Ocean Isle

We have arrived on Ocean isle for a week of sand, waves, and family.  The trip is off to a grand start.

You could say it is going swimmingly.

The house full of Hendersons has reached its full complement of 19 and the house sharing is going better than we ever could have hoped.  With the exception of a slightly tight kitchen, the house is holding us well, with people coming and going and mixing and gathering smoothly.  We have had two stunning dinners together as as a family-- pulled pork and slaw and the most fabulous baked beans from Steve and Eileen, and burgers with corn on the cob from Becca and Gram-- and the first floor fills with conversation and food.  The table has hosted card games each night after sundown-- hearts, euchre, poker.  My mom is in heaven, with this house full of game players.

The cousins are fast friends, with Jack, Ivy, Gavin and Ada picking up where they left off last summer.  John's girls, Abby and Paige, are fabulous with the little ones, patient and engaged and happy as can be to be covered with 4 little cousins at all times.   They play duck duck goose and iPad games, have pillow fights and make bracelets, tell secrets and play battleship and war.  It is so good.

They also do a lot of fishing.  The dock is crowded every evening with enthusiastic fishers, though we haven't had much luck since our first night when Jack and Gavin caught 5 tiny fish.


And of course, we have the beach.

We've made a pledge, Nat and I, to get to the shore at least two times a day.  We've done well so far.

Day 1:  our inaugural beach trip and an evening walk with the dog.

Day Two:  a morning run on the beach with Bec, plus two more swimming trip.  Jack learned to body surf. Nat and Bec did ocean kayaking.  I made a sand mermaid.

Today:  A sunrise walk on the beach with my husband.  We snuck out on our own, leaving everyone asleep. It was lovely.  Then, we went out for a kayak on the intercoastal.  Gotta love having a house full of family to entertain and stay with our little ones.  Then a swim where Nat, Jack, Abby and John used the boogie boards for hours.  The boy is fearless!  Not to mention an afternoon trip to the pier...  but that is a post for tomorrow, as we are about to leave for a seafood dinner.  Adults only.  Have I mentioned how awesome these cousins are??

I'll leave you with a few pictures from our road trip out.  A rest stop in middle-of-nowhere Ohio yielded lunch at a sketchy diner where we were accosted by an aggressively friendly pregnant cat.  The kids loved swimming, watching TV in bed, and eating fruit loops at the hotel.  It was a grand road trip, indeed.

Lingering

We're pushing our return home back, to the last possible minute.  A trip like this one deserves to linger.

Today:  Sailboat races (the troupe of kids helped Nat commodore the event from the boat), two swims, the Farley's annual picnic and a quick return trip to both the carnival and the Mackenzie Childs Barn Sale.  Also, laundry day.  Most importantly-- clouds and wind and a few sprinkles of rain and blessedly cooler temperatures.  Happiness.

I am not sure we took any pictures today.  I know, I am as shocked as you are.

Never fear, here are a few from our perpetual backlog.  Off to bed now.  We have one more lake day to love tomorrow.


Morehouse Boat Reunion

This boy takes boat driving seriously.

Some moments from our perfect evening swim earlier this week...

Carnival night

It is hot here today.  Really hot.  Ninety-eight degree hot.  Fever hot.  Sticky sweaty-when-you're-sitting-still-hot.  Makes-me-glad-I-don't-live-in-the-deep-south hot.

I could go on.

But I'll spare you the melty details and just tell you about the good day we had in spite of the weather.

A junket to Ithaca this morning.  The kids (all 5) and Lulu stayed cool and had a grand time at the Science Center while Nat and I spent a good deal of energy trying to keep our dog cool, bemoaning the fact that we never crate-trained our sweet girl. Particularly when I was keeping her company in the hot van while Nat ran in to various stores.  Can you say sauna?

Oh, sorry. There I go with melty details again.

It wasn't all bad.  We discovered an adorable park just up from Ithaca, tucked in next to a marina, where we could let Cor swim and cool off, and I had the privilege of sitting there with her for a good half hour while Nat picked up the troops from the Science center. I can't complain about sitting in the lake breezes reading with my best canine friend at my feet...But I just might complain about the timing of our van A/C's demise, and the heat of the drive home...

 We made it home to the point by four.  The temperature dropped three degrees as we pulled into Farley's (all the way down to 92), proving that everything is better here.  I sat in the shade by the lake while girly napped, Nat swam the kids in the bathwater-like lake, then Ivy and I went for a nice swim just the two of us.  She is such fun to swim with.  She chases seaweed and hunts for anchors and wonders about the mama-fish and puts her face in and is just so darn cute when she frog-kicks....

Then-- off to the fair.  The Union Springs Fireman's Carnival. It was a picture perfect evening.  Probably only about 90 in the shade, with sunshine filtering in on the endless line of local fire trucks that made up most of the parade.    Fire trucks, and candy.  We'd come prepared with a pocket full of treats to scatter for our children if they had trouble gathering their own (anything to avoid a meltdown) but we didn't need it. Both kids held their own, and ended up with stuffed ziplocs full of candy.  Just what they need.  They were so. incredibly. happy.

We walked over to the fairgrounds with the rest of the amiable, small town crowd-- and stepped back in time to the perfect small town fair.  Cheap snacks ($1.00 for fried dough?  What?  $2 for beer???) and just the right number of games and rides to be festive but not overwhelming... all set against a backdrop of NY state farm country sky.  The kids rode the little roller coaster and the giant swings together (I can't believe my baby is tall enough for the giant swings!) before separating into age appropriate areas.  Ivy is so happy with everything, pleased as punch to ride in circles on the little rides.  Jack is stuck in an awkward place, feeling too big for the toddler merry-go-round but not yet ready for the likes of the Gravitron.  Luckily the giant swings and the scrambler were thrill enough for this year.  Just as we headed the kids on to their last rides, the wind picked up, the leaves turned over, and the most spectacular black clouds rolled in across that big, farm country sky.  The tents were rattling, flags flapping in the wind,  a great rushing noise mingling with the sounds of the rides and band.  It was very thrilling really.  We hurried the littles through a quick stop at the fishing game and used the impending storm as a great excuse to leave while we were still having fun.

It's rained now and the night air is cool. Children are nestled in with their inflatable prizes tucked next to them.  I hope dreams of a perfect evening are running through their little heads.  What will I remember about today?  The light in their eyes, the enthusiasm of their waves to each and every fire truck driver, the giddy excitement on their faces as the giant swings went higher and higher, the piles of clouds in the sky, the cool of the wind off the lake, the simple joy of a carnival night.