sun, sand, seagulls

Usually we visit Dan's parents at their beach house much earlier in the summer, but I'm pretty sold on switching to a late August vacation from now on! Every day we spent the cool mornings relaxing at the house, the afternoons splashing in the warm waves, and the evenings sipping cocktails while trying to get water out of our ears.

We enjoyed a few days with Dan's parents, then his siblings joined us for the weekend. We lounged on the beach, went for walks, and boogie boarded on the waves (my first time!). I even caught a little crab who was scuttling across the sand near a jetty. I scooped it out of the shallow water (careful not to get pinched!) and gave it to a kid to hold in his beach pail.

Ok, time for some bird photos!

We saw no sandpipers during last year's visit, so I was thrilled to find flocks of them up and down the beach this year. I think that most were Sanderlings (the cutest sandpiper in my opinion), but I also saw a few loners with dark bands across their necks (perhaps the Semipalmated Plover?).

This little guy managed to snag a squishy little sea critter and was prepared to defend his catch at all costs. This reminded me so much of the seagulls from Finding Nemo who shout, "mine! mine! mine!"

Finally on our last day, we took one of my favorite group selfies ever... See you again soon, family!