beach baby

I'm happy that I have a beach baby. Mercy loves everything about the beach--the people, the sand, the water, the seaweed, the waves, the rocks and shells, the breeze, the umbrellas, birds, etc.

Yesterday, we went to the beach with friends from Baltimore who were up for a visit. The rip tides were extremely strong, and we saw someone get rescued by about six life guards. Despite this, of course Tim and Jacob went out boogie boarding. Within minutes, the life guards were out again to save someone else. I couldn't find Tim and Jacob. It was because they were being rescued. ahaha. According to them, they didn't really need the help. I guess it was more of a precaution. Tim said when the one lifeguard reached him, he asked her in which direction they should swim, and she just said, "Man, I'm tired." Anyway, when they came to shore, everyone on the beach clapped and Mercy herself clapped and said 'yay' over and over again. Well, thanks for saving our husbands, Westerly lifeguards. What an adventure. 

Newport Kite Festival

Last weekend, Laura and Nathaniel (Tim's siblings) were here for a visit, so we took a trip to Newport because they were having a kite festival. Mercy got a kite for her birthday and enjoys when Tim flies it, so we thought it would be something fun to do. Despite the 95 degree weather and horrible traffic (never go to Newport on a weekend in the summer--too many people!), we arrived and were quite impressed by the diversity of kites. Never before had we seen such large and three-dimensional ones.

There was a huge octopus:

Mercy indulged herself in a Rhode Island classic, Del's Lemonade, and got spoiled by the attention of Aunt Lo and Uncle Nathaniel.

My favorite kite was a pair of legs. No body-just legs. Quirky.

After the kites, we went down to the cliff walk because Laura and Nathaniel had never been. Siblings shot:

Newport is so beautiful. Rhode Island is so beautiful; I can't think of a better state in which to pass the summer months.

mailmen=police

Tonight we went to the summer concert series held in Watch Hill. Mercy played contentedly on our blanket for a bit, but then, of course, she crawled away to sit in front of a bunch of spectators. She sat there waving to everyone repeatedly and saying hi. Luckily, no one grew tired of her. We let her wave to the same four couples for about ten minutes, and then I had to use her Bert doll to wave her back over to us; otherwise, she probably would have sat there the rest of the evening, waving to her public. The woman behind us in the picture commented that she'd never seen a more perceptive baby. 

There was a young police officer standing behind us the whole time providing event "security." Mercy was obsessed with him, waving to him all night. He waved back a couple times, but he had to pretend to be serious since he was on duty. This playing-hard-to-get only intensified Mercy's fixation. She kept referring to him as 'meh meh' (mailman). We kept telling her to call him 'police,' but the blue uniform convinced her it was our mailman. I told the officer that she was calling him mailman, and he chuckled, but seemed secretly defeated. Perhaps I shouldn't have told him.