Our first full day at Davis Park, Fire Island. Ruby's asleep by 7.30pm and we're about to drop after a good day in the sun.

We got here yesterday and it is simply divine. Gorgeous rental house on the bay, with kayaks (ohhh said Marsha and jumped into one within 5 mins of arriving yesterday for a short paddle) and all. The beach (on the other side of the island, it's not a wide island!) is a 2min walk. This weekend the place was packed; tomorrow it'll clear out and we'll have the place to ourselves.

The Davis Park Association had their annual beach clean-up today, which Ruby and David participated in. Ruby learned how to use a grabber and got some certificate.

This afternoon we decided to hike over to Watch Hill, about 20mins east, to go to our regular summer beach. Bad idea because we forgot our bug spray and the mosquitoes descended on us in swarms while we walked through the dunes. David and I were racing along the path, with Ruby in our hiking backpack giggling the whole time. And of course the tiny little store at Watch Hill that usually carries everything didn't have bug spray today (next ferry they said). So we gave up on hanging out anywhere besides right next to the sea. I read and read and read some more and complained a little about all the sand. I'm not really a beach person. David and Ruby played and played and played some more and occasionally came to check on me (to shower me with sand and salty water, they're teasers like that).

By the time we got home Ruby had met lots of brothers and sisters (any kid is her brother or sister), played with dogs and exhausted herself so much that she didn't have the energy to scratch her bites. A good day in the sun and six more to follow!