Beach party

The beach party was thrown by our neighbors at this little community where we own a small parcel of land. Really great people and darned good cooks. It was a little strange to be amongst these folks because for the most part, they're retirees. What was sweet was how they all doted on Lil'T. There are grandmas out there who can't help but feed and chat with little kids like her. It's been a long time since I've been one of the young ones at any function. The one other family who brought their children were older than us. One of them was driving the family car and the youngest had clearly gone through puberty.

There are days that I miss the beaches in Hawaii more than others. Today was one of those days. It was a perfect day for the beach. There was a cool breeze. The sun was shining. It must have been about 70 degrees out. Perfect.

But this was Dabob Bay on Hood Canal. These are not tropical waters.

Hubby decided to go for a dip in the water. Yeah, the water tends to be cold but usually, you can stand in it for a bit and you become adjusted to the temperature. This time however, he said after a good 15 minutes, it still felt like pins and needles all over his legs. Undeterred, he jumped in and swam to the floating dock. About half-way there, he thought only 2 things. 1. "Why am I doing this?" 2. "I think I might die." Too darned cold.

There was one funny moment at the beach though. Princess was standing behind me when I heard a scream of abject terror. I turned around to see Princess holding a slice watermelon with an investigating bumble bee on her hand. The bee had landed on her fingers. Princess had the sense not to move. She was trembling but reasonably still. Hubby shooed the bee away and Princess was a little shaken up but didn't get stung. We reassured her that the watermelon was just too yummy a treat and that she should not worry about the bees. I told her that the bee just wanted a sip of that sweet watermelon juice.

Lil'T had watched the whole event with fascination but what was priceless was how she looked at Princess, then looked at the slice of watermelon in her own hand. You could see the cogs turning in her head. Then she spun around looking over her shoulder both ways just to see if a bee was sneaking up on her.

Neither girl had another slice of watermelon for the rest of the day.