Some Some Summertime…

It’s that time of year my friends- ice cream cones, stripey beach umbrellas, sand in your toes, Otis Redding (or DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince’s “Summertime” for my fellow Gen X’ers- p.s.: whatever happened to that jazziest of Jeffs?) in the background- the whole lot of summertime fun. I count myself lucky to get to the beach at least once during summer now that I’m a bit inland. We just finished our beach week in the Outer Banks. I made sure to book our vacation early in the summer to avoid any hurricane shenanigans and what do you know- Hurricane Arthur and its evil (but not too menacing as it turns out) eye huffed and puffed right over our little beach town. We survived. I was a bit of a ‘fraidy cat at first with my little ones and thinking maybe it best that we high-tail it out of there, but the locals were completely non-plussed and friends that had braved similar storms advised us to ride it out, so we did. None too nonchalantly, I might add. I was pretty much up all night watching those notorious Weather Channel stormcasters in their drenched slickers hopelessly listing to the left and feeling our beach cottage go bump in the night. It was an adventure and because there wasn’t really any damage and it wasn’t too harrowing, it was kind of fun.

I was so pleasantly surprised by the OBX, as the locals refer to the Barrier Islands of North Carolina, especially the quaint little town of Duck where we stayed. It’s nice to know and love a beach town none too far away- 5 hours from DC door-to-door, not too shabby. I’ll post my top 5 spots to hang in Duck this coming week.

For now, I thought I’d just share a few photos and wax poetically about the lazy days of summer. As a society, I am convinced that we are not doing things right. We should do as the Romans do and take 5 weeks vacay a year- minimum. A week or two doesn’t quite cut it. It takes a solid 3 days to come down off one’s normal life chaos and relax into your vacation anyway, right? Sigh. Maybe one of these days we’ll get it right and start doling out not only more vacation time but more maternity leave etc. etc.

But I digress, I’ll take whatever I can get when it comes to vacation and this one was a lazy, relaxing one- just the way it ought to be come July. I’m endlessly on the hunt for the ultimate little beach town that I can’t wait to return to each year. Sure I’d love to have my own beach house, preferably an exact replica of Diane Keaton’s in “Something’s Gotta Give” (oh Nancy Meyers, you do know how to tug on a gal’s heartstrings), but I’d happily take a paired-down version of that house too. Ha. I have images of escaping to a seaside town for a few months each summer to read (imagine that- actually reading a book), build sandcastles, bike around town and the like- maybe a la Jessica Fletcher in her Cabot Cove or Doris Day in her Carmel? Any seaside town will do. On the other hand, it’s awfully fun trying out different beach towns each year. Maybe I’ll completely fall head over heels one day and settle on one, but it’s for now, it’s pretty great exploring them. The simple joys. Now about that vacation time…

Hang time in the Hammock- aww yeah, that’s what it’s all about. I treasure these moments just before they squirm their way out and I’m once again chasing them all over the sand. But to get a few moments like this- heaven. Where do you all escape to in the summers? Do tell.

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