Beach, Continued

Last week's spontaneous beach day was one of those days that compensates for the variable, often crazy schedule Dan has. After all, we were able to decide to go to the beach on a random weekday morning, and we left the house in a little over an hour. There are times when I wonder what it would be like to have a husband who has a continuously mostly predictable schedule, one that doesn't change every 2 - 4 weeks and include any days and times of the week.

While driving home in the early evening - the kids and Dan asleep, a playlist including Adele, India Arie and Jack Johnson - I watched the sun set and savored days like this one.

Beach

We took a spontaneous day trip to Cape Henlopen last Friday. Dan worked all night and thought maybe he'd enjoy sleeping on the beach instead of at home. We packed up and were on our way an hour later. Well, he didn't get to sleep (in fact, no one in our family slept on the beach - not even Elena), but we did have a lot of fun.

Edwin absolutely loved the waves. Even when a few crashed on him or splashed him in the face, he just kept wanting more. We honestly thought he'd be afraid of them, but I'm glad he wasn't. It meant we had to stick close to him, or hold him, but I'm glad he was excited about the water.

Elena enjoyed exploring the sand. She can kind of crawl backwards, so no matter where I sat her on a towel, she inevitably made her way off of it into the sand. By the end of the day I didn't even worry about how much sand was on her. She even took a few nose dives into the sand, but she didn't seem to mind that too much.

Dan and I both came back with some sunburn, but thankfully the kids didn't. I've decided I really should just get a swim shirt like what you see kids wearing now.  I fry in the sun, so what's the point of baring so much skin? (Since writing this post, I purchased a rashguard, so the next time I spend a day at the beach, I'll be the one who looks like she should be surfing.)

My Sweet, Adorable, Bald Little Girl

My mom took these pictures, 

and now I want to go get Elena out of bed 

and just kiss and hug her.

Whirlwind

If I kept a journal the way my grandmother did, last week's entries would've looked like this

Monday:
Washed two loads of laundry, hung them outside to dry
Canned 9 quarts chopped tomatoes (Dan helped)
Date night postponed til next week.


Tuesday: 
Bible Study in the morning

Canned 13 quarts of peaches and made 3 peach pies in the afternoon and evening (I had chai tea that morning, and I realized later that's probably the only reason I felt energetic enough to can peaches and make pies all afternoon and evening. It's amazing what a little caffeine can do!)
Edwin "helped" (i.e.ate pie dough) make pies while Elena sat in the high chair and watched.
Washed diapers.
Dan worked all evening and afternoon.
Frozen pizza for supper.

Wednesday: 
Drove to Lancaster and helped Dan's mom do corn.
Went to Granny's Discount Grocery store to stock up on flour, jar lids and other such things.
Ate supper with Dan's parents.
Stopped in at Hidden Acres to visit Julie and her kids before driving back home.
Got home in time to see Dan before putting the kids to bed.


Thursday: 
Canned 28 quarts of peaches.
Edwin started to learn how to put the rings on the jars before they went into the canner and he helped put the sugar into the jars. (Two isn't too young to help can, right??)

Elena will soon be crawling; she's trying hard to figure it out.
More laundry, used the dryer. Still unfolded.
Dan worked all day.
Corn on the cob and BLT's for supper

Friday:
Washed the kitchen floor and cabinets
More laundry: used the dryer; folded and put laundry in bedrooms
Packed for our weekend away
Picked Dan up from work and drove to Lancaster for the annual Hess Gathering - took fresh peaches to share at the potluck dinner.