Chapter 23
"Yuck!" Lily held her feet up as Liz tried to set her in the sand. "Up."
"No, Lily, you need to walk so I can carry the towels." Liz told her in her most patient voice as possible.
"No!" She looked defiantly at Liz and grasped her harder. "Sand yuck."
"Come on, Lily, fun." Aidan hopped around in the sand trying to get her to like it as well.
"Yuck." She kept up. "No, sand."
"I do believe we met in a sand box." Max came up beside her.
"I think so too, what happened, Lily, why don't you like the sand?" Liz asked.
"Yuck." Lily's new favorite word. She had learned it at daycare and now used it regularly.
"Come on Daddy's back then." Max bent so Lily could climb on his back. "Mommy can't carry you."
Lily hopped on happily not having to touch the sand. Liz rolled her eyes and called Aidan to her side. Lily was gradually beginning to call her Mommy more and more often now and it's how Max referred to her. Aidan was taking his time with Daddy but they knew it would come eventually and neither bothered to push it.
When they found their choice spot on the beach, Liz set the blanket down then pulled out Lily's swimsuit. She set her on the towel, careful not to let her near the sand. "Let's put this on."
"No." Lily protested.
"Lily Evans, if you say no to me one more time you are going to sit on this blanket all day and you will not go in that water, do you hear me?" Liz asked. She hated raising her voice to Lily but the girl's attitude was getting on her nerves.
They faced each other off. Lily's hands on her hips glaring Liz's arms were crossed over her chest glaring right back.
Max and Aidan snuck off to the water to begin building the sand castle they had their heart set on.
Finally agreeing to Liz putting the suit on her she walked towards her. Liz pulled the heavy suit on over the one Lily was already wearing. This one had a floatation device built into the swimsuit.
When Liz was done, Lily threw her arms around Liz's neck in a sort of apology.
"It's ok, Lily." Liz patted her back. "Now sit here, or do you want to play with Daddy and Aidan."
"You." Lily sat on the towel and pulled out some of the toys they had packed for her. Liz spread out next to her and pulled out a bridal magazine, content to spend the day beside Lily.
An hour later, Liz took Lily's hand and guided her down to the water. Holding tight to her hands she put her down in the water and let the tiny waves crash into her feet.
"Cold." Lily lifted her feet but she giggled all the same. "Mommy do it."
Liz made a show of putting her feet in the water as well. "Cold." Liz agreed.
A wave came higher than expected and water splashed in Lily's mouth.
"Yuck!" She declared as she sputtered to get the salt taste out of her mouth. She was soon distracted by something moving in the sand. A wave came too quickly and covered it up. Then as the wave was going out she saw it again.
"Bug!" She declared and dove for it.
"Where is a bug, Lily?" Liz asked as she hauled her out of the water and into her arms. When Lily had slipped from her grasp her heart had stopped.
"Here." She held out her palm and in it sat a big fat sand crab.
"Oh, Lord." Liz looked at it. "Let's go show Daddy and Aidan."
"Daddy, Daddy." Lily ran up to them. Aidan cringed when she kicked in part of their moat.
"What do you have there, Lilybird?" Max asked picking up his daughter and smiling at Liz.
"Bug!" She held out her hands.
It was all Max could do not to drop her. "Nice."
Liz laughed at his face. "Are you scared of it, Max?"
"Of course not, maybe you should let it go." Max set Lily on the ground.
"You are afraid of it."
"No, never." Max said, and looked at the offending crab.
"Just admit it." Liz said smiling, "And we'll let it go."
"Fine, I've always had a fear of them since I was little. Isabel and Grace used to take the greatest pleasure in chasing me around with them." Max said looking strained. "Will you let it go now?"
"Here, give it to me, Lily." Liz took the crab and set it down in the surf where it promptly scampered off to bury itself in the sand away from little girls.
"Are you guys ready for lunch yet?" Liz asked when she walked back to where Aidan and Max had set to repairing the moat that Lily had crushed.
"We'll be up in a moment." Max said from somewhere deep inside the hole.
"In a minute, Mommy." Aidan said as well.
"Up, Mommy." Lily asked as they approached the dry sand. "Yuck."
Liz picked her up before they reached the blanket and settling her on it. "We'll wait for the boys and then we'll eat lunch." She smiled, "Let's look at dresses for you for the wedding."
Lily settled in Liz's lap and looked appreciatively at the magazine. Making the appropriate sounds and adding an occasional "pretty."
An hour later the boys still weren't up from the hole.
"Well, Lily it looks like the boys aren't going to come up any time soon."
"Hungry." Lily patted her belly. "Mommy hungry?"
