I miss Truro.

Okay, then. It's been almost a month since we had our summer vacation in Truro. It feels like longer than that, after a visit from my practically estranged father and his girlfriend, my mother's most recent hospital stay after a record-setting blood sugar level of sixteen and a case of hypothermia to boot, and all the other appointments and commitments that fill up my days until I finally have time to relax and realize I've already missed last night's Daily Show because it's past nine o'clock.

So let me take the rainy day opportunity I've got this afternoon to reminisce. To begin, it was like a cruise in that we were constantly eating and drinking. I made pitchers of white sangria and my brother-in-law Michael made amazing bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches. There were fried clams, wings, and steamers. There was chicken parmesan and ice cream. We gathered most often around the kitchen counter on bar stools where my other brother-in-law, Jeff, frequently and spontaneously sang the same three lines from "Man in the Mirror" with incredible feeling: "Gonna feel real good / Gonna make a difference / Gonna make it ri-i-i-i-ight."

Rudy's happy smile, as seen above, was nearly constant. My sister Danielle said she sometimes forgot that Rudy was there. She was often chilling out in the middle of the family room, sitting up surrounded by pillows, a couple of baby toys, and her adoring cousin Owen. She is such a good baby. I took a picture of her and Marley slumped together on our couch a few months ago, and whenever Marley sees it, she says it's "Cool Rudy." I think Rudy's cool pretty much all the time. She's so money and she doesn't even know it.

The bigger kids had a delightful time together when they weren't screaming at each other about toys, puzzles, books, or chairs. For example, on the front porch, Riley yelled, "Someone-gets-up-someone-sits-down!" as fast she could after Marley discovered that the Disney Princess folding chair she just got off of was taken and proceeded to lose her mind. After returning from P-Town one afternoon, Riley also worked as hard as she could to finish her horse puzzle with Heather's and Danielle's help before Marley got home with Todd and me, because she didn't want The Puzzlemaster to get all bossy about doing the "EDGES FIRST!" Marley's got several intricate methods to her madness. As Heather and Michael often politely put it, "She's very passionate, that Beanie."

Look at these nuts. This picture, I think, says it all. Owen is all in-your-face, the way his volume was every morning by six a.m. He ran around calling for his TRAINS and his MOMMY and then we all stumbled downstairs to pour mug(s) of coffee while muttering, "Good morning, Owen."

Emma's grimace is pretty typical, too. She practically had to be sedated when Danielle tried to convince her that she didn't need syrup with her pancakes. (Todd picked up the pancakes without syrup because that's how Marley eats them, but Emma doesn't roll that way. And so Danielle had an early morning trip to the grocery store with a transformed Loo-Hoo, grinning and waving at other shoppers while she no doubt clutched her bottle of syrup in her other arm.)

Even though there were a lot of drizzly days, we still got to the beach. Rudy Toot spent her beach life under a tent that I would absolutely recommend to any parent. She was like a little jolly Buddha, especially since she sat so calmly, cross-legged and patient while adults took turns trekking through the sand to sit with her, and presumably, ask her life's most difficult questions, in the sanctuary of her tent. One afternoon she was actually dressed in a pale linen dashiki.

Emma wasn't always so excited to be at the beach. She tried several times to leave on her own, making a determined break for the steep wooden stairs. Owen did, too. He told Heather more than once, "I all done, Mommy. I go home." But then he'd get distracted by a handful of toy boats, and one afternoon he was pressed into servitude when Emma demanded he bring her pails of water. So he trotted obediently to the ocean and back up the slight hill with a sloshing bucket, and then back again while Emma sat shoveling. At one point, he asked hopefully, "Emma get wah-tuh?" Emma kept shoveling. "No." And then Owen got another bucket to fill.

This picture is from a series I took, thinking that these kids could use them if they ever get their act together and put out an album. Perfect cover art. Here, Riley's taking a break from whinnying and galloping along the shoreline. Horses are now her favorite animal, taking the place of the long-revered elephees. If you were to read a fairy tale in the presence of Marley and Riley these days, Marley would shout, "I want to be the princess!" when she sees the picture of the beautiful lady beside the stallion, and Riley would yell, "I want to be the horsie!"

While my sisters and their families started home from Cape Cod, Todd and I took the girls for one more trip to the beach. It was the first day the sun was out before eight a.m. and our last chance to tuck our feet into the warm sand and just stare at the ocean before we began the rest of our summer. For Todd: another year teaching at Brown as part of their Leadership Institute and starting his new job as an English and Social Studies administrator in our town. For me: teaching MCAS and SAT preparation classes, helping out with Riley and Owen, preparing for field hockey double sessions, and spending as many happy and sunny days as I possibly can with my Bean and Toot.