“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach; one can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.” —Anne Morrow Lindbergh
family
Sophie’s Trip with Nini and Pop Pop to Buy Shrimp
Each family made dinner for everyone one night of the trip. While my sister and I simply went to the grocery, my parents managed to find a place where they could buy fresh shrimp for their meal, directly from the men who caught it. I didn’t go with them to purchase the shrimp, but Sophie did, and these are my parents’ pictures from the outing.
“No life is so happy and so pleasant as the life of the well-govern’d angler.” —Izaak Walton
A Day Trip to Wilmington
We took advantage of a rainy day to visit Wilmington, NC, where we had lunch at The Oceanic.
After, we explored the town—and had ice cream.
“In my mind I’m goin’ to Carolina
Can’t you see the sunshine
Can’t you just feel the moonshine
Ain’t it just like a friend of mine
It hit me from behind
Yes I’m gone to Carolina in my mind.” —James Taylor
Ocean Isle Beach (Picture Overload)
Ocean Isle Beach, NC
Our little bumblebee spent hours digging in the sand.
Pop Pop and James
sweet Colleen, always with her thumb in her mouth
My mom made beautiful (reversible!) sun bonnets for each grandchild.
I absolutely love this picture. Drunk on cold milk, napping on the beautiful beach quilt my mom made, listening to the sound of waves crashing, seagulls calling and Sophie laughing.
My parents watched all four children while Katy, Tom, Andy and I enjoyed the water.
the Rees family
Sophie, thrilled to be spending an entire week with Daddy.
Our brave Sophie—it took a lot of encouraging words to get her to venture into the water some days, and even then, we often had to hold her. “Swing me! Dip me! Swing me! Dip me!” Tired arms followed.
I love Sophie in pigtails. She hates them.
I could have spent hours, every day, at the beach with Sophie.
Sophie also loved making, what she called, mud puddles. Every day, we dug these for her. She’s quite particular in how they’re made, however—and how fast her construction workers worked.
My idea of beach heaven.
Sophie’s idea of beach heaven.
James tolerated sitting in the sand. Owen did not.
sunset
playground fun
We celebrated a belated Father’s Day with my dad.
Katy makes the best cards.
He’s excited about his Paul McCartney tickets.
The boys doing the thing they love most—standing on a couch and looking out a window.
The boys doing the second thing they love most—drinking milk.
a sweet nap
cousins conversing
beautiful Colleen
Andy “watching” the boys.
I love when a day simply requires a blanket, some towels, a chair, flip-flops and a kite.
Sophie
The kite flying was a bit anti-climatic—perhaps Sophie will enjoy it more when she’s older.
sandy shoes
Somehow Sophie always got the beach chair—and I always got the sand.
One hot afternoon, while the boys napped, Sophie and I went shopping and stopped for ice cream (this is her second scoop—there was an unfortunate mishap with the first).
We came back to find Katy and Colleen relaxing in the hammock.
Sophie fell asleep snuggled up with me—I can’t remember the last time this happened.
This was the view from our back deck.
Strawberry shortcake for dessert, which Sophie loved.
Sophie staying up late …
playing hide-and-go-seek with Dad.
This was the boys’ first time in a pool. Thank goodness for grandparents as we certainly needed an extra set of arms.
It was Colleen’s first time in a pool, too!
a Sophie-sized beach towel
James enjoying the pool deck more so than the pool.
Out of all the toys we brought, the kids loved the “pillow pile” the best.
Uncle Tom made a pretty cool fort for the kids—that was popular, too.
my dad
my mom
cousins and siblings
grandparents and grandchildren
Katy, Tom and Colleen
Mom and Dad
my kids
my family
“Find what brings you joy and go there.” —Jan Phillips
Ocean Isle Beach—The Trip There
James has no idea he has a 12-hour car ride ahead of him. (Andy is tying the gate to the top of the van, after we ran out of room inside of the van.)
I’m pretty sure I packed most everything baby-related in the house.
We listened to Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations,” and the boys laugh and cry, and Sophie laugh and ask how much longer (over and over and over) throughout the drive. We also managed to drive through tar, which Andy had to scrape off with a tire iron (he didn’t want to use the tire iron, but resorted to it after stepping in a mound of fire ants and through poison ivy while trying to find a suitable stick, instead). Somehow, stuff like this always happens to us on car trips.
Sometimes, the beach seemed very far away. To all of us. But all in all, Sophie did as well as can be expected considering she’s 3. Especially because she refused to play with any of her toys (including a new one, gifted to her from us specifically for the trip) or watch any of her DVDs on the portable DVD player because, as she said, she wanted to “save them all for the beach.” So, for the most part, she sat in her seat and looked out the window the entire drive, despite our repeated attempts to convince her that it was OK to play with her toys and watch her shows during the drive and at the beach. Andy claims this personality trait, unreasonable stubbornness, is my fault. Stubbornness, maybe. Unreasonable, no. I’m sure, in her mind, her patience was entirely reasonable. But oh did it make for a long trip for her. I still don’t know how she did it.
We ended up spending the night at Katy and Tom’s house, in Winston-Salem, NC. We arrived around 2am. Katy and Tom graciously moved Colleen to their room, and I put James in Colleen’s crib, Owen in Colleen’s pack-and-play, and then spent two hours trying to convince them that it was 2am, not morning. I ended up sleeping, in my clothes, in the nursery’s glider. We were up at 7am (why is it children never sleep in?) and on the road again.
More Dickens. More laughing. More crying. More not playing or watching anything (other than the passing scenery outside the van windows, growing more and more ocean-like the longer we drove) from Sophie.
