A quick jaunt to the beach was just what the doctor ordered! What can I say, we packed only what we needed to lessen the load coming and going. We took just the right amount of food, not bringing any home with us. I had my camera minus my favorite lens which, incidentally, is being repaired - the children are glad that the lens is on the outs....Pryce sang notes of joy when he realized that I would not be able to harass them with picture taking on the beach. The children had their bathing suits, a change of clothes, scooters, money to spend at the Lollipop Shop, books, and Legos. The sun was shining bright. The temp was delightful. There were children visiting the island as well which made great company for the boys. MK was happy as a lark pretty much doing whatever she wanted to do.....not to exclude her ballet. She practiced ballet a good bit on the beach.....she has been walking on her tiptoes since her performance last weekend. Me, well, I sat back and took it all in. I love to watch....and, if something strikes my interest, I love to listen to fellow beachgoers' conversations. For instance, the elderly couple beside us. I observed them with their glasses of wine and their chairs for comfort. The boys were off playing ball with some other children, within eyesight of course. And MK was hanging out with me. MK decided she wanted to use a shovel so I told her to go ask the boys if they would mind her borrowing it. She began to walk over (on her tiptoes no doubt) and inevitably walked right in front of the elderly wine drinking couple. The elderly lady began to ooooh and ahhh over MK and she commented to her husband how cute MK was. It was at this point that I desperately tried to listen to their conversation as it pertained to MK. The couple could clearly see that I was not Asian. And they could clearly see that the boys were not Asian. The man stated that "the little girl is adopted" and the wife came back with, "what do you mean she is adopted? Haven't you seen that Kate's children? you know, from that show? the one with Kate and eight? They all look Asian but their mother isn't!" and then she continued to tell her husband how the dad on the show was Asian but the mom was not and the children all favored their Asian father.....and then the wine drinking lady went on and on about dominant genes and heredity, etc., etc., etc....that poor man got an earful! Quite comical actually. Then today we met a family on the beach. The boys spotted some others playing baseball on the beach and off they went to join in. MK and I stayed behind and watched. The mother of the other children came over and we began to talk. Turns out she is an attorney and she had a lot to say. She even offered me the following account of her cousin's adoption....apparently the cousin adopted a little boy domestically as an infant. The child is now five years old. The parents have not told the 5 year old child that he is adopted!!! Ryan said, "Gosh you should have really shocked her and said that we weren't really planning to tell Mason-Kate that she was adopted!" Why would you NOT tell a child their history??? And again, I state, adoption is what you make of it.

Meet Pryce. Every January he begins to ask when the pool will open. And everytime we go to the beach, no matter the month of the year, he finds his way into the water. The water being cold is a mere detail to him, he never finds this as an excuse not to get in. I took the above photo at a distance to show that even the Canadians were not swimming! It was all Pryce, and Pryce alone! And one more special thing about Pryce....he is a sensitive soul. Love him and his heart to pieces. When he wasn't in the ocean or playing baseball, he was busy finding pieces of sanddollars along the shoreline. Finally, he found an intact sanddollar. He carefully placed it in a bucket with water and continued to play. When it was time to leave, he refused to take the sanddollar out of the bucket stating, "I don't want it to die. I want to take it home." The tears came as I told him the little guy would die in a bucket. His response, "No it won't, not if I have saltwater in there." I told him we could place it back in the ocean - of course, that was not a good idea So, what is a mom to do? Well, lets just say that we drove 3 hours back home with a sanddollar in a bucket with saltwater and beachsand that fit very nicely, thankfully, in one of my cupholders!

He even convinced MK to get in, sort of.

He was missing Colin so he came back up to our towel and thus began the inevitable dirt bombing.

Meet MK. She never wants to wear clothes. And gasp, I didn't even pack her bows to wear at the beach!

She does like to wear her "bathing soup"....she can say bathing suit but, admittedly so, I love to hear her call it her "bathing soup." (And take note of the sand all over her.....I thought back to two years ago when this same little one wouldn't even place her feet in the sand without shoes on! She said more than once, "I love da beach. It's my favorite!" I am so thankful that we are able to visit the beach often - it's my favorite too!)

And then there was the lone ladybug. I was sitting in my sweatsuit behind all of my beachwear clad children and this is what I found, a ladybug, literally right beside my foot. Hopefully this is sign of good things to come :)