Beach Vacation

Weekend: July 6 to July 8, 2007

Grandmommy and Papa took Katie home with them on July 3rd. All reports back indicated that the three of them had a fine time. They went to the beach two times as well as an Independence Day concert on the waterfront in Beaufort, complete with fireworks. The most memorable experience of the fireworks, from Katie's perspective, was the periodic shower of fireworks residue that would rain on her head and neck.

When Melissa and I arrived on Friday, we received a joyous welcome from her, which was nice. As much fun as she had with her Grandmommy and Papa, it was nice to know that she at least missed us a little bit, although she'd never admit to it. We celebrated Melissa's birthday on Friday evening with the traditional lasagna and suntanned snowman cake. For the first time ever, Melissa relinquished the decorating of the cake, giving that role this year to Katie. Katie placed the M&Ms in all the right places and surprised us all with how well she could decorate.

On Saturday, Grandmommy drove us to Atlantic Beach. The surf was especially rough, causing the usually pretty water to be brown, and there were scads of seaweed clumps littered about the sand. As a result of the difficult wading conditions, Katie occupied more time than usual to playing in the sand and roaming around with me looking at various large holes that people had dug in the sand.

In the evening, we went to the Beaufort waterfront to watch a reggae concert. Katie danced mightily with the other children, walked along the sidewalk checking out sand crabs and boats, and went with Papa to secure herself a free ice cream cone. Along the way, she struck up a conversation with some teenage girls. She's become quite the conversationalist lately with just about anyone who'll talk to her. Her conversation starter seems to remain the same for any stranger: "Are you a mommy?" From there, Katie will ask questions about the person's clothes, or shoes, or whatever pops into her head.

On Sunday, we all took a boat ride into Oriental for breakfast. Katie delighted in watching the porpoises and large marine birds. She also enjoyed bumping over the waves of oncoming boats. On the return from the restaurant, she jumped out of my lap, walked up to Papa and asked if she could drive the boat! Not content to just sit in Papa's lap, she asked if he would give up his captain's chair and the wheel to her! I guess Papa made driving the boat look pretty easy, so she figured she could handle it.

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We stopped at a McDonalds on the way home from the beach. At our prompting to eat, Katie started stuffing french fries into her mouth. I commented that she shouldn't stuff any more as her mouth was full. At that comment, she started chuckling. I asked what was so funny.

She responded with "You sure ate a big bite of fry!"

It was something I had said to her several weeks ago, but I couldn't remember the location. Not thinking that she'd remember either (but thinking I'd toss it out there), I asked "Where was it that I said that?"

"Red Robin!"

Yes, it was at the Red Robin some two or three months prior that she had bitten off a big bite of french fry and I made the comment she just quoted. At the time, she laughed and laughed about me having said it. Why? We don't know. It just struck her as funny.

It amazed us that she not only remembered the comment, but that she also remembered the restaurant where I said it.