Day Two

 

More beach time...

 

 

 

 

 



Ryan's traditional magic show...

 



     

 

 

(in which Mark and Michelle were impressive guest participants)

 

Visit to Carmel...

 

                

Let's stop here for a little sentimentality.  Like how much I love my friends.  Like how Lucy wanted, wanted, wanted to stay at the Carmel beach instead of touring the town with the rest of us.  So Mark volunteered to stay with her.  I gratefully agreed.  But when I heard the report of their time together, I realized I hadn't been grateful enough.  I guess Lucy - my girl with grand ideas - had wanted to dig a pit.  A b i g pit.  So she and Mark dug.  And dug.  (And dug and dug.) But she didn't just want it deep.  She also wanted it adorned.  With seaweed?  And not the easily accessible kind.  The wade-out-deep-into-the-ocean kind.  I admit to feeling a measure of parental embarrassment when we met back up and I heard about this adventure.  "Sorry my child was so demanding!"  "Sorry I didn't stay with her myself!"  "Sorry her daddy's not here to perform these digging/seaweed retrieval rituals,"  I thought.  But Mark was gracious.  And I hope he knows how impactful those moments on the beach were to my seven year old little girl.  Lucy brought this home from second grade a few weeks ago:

Meanwhile, in town, the rest of us were at the candy shop.

 

Which was as charming as all the other million dollar waterfront establishments we strolled through.  

 

 

 

 

Spencer seemed to be enjoying the scenery, but, as he wasn't adamant about sampling, I opted out of spending our dinner money on a lollipop.  "He's got goldfish crackers," I told myself. 

 



 

We sat in a cute little courtyard while Adam and Rachel ate their candy and I took pictures of Henry. (cutest baby alive?  very possible.)

I didn't think twice when Royce and Spencer left together for a little walk around the corner.  But I felt a stab of emotion when they got back...

...with a bag of taffy almost as big as my little boy's eyes. 

 

 

Thanks, Royce.  And thanks everyone for the many similar kindnesses I couldn't possibly record.  

 

After reuniting with our little pit digger,

 

it was dinnertime.

        

 

Honestly?



 Best meal of the year. 

Maybe it was just the company.

 

Or the memory of Ryan introducing all of our children to artichokes.

  

Or the seal attack we narrowly evaded afterward. 

(I expect you to cover that more thoroughly in the Christmas letter, Ry).

All told, a great day.
(And night!)