"Yes, let's go take lunch down there." Liz stood. She cajoled Lily to walk across the sand holding Aidan's lunch in her hand.
When they got to the hole the boys were avidly digging in, Liz set the towel on the ground so Lily wouldn't have to sit on the sand.
Aidan dusted off his hands and sat next to Lily, who watched in horror as his swimming trunks dumped sand on the blanket.
She let the incident pass though, and began to eat her half of the sandwich she had split with Aidan. Her juice sat beside her in her sippy cup—a new found privilege—in the sand. She went to pick it up and the sand that stuck to the cup from the condensation got all over her hands. She looked down at them and tears filled her eyes. Discarding the idea of a drink she set back to her sandwich and bit down on a mouthful of sand. That was the last straw. She chucked the cup and sandwich into the sand. Aidan stood up to go retrieve it and the sand from his swim trunks blew into her eyes.
"Daddy!" She said rubbing her eyes miserably only to find that it loaded more sand into her eyes. "Yuck!"
"Lilybird, what's wrong?" Max picked her up. "Stop rubbing them." Max tried to take her hands away.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch." She wailed. Liz looked up and saw the tears streaming down her face. "Eyes." Lily fought to rub the sand out.
"She has sand in her eyes." Liz quickly went to the cooler to get a bottle of water to rinse her eyes.
"Ouch." Lily said determined to continue to rub her eyes. When that only caused more pain Lily let out a wail.
"Let Mommy see, Lily." Liz pulled her hands away and gently poured the cool water over her eyes.
"Cold." Lily said and tried to bury her head into Max's chest.
"Hold still, Lilybird." Max tried to calm her. "Mommy's going to fix it."
Aidan watched uncertain as to what could help. He sat back down on the blanket and watched.
Lily let out another scream as Liz poured more of the water over her eyes. "Cold, Mommy." She told her furiously but she felt the relief soon enough. Liz finished rinsing off her hands and let them go. Of course they went for her face but clear of sand nothing was there to irritate her eyes.
"Better, love?" Liz asked as she brushed her hair back from her forehead and kissed it.
"Yes." Tears still poured down her eyes and she glared down at the offensive sand but she felt better.
She rested her head against Max's chest as she rubbed her eyes.
"Are you all done with your lunch?" Liz took Lily into her own arms and cradled her against her chest.
Lily nodded and snuggled up to her.
"I'm going to take her up to the towels and get her settled down. You boys come up when you're ready." Liz climbed up the small hill to where they were set up. Aidan watched and looked at Max.
"She gonna be good now?" Aidan asked with concern. "Yeah, she'll be fine." Max sat next to Aidan and the both finished their lunch before they returned to the heavy task of building a fortress.
Lily played a little while longer while Liz flipped through some bridal magazines. She wasn't surprised when she felt Lily straddle her stomach. Moving the magazine up so she could see Lily, Liz smiled at her. "What are you doing?"
Flopping herself across her chest Liz's question was answered. Glancing down, Lily's thumb was secure in her mouth. Moving as little as possible, Liz reached for the pink blanket that Max had packed at the bottom of the bag so Lily wouldn't see it too early. Handing it to a thrilled Lily, Liz shifted so she didn't take so much breath from her. "Night night."
"Night, Lily." Liz kissed the top of her head and brushed her curls back. Thanks to the sun and chlorine from the Evans' pool, the tip of Lily's hair had turned into a delightful shade of green.
"Are we going to see Zoë?" Aidan asked as Max buckled him into the seat.
"We'll have to call Uncle Alex, and see if Aunt Isabel is up to it." Max told him. Zoë, Isabel's three week old daughter, had been an instant hit with Aidan; Lily wasn't so sure she liked the little girl that had taken her place with Uncle Alex.
"No Zoë." Lily shook her head in the negative. Max had hoped she would sleep long enough to get home but the thought would have been too good to happen.
"We have to call first." Liz soothed her.
Lily just glared in answer.
Everything went fine until the pulled onto the freeway.
"Itchy." Lily whined.
"I thought you changed her out of her swimsuit." Max looked at Liz.
"I did, I even rinsed her off in the showers." Liz watched as Lily screwed her face up to complain again.
"Itchy." She said again.
"I shook out her blanket." Max said wondering what she found itchy.
Then Liz spotted the culprit. She had worn shoes, not sandals like Aidan. "Oh, God, did we check her shoes?"
Max shook his head solemnly and switched lanes. "It's only a little ways home, you think we could survive it?"
"Aidan, take Lily's shoes off, please." Because he was in a booster seat he could move around easier.
"I can't reach it, Mommy." He shook his head, and watched too as Lily's face got redder.
He looked out the window and mentally prepared himself like his mother. Max just sped up and tried to get home as soon as possible.
