Beach Week 2008

We are back from spending a week at my parent's beach house with almost the entire family. Both sets of Grandparents were there, along with Barry, Jessica & Lindsey, and Meghan and Patrick. Only Aunts Amy & Karen couldn't make it and they were missed.

Sophia had a fantastic time and enjoyed all the attention, especially after Lindsey and her parents left on Monday when Sophia was the only one to get attention. Sophia also enjoyed spending time with Lindsey. She got to help feed Lindsey a few times. Sophia loves to sing, and sometimes it was quite obvious that Lindsey was trying to sing along. Sophia spent quite a bit of time on the beach, and even went out into the water with a few brave and hearty adults.

We took a short walk in Oswald West State park, which is one of my favorite places on the coast. The picture on the right was taken 2 years ago on the same bridge as the picture on the left. How Sophia and I (but mostly Sophia) have changed in 2 years!

My father fixed his traditional shrimp boil which was enjoyed by all, except the vegetarians and shrimp-allergic among us. Dad cooked it downstairs and outside on the patio but we wanted to eat upstairs. He and Earl arranged to haul it up by a rope. It worked quite well. You can see pictures on Barry & Jessica's blog.

We visited the tide pools and Sophia enjoyed it, but we didn't find any starfish and I think she would have understood better what we were looking for if we'd found a creature she already knew. We found a clam, some tiny crabs, and lots of snails. But Sophia was mostly happy climbing around on the rocks.

Saturday was the first Nebraska Huskers game of the season, so many of the family members were decked out in their red finery. Grandma got Sophia a "go Huskers," as Sophia calls them, dress and she loved it. Sophia would wear dresses nearly all the time if we'd let her. She skins her knees enough that we have to give them a break and put her in pants sometimes.

Now we're back at our fairly boring house. Sophia was quite grumpy today. I think she missed all the attention from everybody. She's also less worn out at bed and naptime since she's not running around all day on the beach and chasing aunts and uncles. Compared to all that fun, we're pretty boring. But it's nice to be home. A week is a long time to be gone and our cat had some nasty things to say to us when we got home!