Well, this is the fifth day back from vacation. It was a good one, weather-wise, family-wise, and fun-wise. I guess some of my favorite memories are just sitting on the beach, watching the tide coming in and going out and observing my family..all four generations (counting me) interacting.
Some of the memories are:

o The sand castle contest. Ava, Atticus, Shane, Regina, Zach and Ian each made their own and then explained and described it. Ava's won for its ecology, Shane for his humor (the stupid people made their homes outside of the castle wall), Regina most unusual (her castle was underground) and Atticus for most elaborate. Ian only used his hands, no shovel and Zach had a trench going several feet, the longest.

o Finding the skeleton. On a beach walk, Ava yelled to me "Linny, look at that" pointing to a large skeleton high on the rocks. Jer identified it as a seal or a dolphin and decided to take it home with him. He recovered it in the dark of night and rode home next to it in the back seat.

o The food. Kevin caught bluefish,bass and striper which Jer cooked for us...bluefish on a plank and leftover bass made into fish cakes. The fish cakes were voted the best of all. I made oysters Rockefeller, but couldn't find the spinach (we never did find out what happened to it), but they were a hit when I added cream cheese.

o The cocktail party. The girls came down the hill from Laura's cottage all dressed up, high heels, gorgeous outfits and eye makeup. Helene found a dress in the Wellfleet Thrift shop that was perfect and I wore a pantsuit that was about 20 years old. Atticus kept grabbing the pants part saying, "I can't believe they are pants". I guess she never saw anything like that. Maureen wore a black dress with a large moon necklace and Caitlin made Pina Coladas and Marquaritas.

o The refrigerator going up the stairs to Laura's cottage. The cottages were experiencing power surges and Laura's refrigerator died. When the handyman came to replace it, he was alone and started the long trek up many steps to the cottage. We were enjoying Happy Hour on the deck, watching the whole show. It was like the Laurel and Hardy when they have to move a piano up a hundred steps. He made it, then a while later had to come down with the old one. A little entertainment for us.

o Elf shoes. Gabby (Jer's girlfriend) came back from Provincetown with a pair of green elf shoes, with the front toes pointing up. You had to smile to see them.

o O'Leary visit. John and his family came, and had a surprise, my great neice Catlin with them. The seven girls sat in the house, eating, texting and being girls. Good looking bunch.

o The kids. Solomon and Henry in the water, laughing, Shane threatening his brother Zach, "If you touch this sand castle, I will put your face in the sand and stand on your head until you are dead." Pretty good threat that worked. My bedroom was over the back yard and one night I heard...Do you have the flashlight? Where's the shovel? OK. let's bury it. I think they were burying a broken pingpong paddle, but I will never know.

So that's it...I will probably think of a hundred more. That's what vacations are for, memories that pop in your head that make you smile.