"Yuck!" Lily held her feet up as Liz tried to set her in the sand. "Up."
"No, Lily, you need to walk so I can carry the towels." Liz told her in her most patient voice as possible.
"No!" She looked defiantly at Liz and grasped her harder. "Sand yuck."
"Come on, Lily, fun." Aidan hopped around in the sand trying to get her to like it as well.
"Yuck." She kept up. "No, sand."
"I do believe we met in a sand box." Max came up beside her.
"I think so too, what happened, Lily, why don't you like the sand?" Liz asked.
"Yuck." Lily's new favorite word. She had learned it at daycare and now used it regularly.
"Come on Daddy's back then." Max bent so Lily could climb on his back. "Mommy can't carry you."
Lily hopped on happily not having to touch the sand. Liz rolled her eyes and called Aidan to her side. Lily was gradually beginning to call her Mommy more and more often now and it's how Max referred to her. Aidan was taking his time with Daddy but they knew it would come eventually and neither bothered to push it.
When they found their choice spot on the beach, Liz set the blanket down then pulled out Lily's swimsuit. She set her on the towel, careful not to let her near the sand. "Let's put this on."
"No." Lily protested.
"Lily Evans, if you say no to me one more time you are going to sit on this blanket all day and you will not go in that water, do you hear me?" Liz asked. She hated raising her voice to Lily but the girl's attitude was getting on her nerves.
They faced each other off. Lily's hands on her hips glaring Liz's arms were crossed over her chest glaring right back.
Max and Aidan snuck off to the water to begin building the sand castle they had their heart set on.
Finally agreeing to Liz putting the suit on her she walked towards her. Liz pulled the heavy suit on over the one Lily was already wearing. This one had a floatation device built into the swimsuit.
When Liz was done, Lily threw her arms around Liz's neck in a sort of apology.
"It's ok, Lily." Liz patted her back. "Now sit here, or do you want to play with Daddy and Aidan."
"You." Lily sat on the towel and pulled out some of the toys they had packed for her. Liz spread out next to her and pulled out a bridal magazine, content to spend the day beside Lily.
An hour later, Liz took Lily's hand and guided her down to the water. Holding tight to her hands she put her down in the water and let the tiny waves crash into her feet.
"Cold." Lily lifted her feet but she giggled all the same. "Mommy do it."
Liz made a show of putting her feet in the water as well. "Cold." Liz agreed.
A wave came higher than expected and water splashed in Lily's mouth.
"Yuck!" She declared as she sputtered to get the salt taste out of her mouth. She was soon distracted by something moving in the sand. A wave came too quickly and covered it up. Then as the wave was going out she saw it again.
"Bug!" She declared and dove for it.
"Where is a bug, Lily?" Liz asked as she hauled her out of the water and into her arms. When Lily had slipped from her grasp her heart had stopped.
"Here." She held out her palm and in it sat a big fat sand crab.
"Oh, Lord." Liz looked at it. "Let's go show Daddy and Aidan."
"Daddy, Daddy." Lily ran up to them. Aidan cringed when she kicked in part of their moat.
"What do you have there, Lilybird?" Max asked picking up his daughter and smiling at Liz.
"Bug!" She held out her hands.
It was all Max could do not to drop her. "Nice."
Liz laughed at his face. "Are you scared of it, Max?"
"Of course not, maybe you should let it go." Max set Lily on the ground.
"You are afraid of it."
"No, never." Max said, and looked at the offending crab.
"Just admit it." Liz said smiling, "And we'll let it go."
"Fine, I've always had a fear of them since I was little. Isabel and Grace used to take the greatest pleasure in chasing me around with them." Max said looking strained. "Will you let it go now?"
"Here, give it to me, Lily." Liz took the crab and set it down in the surf where it promptly scampered off to bury itself in the sand away from little girls.
"Are you guys ready for lunch yet?" Liz asked when she walked back to where Aidan and Max had set to repairing the moat that Lily had crushed.
"We'll be up in a moment." Max said from somewhere deep inside the hole.
"In a minute, Mommy." Aidan said as well.
"Up, Mommy." Lily asked as they approached the dry sand. "Yuck."
Liz picked her up before they reached the blanket and settling her on it. "We'll wait for the boys and then we'll eat lunch." She smiled, "Let's look at dresses for you for the wedding."
Lily settled in Liz's lap and looked appreciatively at the magazine. Making the appropriate sounds and adding an occasional "pretty."
An hour later the boys still weren't up from the hole.
"Well, Lily it looks like the boys aren't going to come up any time soon."
"Hungry." Lily patted her belly. "Mommy hungry?"
"Yes, let's go take lunch down there." Liz stood. She cajoled Lily to walk across the sand holding Aidan's lunch in her hand.
