In the end, all the adults and all but four of the kidlets got the Incredibly Contagious Virus. We averaged two adults and one child down per day, plus another set recovering from the day before. The Husbandlet’s poor aunt and uncle were the last to succumb, the night before and the morning of our departure, respectively.

Aside from that, it was a fantastic beach vacation. Lots of beach time, a little Shakespeare, and good food for anyone well enough to eat it. I personally ate my weight in chocolate chip cookies … yes, relatives, that’s where they all went.

Our little nuclear family made the entire 10.5-hour trip home on Saturday with no noxious emissions from Ngaire and Liam, who represented 50% of the vomit hold-outs. In fact, they never did come down with that particular bug. But they did manage to pick up a completely different virus on the way home (fever only, thank goodness), which knocked Liam out on Sunday and got Ngaire on Monday night.

The Husbandlet and I missed the fever, but we both have ear infections. Want to come to our house?

In more delightful news, Liam is now a) walking all over the place, and b) pretty much completely weaned. I haven’t nursed him since the middle of the night on Sunday, when he was sick. He drinks either soy milk or generic Lactaid, and only lifts my shirt now to poke his finger in my belly button.

Re: a), Liam’s walking really took off at the beach house, partially because he also learned how to turn on TVs, of which the house had many. He would stagger around the room with his index finger outstretched, the better to hit power buttons when his lurches took him their way.

Ngaire adored the beach. I think she had an unmitigated blast the whole week. She didn’t seem to mind getting knocked over by waves, but she was most interested in darting in and out of the water while conducting complex cooking games involving sand. Her behavior was so pristine that I’ve decided she needs more exercise and have signed her up for six weeks of baby soccer starting in September.

I also ordered her books for Sonlight’s P3/4 program. Ngaire is a little sponge, and I’m looking forward to making my educational attempts with her slightly less haphazard.

In totally unrelated news, I have two recommendations: Go read Ivy and Netflick Penelope. The first is a tightly written, far less wordy heir to Dickens, and the second is perhaps the most original movie I’ve seen in a long time. I loved the script.