BEACH IN SUMMER 2018

Greetings friends! 

It was a wonderful summer. This summer, my parents got to be here for longer than usual, Ken's mom was here for a great long stretch of time, Logan turned 3, I turned 35, Sloane turned 6, we hosted parties, and we swam, a lot. This summer will be marked as the summer when Sloane began swimming, really swimming, and that meant that the girls swam in the pool almost everyday.  The girls became even better friends and playmates, and Ken and I became better friends and partners. 

We saved our beach trips for the middle of August because we knew we would make a couple of trips down to Virginia Beach with Ken's mom, and we had a really lovely time both weekends.  Below are pictures of both! 

We stopped by Handsome Biscuit in Norfolk for lunch because of a recommendation from a friend, and it was well worth it.  The fried chicken was delicious and I loved the sweet potato biscuits!

The girls got some of their homemade watermelon soda, which was perfect for the hot and humid weather.

My obsession with shibori extended into Sloane's closet where I found a white dress I had thrifted for her a while back. I turned it into this blue number!

We were eager to get to the beach and made our way over with plenty of toys and snacks to last us all day. Unfortunately, we got rained out about 30 minutes in but it was wonderful while it lasted. 

This spot of Chick's beach is dreamy and reminds me a little of Nags Head.

We got a few moments of soaking in the sea and playing in the sand before the skies opened up and dumped rain all over our beach day. The rain then turned into a thunderstorm!

On our drive back home, we stopped by Rally's for fries and ice cream. Those fries were soo good!

Later that night, Ken and I went out to Esoteric to meet our friends for drinks and I was inspired by this garage door while we were out.

Their manhattans were fantastic. 

The next morning we met our friends again at the playground at Mt. Trashmore. It was one of those beautiful days after heavy rain, where everything is glistening and colors look like they are in high definition.

The next weekend we went back down to Virginia Beach again, resolved to get more beach time. We decided to kick off the day by waking all of us at 5:15 AM to make it to the beach for the sunrise! It was glorious and so worth it.

Utterly beautiful. 

"Mom, we should do this everyday!" - Sloane 

Amy and Ken's mom and aunt met us at the beach and we took turns burying the girls in the sand while the sun made its way up the sky. 

She was my little fairy of delight that morning. 

After our sunrise excursion, we went to May's Parlor for pastries.  

Their everything croissant was superb.

Me and my girls, covered in sand, pleased as punch. 

We went back to the spot on Chick's beach and were ecstatic about getting in the water. The beach stays shallow for yards and it felt marvelous. I didn't want to get out. 

"Wow! This is amazing!" - Logan 

I loved how much the girls loved being in the water. 

Three little brown nuts! 

It was a lovely morning. I wanted to stay all day, but we had to leave in order to have lunch with old friends of Ken's. 

My sweet darlings discussing their next play.

We headed back to the playground at the boardwalk and planned to play there for a while before dinner, but Sloane fell asleep in the car so Logan and I spent a few moments on the bench people watching, eating cherries we had packed. 

We met our friends at Big Sam's Raw Bar for dinner.  I am happy to confirm that happy hour drinks, shrimp and fries tastes so much better when your skin is tingling from saltwater and sun.