When they got to the hole the boys were avidly digging in, Liz set the towel on the ground so Lily wouldn't have to sit on the sand.
Aidan dusted off his hands and sat next to Lily, who watched in horror as his swimming trunks dumped sand on the blanket.
She let the incident pass though, and began to eat her half of the sandwich she had split with Aidan. Her juice sat beside her in her sippy cup—a new found privilege—in the sand. She went to pick it up and the sand that stuck to the cup from the condensation got all over her hands. She looked down at them and tears filled her eyes. Discarding the idea of a drink she set back to her sandwich and bit down on a mouthful of sand. That was the last straw. She chucked the cup and sandwich into the sand. Aidan stood up to go retrieve it and the sand from his swim trunks blew into her eyes.
"Daddy!" She said rubbing her eyes miserably only to find that it loaded more sand into her eyes. "Yuck!"
"Lilybird, what's wrong?" Max picked her up. "Stop rubbing them." Max tried to take her hands away.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch." She wailed. Liz looked up and saw the tears streaming down her face. "Eyes." Lily fought to rub the sand out.
"She has sand in her eyes." Liz quickly went to the cooler to get a bottle of water to rinse her eyes.
"Ouch." Lily said determined to continue to rub her eyes. When that only caused more pain Lily let out a wail.
"Let Mommy see, Lily." Liz pulled her hands away and gently poured the cool water over her eyes.
"Cold." Lily said and tried to bury her head into Max's chest.
"Hold still, Lilybird." Max tried to calm her. "Mommy's going to fix it."
Aidan watched uncertain as to what could help. He sat back down on the blanket and watched.
Lily let out another scream as Liz poured more of the water over her eyes. "Cold, Mommy." She told her furiously but she felt the relief soon enough. Liz finished rinsing off her hands and let them go. Of course they went for her face but clear of sand nothing was there to irritate her eyes.
"Better, love?" Liz asked as she brushed her hair back from her forehead and kissed it.
"Yes." Tears still poured down her eyes and she glared down at the offensive sand but she felt better.
She rested her head against Max's chest as she rubbed her eyes.
"Are you all done with your lunch?" Liz took Lily into her own arms and cradled her against her chest.
Lily nodded and snuggled up to her.
"I'm going to take her up to the towels and get her settled down. You boys come up when you're ready." Liz climbed up the small hill to where they were set up. Aidan watched and looked at Max.
"She gonna be good now?" Aidan asked with concern. "Yeah, she'll be fine." Max sat next to Aidan and the both finished their lunch before they returned to the heavy task of building a fortress.
Lily played a little while longer while Liz flipped through some bridal magazines. She wasn't surprised when she felt Lily straddle her stomach. Moving the magazine up so she could see Lily, Liz smiled at her. "What are you doing?"
Flopping herself across her chest Liz's question was answered. Glancing down, Lily's thumb was secure in her mouth. Moving as little as possible, Liz reached for the pink blanket that Max had packed at the bottom of the bag so Lily wouldn't see it too early. Handing it to a thrilled Lily, Liz shifted so she didn't take so much breath from her. "Night night."
"Night, Lily." Liz kissed the top of her head and brushed her curls back. Thanks to the sun and chlorine from the Evans' pool, the tip of Lily's hair had turned into a delightful shade of green.
"Are we going to see Zoë?" Aidan asked as Max buckled him into the seat.
"We'll have to call Uncle Alex, and see if Aunt Isabel is up to it." Max told him. Zoë, Isabel's three week old daughter, had been an instant hit with Aidan; Lily wasn't so sure she liked the little girl that had taken her place with Uncle Alex.
"No Zoë." Lily shook her head in the negative. Max had hoped she would sleep long enough to get home but the thought would have been too good to happen.
"We have to call first." Liz soothed her.
Lily just glared in answer.
Everything went fine until the pulled onto the freeway.
"Itchy." Lily whined.
"I thought you changed her out of her swimsuit." Max looked at Liz.
"I did, I even rinsed her off in the showers." Liz watched as Lily screwed her face up to complain again.
"Itchy." She said again.
"I shook out her blanket." Max said wondering what she found itchy.
Then Liz spotted the culprit. She had worn shoes, not sandals like Aidan. "Oh, God, did we check her shoes?"
Max shook his head solemnly and switched lanes. "It's only a little ways home, you think we could survive it?"
"Aidan, take Lily's shoes off, please." Because he was in a booster seat he could move around easier.
"I can't reach it, Mommy." He shook his head, and watched too as Lily's face got redder.
He looked out the window and mentally prepared himself like his mother. Max just sped up and tried to get home as soon as possible.