Beach Babies

Three year old Raina was reticient to branch out in her beach experience.  Seven year old Raina and three year old Lola had no such reservations.  Upon our Litchfield arrival, we immediately paid homage to the ocean.

Lola giggled as her toes hit sand and the two girls were instantly drawn to the water. 



The rest of the Compton crew arrived Saturday evening, big hugs were shared, and then we all went to bed.  The Whompton girls shared a bedroom.  They don't share a room (or much of anything!) at home, so we practiced sleeping in the same room while in Saint Louis.  It was a full fledged disaster.  We crossed our fingers that everything would be just fine in Litchfield and, surprisingly enough, it was.  The girls essentially put themselves to bed each night without fuss or complaint. 


We spent our beach week playing in the sand and surf, building castles and moats and channels and dams, taking long walks and runs, riding waves, reading books, playing with trains, and enjoying each other's company.  Our camera did not emerge much during beach week, which is a shame, but Raina captured some scattered moments for us.

Here are the monstrously large television and the train table.

Emily, Eric, and Krystal played The Lord of the Rings Card Game.  A lot.  Way more than was fair, probably.  But it was loads of fun and Eric and Emily did a lot of deck building, which they both enjoyed. 

Atticus loved the cars and trains.  Many moments saw him moving his trains around the track.

Guest photographer's self portait.

Not pictured:  Raina had a 102 degree fever and scored a trip to Urgent Care.  Lola later caught the same virus and had the same high fever.  Both kids slept long and hard and had trance sleep-walking, which was confusing for all adults involved. 

And then it was the last beach day.  We finally brought the camera back to the beach Friday morning and captured some great moments. 

Lola and Atticus splashed and played in the surf.  Over the week they became more and more adventurous; Friday saw waves knocking Atticus down over and over again and he kept coming up laughing and diving in for more. 


Raina spent her last beach day wandering around.  I love the bright yellow of her dress in this series of pictures.
 


Lola is up for every opportunity but, when she gets tired or sad, this is the face you see.  Head down in a hangdog manner and refusing to budge.  We saw this a lot when it was time to leave the beach each day.

Aunt Stephanie missed this year's beach trip but she sent rocking camp shirts for the kids.  They are proudly showing their new finery.

We cuddled up for a last round of book reading and beach week 2012 came to a close.

You always forget something when you take a trip.  Usually it's nothing of major consequence and you power through.  Unfortunately, Krystal forgot the Beach to STL directions, which included our return-trip restaurant picks.  As a result, the return trip meals were disappointing, to say the least.  The food was subpar and we ate at chain restaurants.  (Finding the off-the-beaten-path restaurants was challenging with the GPS and no smartphone.)  We stopped at a Moe's, which is third tier in terms of fast-food burrito companies.  After that meal, we really appreciated Chipotle.

The "worst meal of the trip" honor goes to the Chattanooga Wendy's.  There are no words for the disappointment of the meal, but I believe my facial expression captures the moment well. 

The two-day return trip was an excrutiating affair.  The highlights:  Raina picked up some more books from our Nashville stop and we arrived at our STL home.  105 degree temperatures never felt so good!

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