The Angel shawl is off the needles and is waiting to be blocked. I mostly finished it at the cabin over the weekend, but decided at the last minute to add beads to the last row. So yesterday, Clark and I went to the yarn store to buy those tiny crochet hooks used for beading. I already had some iridescent glass beads, and yesterday afternoon, Clark and I beaded the shawl.

I thought I’d be doing it alone, but shortly after I poured a few beads onto the table next to me,

and knit a couple on,

Clark picked one up

and, quite determined, ended up putting it on the crochet hook himself.

He was extremely pleased with himself and beaded half the shawl before he turned back into a normal 22 month old boy and began dropping them everywhere. He eventually lost interest (about the time he lost the freaky-accurate fine motor skills) and moved on.

It was incredibly cute. I wish I could have taken a video, but as it was, I’m lucky to have pictures. Every time he put a bead on the crochet hook, he said, “thank you very much!”

Ooh, I could eat him up.

So, I’ll block the pretty shawl, and then put it away for a month or so. It’s so lovely. It has me wanting to make oodles of soft, lacy things.

We had a great time at the cabin, the kids and I.

The weather was gorgeous, and the girls spend most of two days on the trampoline,

while Clark walked endless circles around the house.

It was very relaxing, and nice to be up there, just the 5 of us.

We did manage a trip to the beach at low tide, which wasn’t that low. Must be a seasonal thing.

The walk down

The beach

Clark was thrilled to have his own bucket, which Liv filled to the brim with oyster shells, and even more thrilled when he realized we were taking the shells with us. He carried that sucker all the way back up the significant hill to the cabin. Then quite conveniently forgot about them. (We don’t take the stinky shells home with us).

While at the beach, we walked down the death trap of a dock. (It’s extremely high, narrow, old and wobbly, and the railings are high enough off the walkway that any of my kids could quite easily plummet to their inevitable deaths.

But it’s pretty from up there.

Anyway, a good time was had by all. I minimized my stress by allowing the girls to entirely pack themselves. I didn’t even check their bags, I just told them not to bring too much. Surprisingly, it worked out perfectly.