Idylls (of the king?)

If you have made the acquaintance of any 16-month-olds, you probably know of their common (but delusional) insistence that they are Real People. This is all well and good and elicits the Indulgent Smile, when it leads to them putting on other peoples' shoes, and saying "utt?" when you call them, and even standing on stools so they can Get Things from counters---but at the beach it is an alarming and exhausting tendency. "There goes Goldie again, back to the sea from whence she came."

At least this time there's a shadow coming from out of the frame. That means someone, somewhere may be keeping an eye on her?

It's been quite some time since I've gone to the beach on a truly hot day, and I had forgotten how great it is when you WANT the water to chill you a bit. My brother said it hasn't been so hot in California for the whole decade or so he's been living there! Such wonderful weather for playing in the waves! And with an assortment of borrowed wetsuits at our disposal, no one got cold even after hours and hours in the water. It was perfect.

Abe, looking suave.

Oh, little boys in wetsuits! He isn't quite as round and edible as he was in this picture, but still so cute! See those fingers he's holding up? Those were part of an elaborate game, the rules of which were explained to me but not truly comprehended. Something to do with when the wave hits his toes, it's one point, and if he jumps over it as it breaks, a point is taken away, and if he gets to four per hand it becomes the sudden death round, and so forth. This (solitary) game kept him occupied for hours.

A convergence of boogie-boarders. A confluence of wetsuit-wearers? A concatenation of surf-swimmers? Looks serious, whatever it is.

Hang-glider, or butterfly, I can't remember which. Maybe penguin?

Watching these two cousins (just the same age, but not the same size!) play together was the absolute best. They were totally intent on their game too, which seemed mostly to consist of giggling hysterically when the waves knocked them over---and if the waves didn't knock them over, falling on purpose so they could giggle anyway.

Daisy's confiding little arms around Ben---so SWEET!

Wetsuit twins.

Actual twins. THE CUTEST!! We all loved them so much. We really wanted to take them home with us! Malachi asked me if I could "see about producing two eggs next time." !!

A baby, or a sand-monster? Who can say?

Happy gasps when the water hits. I love that.

Seb looks supremely confident. You'd think he did this every day. (The illusion lasts until he gets into the water and is flipped head over heels around his board. But he loved that too.)

Gorgeous, crashing water.

And Allison's favorite beach scene---those sheets of sparkles on the sand as the waves go out toward the setting sun. I have to agree. It was a beautiful, idyllic day!