Asher and I had a late afternoon date yesterday.  We drew pictures first.  First we drew one of Gaga and her curly red hair, and then one of Asher standing next to Gaga.  When it was time to draw Asher's blonde hair, I drew it curly.   He squealed, pointed at my hair, his hair and we both said "Curly!"  We played in the sand box for a while, but decided a picnic on the beach would be better.  He could hardly wait for Gaga to pack the stuff, but had me lower the sand pail with beach toys one more time so he could be sure I had everything he wanted.  We took each item out, like a checklist and added it back in.  Both of us nodded and we were on our way.

First things first.  We found our spot.  The beach was still busy from a beautiful weekend, so we wound our way down to the lake's edge.  We pulled out the sand toys and started finding rocks and digging for wet sand.  Asher made me a sand pie.  Now I like rocks in my pie, but he does not, so I had to agree to have them on the side.  That's ok, I think he will develop a taste for them later in life.  We built a couple of castle turrets, but he was more interested in the "GULLS!" and rocks this time.

We ate our snack, goldfish crackers and cold water, and watched the people and the waves.  It was sublime.





The time passed.  We moved from spot to spot as the rest of the beach goers left, one tired group at a time.  The breeze off the lake started to feel cooler as the sun started sinking.  He remembered that our jackets had pockets so we started filling up them up with one curious rock after another.  Gaga suggested we might want to start towards the car...

Now leaving the beach after a wonderful time like this is never easy.  There is always one more shovel of sand, one more rock, one more gull to chase and one more something that delays our departure.  "Wow," he says, "hole!"  He explored it, climbed in, out and all around.  Why do we have to leave yet anyway?  Bedtime?  Naah, Gaga thinks, we won't worry about that tonight.

Once more close to the water.  I wonder if he knew this magical moment was waiting.  Sun dropping, turning the lake into a silver mirror, warm brown sand and a little boy staring into that water with far seeing eyes.   I snapped several pictures and then I stopped and watched as he said "Bye, bye" to his favorite place to play and  laugh and learn.  Some times are special to a Gaga and her precious little boy, but this one was magical and will stay in the heart forever.