Over Labor Day weekend, Dad, Arabella and I spent a day going to visit the Aunts at the Beach House. We packed up early and headed down to the beach with Dad's boat. We took the back roads through Middletown, Durham, Madison and a few other towns, which was nice since it was a perfect sunny day. Arabella ended up falling asleep on the way and it was a good thing since all she wanted to do was play on the beach when we got there. We ended up putting the boat in at Pier 76 and taking it around the point to the beach house. Arabella was amazed by the "singing bridge" and liked when we went underneath it. There was a lot of boat traffic through the marina and Arabella loved seeing all the sailboats. jet skis and power boats. She even wanted to help Dad/Grampy drive the boat! The ride was a little bouncy, but Arabella didn't seem to mind and she smiled the whole ride. It was so nice to be out on the water and in Long Island Sound again.
When we arrived, Aunt Moona met us on the beach. Arabella ran right to her, it was like she had been going to this beach forever. She knew exactly where to go. We had a nice lunch and spent time visiting with Aunt Moona, Aunt Rose and Cliff. After lunch, Aunt Moona took Arabella to play on Moona Beach, our family's private beach. Growing up, we used to call it the sand box since it was just one big "box" of sand. We spent countless hours on Moona Beach never having to worry if the tide was going to wash away our castles. I forgot to bring Arabella's sand toys but she had fun anyway (and I forgot to charge my camera battery so some of the pics are not the greatest since I had to take them with my cell phone). She also played on the sand bars. She loved it! We made dribble castles and searched for hermit crabs. She also found a few dead crabs and would insist on picking them up and showing them to us, no matter how bad they smelled! After a fun filled beach day, we had to say goodbye to the Aunts and promised that we would be back to spend a few days next Summer at the beach. We took the boat back to the marina and then headed to Lenny & Joe's for some yummy seafood!! It was the perfect way to spend Labor Day.
It was a little hard for me to be back at the beach. I spent every Summer, for the whole Summer, for 25 years, at this beach just like my father had growing up. We would arrive the week after school let out and not go home until a few days before school started. It is hard to believe that I haven't been back for almost 10 years. I crawled on the sand bars, learned to float on my back in the water, made sea weed soup and went crabbing, had mud fights on the sand bars with my friends, jet skied with my boyfriend, got hurt on the jet ski and learned my lesson, took walks to Salt Island at low tide, enjoyed bon fires and fireworks and grew to love the beach and all its treasures. I/we spent countless hours sitting on the beach, never thinking at we would grow up or that the Summer would end. I never realized how lucky we were to spend our Summers there and now that we don't it makes me miss it so much. I planned my life there, what I was going to be and do. I never realized how much the beach played an important part in my life and how things were "supposed" to be until I went back. I always thought that my children would be able to spend their Summers at the beach, our beach, like my brother and I did. I was so happy that I was able to bring Arabella to that same place. And I know that the love of the beach and ocean has been passed on to her. Like it is in my blood, it is in hers. I couldn't drag her away from the beach and I didn't want to. We could have stayed until the sun went down and we both would have been happy. I made friends and memories at this beach that will be with me until the end. I know that I am happiest when I am on the beach and I think that it is because I grew up there. The sea calms me, the smell of the salt air refreshes me and feeling sand between my toes - well there is nothing else like it.
