It was a bad moment for me, when I realized that this summer bade fair to be the first in my post-infantile life when I would not swim in the ocean even once. My daughter Rachel, her husband Rob, and Leah's children -- the McFall grands-- set out to prevent that sad statistic. They invited me to a New Hampshire beach one day toward the end of August. It was a glorious day, and here's some of what happened.
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| Rachel, Kaleigh, and Gavin attack the wet sand with a view toward serial burials. Rob, meanwhile, is assessing the surf. Unfortunately, I did not take pictures of family body- and board-surfing. Of which there was plenty. |
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It should be a law -- every child gets at least
one ocean beach day per summer. |
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Gavin has Aunt Rachel covered, as much of her as his
anticipation of burying the rest of the family would allow. |
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| Come on, Gavin, let's get wet! |
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| Kaleigh enjoying a nectarine and her ocean view. |
Yes, I would highly recommend Wallis Sands State Beach in Rye, New Hampshire. It was crowded, but pleasantly so. One of my criteria for a happy day on a crowded beach is NO RADIOS. This was a crowd intent on wringing every possible enjoyment from sand, surf, sun, and each other. Thank you, Rachel and Rob, for engineering this event -- and Rob's Dad for the loan of his spacious SUV, so we could all fit in, big surf board included.
