Once upon a vacation.....and an open palm chair for B & W Wednesday

We've had quite a slow summer this year. Being sick and recuperating took away most of the season. The girls have been pretty forgiving most of the time. But when Anya saw summer slowly ticking away, she asked to go to the beach 'just one time before school'. Thanks to Irene and a last minute cancellation,  we found a 4-day rental in Ocean City, Maryland. I wasn't completely convinced of getting good beach weather so soon after the hurricane, but we took our chance. The ocean was surprisingly calm, and blue skies dotted with kites.

Kites in the sky

Anya took to water like a fish in need...while baby P wasn't so sure and followed her dad around. Finally, Anya coaxed her sister into the sea for a bit. 

Anya and baby P

A took this time to catch his forty winks, while I caught up with my reading (again!). 2 days on the beach, and I was restless. Needed to do something other than sit around. So I coaxed them all out to Assateague National Park- the only untouched-by-humans barrier island on the east coast. Not only did we find beautiful beaches up here, but we saw lots of wild horses.

Wild horses of Assateague

A and I went kayaking in the salty bay marshes, where we saw lots of mussels, jelly fish, Chesapeake Bay blue crabs...and birds

Birds of the salt water marshes in Assateague

That's alive!

A even managed to rescue something- supposedly a tiny clam called as periwinkle....

Up, Up and away...

...and on the last day of our vacation, at A's insistence, we took in a birds' eye-view of the ocean.

An open-palm chair

Everyone was happy, and it was time to come back home. But I couldn't leave....after all what is a boardwalk without fudge and funnel cake!  The girls liked a brightly painted store called "Candy Kitchen". While they stared open-mouthed at a display of brightly colored candies, my eyes wouldn't leave an equally bright, and unusual, palm-shaped chair outside the store......

....we came back home, and it was back to school for Anya. Summer's almost over; it just seems like I blinked, and missed most of it. 

It was an awesome vacation though, and hopefully, there will be a few more before the year's out.

This Open Palm chair goes to Susan's Black & White Wednesday