Inky Marina!

Summer's here! Well, Summer Ravenwood, my friend, is here! The season of summer is almost over. Even though I'd just been there a few days ago with Hodel, Summer and I begged my moms to go to the beach again so Summer could see it. Luckily, it was a warm day so we got to wear our swimmies! (In my family, we call swimsuits "swimmies." It's so weird!)



Summer really wanted to go clamming, like they do in the Pacific Northwest. I'd done it before, so I taught her how I do it. You go a few feet into the water, then dig a little hole with your foot, feeling around for clams. When you feel something hard, reach down and dig it out with your hand. If you're lucky, it's a clam! If you're unlucky, it's a rock or something with pincers! Ow! Summer caught a whole little pile of clams. We took them home and steamed them later- yum!



Can you believe Summer had never built a real beach sandcastle before? She was telling me about these awesome sandcastles she built in her sandbox as a kid, but I told her it doesn't count unless it's the beach! We built this little one, stuck a flag on top, and then played a game with our toys. I was Ice Bat and Summer was a bear. The bear was attacking the castle and Ice Bat had to defend it! We took turns winning, but in the end, Ice Bat and Bear fought so viciously that they tore the whole castle down!



The water was so warm that I had to go for a swim. There were no lifeguards on duty, so my moms watched me very closely and only let me go a few feet in. It was kind of annoying, but my mom said she'd rather I have a boring time swimming than drown. She's right, but I still wish I could have shown Summer my super ocean swimming skills!



Summer was so happy to be out in the open air. She took a super long train ride to get to NYC- all the way across the country from Arizona! She ran all over the beach with her arms out at her sides, smiling. I'm so glad we were able to come to the beach!



I spent a lot of time looking out over the ocean. If I got a boat, I know I could sail all the way across the Atlantic, across the Mediterranean, through the Bosporus Straits, and up through the Black Sea to my grandma's house in Sevastopol, Ukraine. Wouldn't that be amazing? Instead, I'm just a regular girl living in the city. I made a wish on a wave that soon I'd be traveling again, but for now, it's wonderful just to have Summer here!