Hello!!! How have you guys been? I feel like I’ve been away from the blog for ages, and I’m looking forward to catching up. We just got back from a week in Fair Harbor, a tiny beach town on Fire Island. Here are a few photos, if you’d like to see…

It’s such a magical place—cars aren’t allowed, so you walk or bike everywhere.

Every rental house also comes with a Radio Flyer wagon for pulling beach chairs, towels and sleepy kiddos.

We’d wake up early and watch the deer eat breakfast. They would come right up to us for a pat on the nose.

Then we’d go to the beach or playground. Not a bad view from the swings, right?

As an aside, I have to say, I’ve really fallen for this little dude, hook, line and sinker. He’s such a gentle soul. It was a joy to have a week to just soak him up.

The town of Fair Harbor boasts five stores: a grocery, a wine shop, a seafood restaurant, an ice-cream shop and a general store selling postcards, kites and buckets. That’s it!

The only rule for the kids all week? They had to get ice cream every day, LIKE IT OR NOT. (I also rediscovered Moose Tracks, which I ate almost every night back in high school. So good.)

Another bonus: Shoes are totally optional, even at the grocery store. Everyone goes barefoot. I didn’t wear shoes for the whole week and actually had to search for them when we packed up yesterday!

We sometimes did an activity in the afternoon, like a lemonade stand…

Or a talent show! Talents, somewhat loosely defined, included making rude sounds with an armpit…

…and a nonsensical improvised speech about ice cream performed by this duo.

Our husbands joined us for the weekend. It was fun to wait for the evening ferry and try to spot them on the deck.

Alex came out on Friday night to great fanfare :)

In the evenings, we’d return to the beach to soak up that golden light.

Alex snapped these shots of Anton and me, which reminded me of these old photos with Toby!

Before bedtime, the toddlers were allowed to watch a TV show. Toby, a lifelong romantic, would pick his friend up in “a carriage” (red wagon) and bring her over for “a date.” These photos made me laugh, since my sister’s friend calls television a tranquilizer gun for kids.

Finally, once the babies were asleep, we’d hang out just grown-ups. One night, Alex and I snuck out to dinner…

…but mostly we’d just have girl talk and hang. (It felt like a week of mama/baby sleepovers:) Overall it was the vacation we all needed—to just laze around, hang out and eat too much ice cream.

And one final thing: Tina Fey actually vacations in Fair Harbor, and we spotted her at the ferry on our last day! We tried to act cool, but we basically looked like this. :)

Anyway, hope you had a good week. Now back to reality! Lots of love, xoxo

P.S. For those who are interested in visiting, we rented two houses through VRBO, and there are also great listings on Homeaway and Fire Island Living.

(Photos by Alex and me, plus a couple from Liz and Kendra.)