Wednesdy I woke up with an idea to keep the girls home from school and take Abel to Rehoboth Beach in Sussex, Delaware. When Derek and I were first married we came out to DC for internships and we went to this beach. Lately however our beach trips have been more "in depth" meaning we rent beach houses at Fort Story and spend a day at Busch Gardens in near by Williamsburg as well. So I haven't been on a simple all day beach trip for a while. And I definitely haven't attempted to do it on my own. So I had some reservations about this plan. However Derek's sister Farina was so excited when I told her my plan that her excitement lead me to really believe that a 3 hour drive to Delaware, 3 hours at the beach, and 3 hour drive home was worth the trouble of keeping the kids home from school. It was especially wonderful as my brother Abel is visiting from Missouri, so a trip to the ocean is a real treat.Well off we went to Rehoboth. It was a gorgeous drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Annapolis to the Maryland East Shore and Delaware. Delaware is beautiful in that it is a string of little old towns that have been there since before America was a country probably and inbetween is lush farm land. It was a drive that seemed more pleasant than endless (even with me taking a 1/2 hr. detour by accident).
Here's L with her first find of the day a Jellyfish, if you can't see it. X is in back running through the washed up waves.
Here's Abel body surfing. The water was just cold enough to shock you at first, but the waves were really strong that day so we spent a good hour body surfing and jumping over crashing waves. The scariest thing happened when X was caught in a strong under current, I saw her fall over and almost get swept under a wave just peaking. Luckily Farina saved the day and grabbed her.
Here they are a couple of moments after her sweet Auntie Farina pulled her out of the water.Well after getting our fill of water we spent the rest of the afternoon shoreside making castles, and walls, and burying each other in the ground.
Here's a little Mermaid that has been washed ashore and is taking a nap in the warm summer sun.
Here's another Mermaid that thinks the sand is cold and ticklish.Abel was so fascinated with the sea gulls. Usually I give those birds the "mean stare" because they always seem to get into your food when you're not looking. However this day the beach was so empty and all the birds were congregating right behind Abel watching him eat his chex mix. So Abel, being the little trouble maker that he is, decided to "train" the birds. He had them eating out of his hand quite literally by the time we left. People were even taking his picture it was a sight to see. He'd hold his hand up in the air and the birds would hover in one place in the air. Then perhaps the most courageous of the birds would speedily swoop down and take the food out of Abel's hand. It was cool.
Abel had my camera and took most of the pictures while we were there. So it was fun to see what he took pictures of. At first I thought he took this picture for the old buildings or the Menonites that are standing there. Then I saw Penny Lane and realized that he loves the Beatles and I bet he took it for that sign alone. I'll have to ask him.
The beach was so fun! X was asking to go the next day and S was so excited that she announced it at school the next day (in which she received a little lecture from her teacher about not going to beach on a school day---I told S that I'd write her a note to explain the situation--gosh!).
Here is a picture of us crossing the bridge back into the city, back to traffic, congestion, and the hustle and bustle. Man I'm ready to go back to the beach!