I think car trips are most difficult for crawlers. An infant’s idea of stretching is simply being held. A toddler or child’s idea of stretching is running around (easy to do at a rest stop). But a crawler needs to crawl and clean crawling space is often difficult to come by. So stops for food often turned into outdoor picnics—here we’re eating at a school, closed up for the summer. (And here, although still many miles away, we could finally smell the ocean. I loved that.)
We made it—our beach house in Ocean Isle Beach, NC.
Owen meeting his cousin Colleen for the first time.
Owen shoving his finger in Colleen’s eye for the first time.
All four children seeing the ocean for the first time.
James eating sand for the first time.
And I cried, for the first of many times, during this trip. I spent many summer vacations as a child at the beach. And even as a little girl I knew, someday, I would take my family to the ocean. And I crave the ocean. And it had been a long time. And something about the heavy ocean-scented air; and watching Sophie, wide-eyed as she took in the enormity of it all; and seeing the small marks my sons made as they crawled through shell-littered sand for the first time; and putting the tip of my finger in my mouth so as to taste the salt (as I always do)—I was overcome. And grateful. And suddenly, the long drive and lack of sleep seemed totally, totally worth it.
“Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.” —E.B. White
Cousins
Colleen and Sophie, June 2011
“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.” —George Santayana
Happy Birthday, Mom!
“We turn not older with years, but newer every day.” —Emily Dickinson
Happy Easter!
The Easter Bunny hid Sophie’s basket under the dining room table, which, coincidentally, is Sophie’s favorite hiding spot.
The boys’ baskets were hidden behind throw pillows. Sophie was very eager to help find them.
Grandma and Paw Paw mailed a package filled with Easter cards and goodies, which the children loved.
Owen and James enjoying their plastic eggs filled with Puffs and new mirrors while waiting for Dad to make …
homemade pancakes!
It was a first for Owen and James—they loved them.
Here are the beautiful Easter outfits Great Aunt Susie made for the children. Check out her other lovely items here!
dyeing Easter eggs, belatedly.
sweet Owen
attempting an Easter photo shoot
Pop Pop, Owen, Sophie, James and Nini
family portrait
Sophie enjoying a chocolate treat from her basket with Dad
indoor (everything outside is rain soaked) Easter egg hunt, which Sophie loved
Nini and James
James, Pop Pop and Owen
Later that afternoon everyone was pretty cranky so Andy suggested we all go outside and spend some time on the porch, despite the rain—it turned out to be a fantastic idea. The boys loved swinging on the porch swing and Sophie loved jumping in the rain puddles.
post-Easter crash
“I think of the garden after the rain;
And hope to my heart comes singing,
At morn the cherry-blooms will be white,
And the Easter bells be ringing!” —Edna Dean Proctor
Grandma’s Purple Princess
“What a bargain grandchildren are! I give them my loose change, and they give me a million dollars’ worth of pleasure.” —Gene Perret
Welcome, Colleen Jennifer Rees!
My sister, Katy, and her husband, Tom, welcomed the most perfect, beautiful baby girl into their family March 31 at 5:25pm. She weighed 10lbs., 15oz. and was 24″ long at birth. And no, Katy did not have a c-section. And yes, she is a total rock star. Their family photographer Olympia captured the sweetest newborn photos, perfectly preserving those first magical moments together.
Katy and Tom live in Winston-Salem, NC. March 31 was a Thursday. I had to wait until late Friday afternoon to start my eight-hour drive to meet her. The thing I remember most, though, about the few hours immediately following Colleen’s birth was talking to Katy on the phone and asking her how she felt. While many new moms would respond with “sore,” “nervous” or “tired,” Katy said, “excited.” And I don’t think I’ve heard her sound that excited since the time we convinced Patty Griffin‘s manager to let us into our favorite singer’s sold-out concert many summers ago.
Welcome home, Colleen and New Mom!
I could have taken a hundred pictures like this one—this is the look Colleen gave Katy and Tom almost always (OK, except when she was crying). 🙂
my parents
Tom’s mom, Andrea
Katy and Tom’s very good friend, Steve
tummy time
proud papa
I’m an aunt! (Although, here, Colleen doesn’t seem too excited about that.)
Katy, Colleen and Mom
a beautiful family
Luke (the cat) watching over her
Before I had babies I was awkward with them. I was stiff-armed when holding them, never knew what to say to them, was terrified of dropping them. Katy, though—I will never forget the first time she held my daughter, Sophie, and how comfortably she picked her up, calmed her, cuddled her, knew exactly how to love her. Then, I thought, she’s going to be an amazing mother.
And she is.
And Tom! At one point, during my visit, he came out of the bedroom (where Katy was nursing) and said how anxious he was for Katy to be able to do the nursing all her own (without that oh-so-vital-initial help of setting up pillows, etc.). Not to relax, though. But to clean! And cook! And, as he put it, do whatever he could to help make her life easier when she was done nursing.
Colleen, you are so lucky. You have parents who loved you, immensely, from Day One. Everything they’ve done—the house, the nursery, the classes, work, preparation, sleepless nights, everything, has been out of love for you. Planning for you. Excitement for you.
I’m older than Katy. And was the stereotypical older, bossy sister. When we played school, I was the teacher. When we played playset-was-actually-a-huge-ship-and-the-grass-was-shark-infested-water, I was the captain. When we played house, I was the mom.
And now, finally, she gets to be the mom. And I get this really cool role as aunt. Tom gets to be a dad (a role seemingly invented with him in mind), my parents and Tom’s parents get to be grandparents all over again and Baby Colleen, you get to be daughter—a role Katy and I can attest to as being one of the greatest of all.
Congratulations, Katy and Tom. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t look for cheap flights to NC—daily.
“If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle.” —Vincent van Gogh