Man, this is the life...

Settling in back in the real world.  We've been staying close to home this week, mostly with just our little group of four.  Unpacking, cleaning, learning how to cook meals for fewer than 24 people.

It's always a rough transition, leaving this:

A little photo-recap of our last few days at the point...
Plenty of boating.

 Time in barns...

 Touring houses...

 ...and surging waterfalls...

 Sailing races...

 Friends.

 Cousins.

 Victory!

 Games.

 Trophies!

 Conversation.

 Love.

One way to get over lake withdrawal:  visit another lake!  A midweek beach trip with my girl...

This weekend we've gotten back out and about for a few social events-- a pretty spectacular birthday party for a friend of Ivy's on Friday, and a trip to the Natural History Museum on Saturday...

The second painted rock this girl has found in a week!

I love this picture of the birthday girl's dad being the pied piper.  This family was impressive:  SO many games.  So many kids!  It was like they were running a day camp!  Fun.  Lots of candy.  And a great moment where the parents joined in the games for adults-vs-kids tug o'war.   It was ridiculously fun, even though the kids won.  Why do adults forget to play?

History Museum with Gram...

Saturday's forecast had promised storms which never materialized.  We hemmed and hawed about what to do with our evening-- so many events in this city this weekend!  Thought about heading to Edgewater for the big Metroparks Centennial celebration but, faced with prospect of crowds, we opted for Euclid Beach instead.

Turns out, we like our beaches like this:

All ours.

We had a simply magical 3 hours of sand and sun and calm blue water. I swam with the kids, splashing and playing and chasing with them, or just floating in the deep water, blue above and soft water below, riding on a gentle swell of waves.  We met the most marvelous collection of happy people as we wandered the beach.  A little girl named Katie who followed us to the swimming area and joined in our games, and her lovely mom who took our photo on the script-Cleveland sign.  The guy who fist-bumped Nat after he complimented their dog.  A Dutch family traveling across the country by RV, asking for travel suggestions as we watched our children build sandcastles in the sunlight. The delightful old black man smoking a cigar and blasting smooth jazz, reminding us heartily, "Man, this is the LIFE!"

I have decided I want that man to walk through my life at random moments.  Particularly those moments when he is most incongruous, and remind me again that THIS is the life.

Every bit of it.