I had a quintessentially American experience this summer: spending the Fourth of July on the beach in Cape Cod. I went to spend a week with the Scoobs at Cris' family beach house, and it was a blast!

As usual, we spent most of our time in a circle of lawn chairs in the yard, catching up and being silly. The only difference this year was that Charlotte was with us, and so in the middle of our circle of chairs was a blanket strewn with toys, where Lottie held court while we all socialized.

The house was in Dennisport, MA, which is slightly east of Hyannis. If you think of the Cape as being the shape of your arm while flexing your bicep, Dennisport is sort of at the bottom of your elbow and Provincetown is somewhere near your knuckles. Its a sleepy little neighborhood of summer rentals, and we stayed just a few blocks from the local beach.

(this house belonged to a Harris family, and was a few houses down from the coast road)

Lottie enjoyed her first beach experience, especially that handful of sand she ate before any of us could grab her hand. That kid had more cool beach gear than I've had in my entire life thus far!

The weather was a little cool, sometimes rainy, and often overcast, so we only spent one afternoon actually on the beach. The rest of the time we were taking day trips or enjoying the cottage. It was the perfect spot to have a reunion of all the old DC gang, and there was plenty of time to talk without feeling rushed. The food, courtesy of Lizzi, was as usual, amazing, and there were still ample opportunities for trips to the Dog House for chili dogs and to Sundae School for Grape Nuts ice cream (its a New England thing, I'm told).

There was time for the ridiculous and the serious, for playing with babies and watching fireworks standing barefoot on the beach. And I was reminded, yet again, at how lucky I am to have this crazy group of people in my life:

Thanks, Scoobs! :)