The Beach

For Kurt's bachelor outing, the guys all went sea kayaking. Nina and I brought the kids to the beach to play in the sand and watch their daddies. While I would have loved to be out on the water, watching kids at the beach is one of my favorite things. I love their intensity, their ability to focus on the task at hand, their creativity, and the way they carry home more sand in their swimsuits than exists in most sandboxes.

Josh and Sophie

Ben and Ez

David and Eric

Kurt, the man of the weekend

Later in the day, we went to the tidepools below our hotel. I love the ocean...so much to do or not do. Everyone had fun exploring, finding hermit crabs, and trying not to slip on the mossy rocks. Is there moss in the ocean? Whatever it was, it made it hard to walk!

Ben and Nana

Our cute Kate

Dad and Ben

I love the ocean. I miss it in Utah, although the mountains are its counterpart for my nature needs. Viva Voce commissioned a piece for our 10th anniversary, based on a poem by ee cummings that I love. Why we chose a piece about the ocean, I'm not sure, but it captures the wonder of the ocean and childhood:

maggie and milly and molly and may

went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang

so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and

milly befriended a stranded star

whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing

which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and

may came home with a smooth round stone

as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)

it's always ourselves we find in the sea