had breakfast at a diner and got seated outside, and it was really cold. Despite that, we went to the pool, because, uh, the kids loved the pool. I was in the water swimming with Jack when one of the staffers came out and announced a "cannonball" contest for the kids, where they'd be leaping into the deep end. I asked Jack if he wanted to do it. He clambered out of the pool, stood in the line, little goggles on and shivering in the cold, and went right up to the front and, when it was his turn, jumped on in. Best cannonball ever.

- We went to a baseball game; the kids were mostly into the playground. Jack watched about half an inning with me, I guess, and was disappointed we didn't get a foul ball.

- Jack I drew a picture of Tashi one morning, from these books he's been reading. One of our pictures was about Tashi and the Demons. Jack pronounced it "Dee-Mohns," even though I told him it should be dee-muhns. And, it was cute.

At the end of the week of the beach and the pool and food and drink and what seemed like too much sun and one or two pool trips too many (and now seems like one or two pool trips too few), we drove home. Kate fell immediately asleep, Jack lamented not being able to find a rubber lobster toy (and it's true, it was oddly elusive), I drove.

Like most vacations I guess, there were times it seemed too long, but most of the time, and especially on the way back, it seemed too short. But it was long enough that we discovered that Kate loves to swim in the pool and Jack loves to jump in the pool, and both of them, so quick to complain at times, are also brave about some things, and that makes me happy. And oh yeah the scallops were fantastic.