Boy, have we been lucky in the weather Mother Nature
has meted out to us these last couple days. Wow, another beautiful day -- more
fun in the sun!
To take advantage of every gorgeous moment of it,
we headed out to Sutton-on-Sea, aka Sutton on Sea, a historic beach-side
village, with REAL sand and the ACTUAL ocean/sea, unlike the mucky rivulets of
the estuary around Cleethorpes. Similar to yesterday we walked along the
boardwalk, ate wraps on our beach blanket, waded in the water, built castles,
dug holes, and ended up at the paddling pool in the end. (Aren’t you so wishing
you were there with us?!) Unlike the day before we found many chunky starfish
(I threw a few back till it became evident how impossible it was going to be to
even begin to make a dent in the rescue department -- kind of like that poem
we’ve all heard. Did I feel guilty? Well, yeh . . .) and small crabs. As this
location on the coast has the high probability of riptides, our beach had their
very own life guards, as you will see, whose names were pragmatically posted on
the chalkboard welcoming us to the beach at Sutton on Sea. Just in case an
emergency arose and we needed to get their attention real quick!
May I just add how incredible it has been to have
family around to share and spend time with.
Martin and Leah are so warm and accommodating, and Katty, Ollie, and
baby Ella are my new best friends. I guess I hadn’t realized how much I was
missing love and affection . . . and validation.
As we drove to and from Sutton-on-Sea, for about
an hour or so, we passed green rolling hills like I‘ve enjoyed and awed over so
much in the counties of Wiltshire and Somerset, in the southwestern corner of
the country. It was so nice to relish them again. As I gazed out longingly,
Leah assured me that I’d be seeing many more such landscapes as we travel closer
to Birmingham. She said that she and Martin have always thought of Grimsby as
somewhat bleak. I hadn’t, so that makes the anticipation of a lusher
countryside all the more captivating. Along our way we saw several
thatch-roofed houses, and once we glimpsed what we thought was a marvelous
cone-shaped, brick silo that had been converted into a home. Later we learned
that it was a windmill minus the vanes actually, but wonderful all the same. We
also came across some power-generating windmills, practically identical to the ones
seen on either end of Utah valley.
Ollieisms – Oliver, in true red-blooded, little
boy fashion, is not too keen on spending extended periods of time cooped up in
the car. Today on our way to Sutton-on-Sea, having asked several times already
how soon till we got there, he lamented, but I don’t LIKE the long beach! (long
as in distance travelled, in case you missed it)
– As he came running excitedly in my direction, away from the water’s
edge with something tightly held, I asked companionably, Ollie, what’ve you
found?!
Moud!! he exclaimed, as he reached me and opened his hands downwards, dumping his valuables, sploush, onto the sand. (Oh, man, that kid loves to gall me!)
Photos_
1- Olympic Google doodle
2- Wardy
fam @ the seaside
3- buried
alive
4- get ‘em
while they’re hot
5- duty
calls
6- junior
life guards (stay tuned for a really funny bit about Katya and Ollie @ swimming
lessons)
7- two
hunks, Rob and Cal, with a babe
8-
bathhouse conviviality
8- paddling pool
9- future
Olympian
10- swim costume - that’s what they call a swim
suit here, and maybe this example of what really (really) cautious parents get
to protect their children from the deleterious effects of the sun shows why; and
notice, pretty much no part of the body left uncovered – and, not only that . . . it’s color coordinated!
