At the Seaside

When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
To dig the sandy shore.


My holes were empty like a cup.
In every hole the sea came up, 
Till it could come no more.
     --Robert Louis Stevenson


We just got home from a week on the sunny (really!) Oregon Coast.  Specifically, Waldport, at the cutest lil beach house ever. We've rented the same place for 5 years now and it feels like home!  Joy, Keven and Emily joined us for another week of beach time, agate hunting, serf perch fishing, clamming, kids bickering (Oops, did I really type that?  Yep.), and vacation eating (i.e. ice cream every night!).  The weather was very lovely, surprisingly quite sunny and many days without the expected beach wind.  Niiiice.  When the kids weren't bitching at each other (whoops, again), they had a marvelous time.  Now, to be fair, they were tired monkeys--staying up late talking and getting up at the crack of dawn, followed by a day of hard beach play.  C'est la vie, right? They LOVE the beach, building sand castles, making driftwood forts, and jumping waves.  The ol' Megster here even got in on some wave jumping on the hottest day (must have been pushing 80), and that icy water felt fannntaaaastic.  Here are some pics of kids enjoying themselves:

And here's one of Caroline when she was mad about something:

Thank god for wine!  And we enjoyed many a night with our favorite boyfriends, Charles and Charles (rose'--best summer wine ever--$8 at Costco).


It was wonderful to have a whole week with our friends at the beach.  I am looking forward to next year already.  It's always hard to drive away from the beach.  But...we were very happy to get to stop over for a night in Washougal and see my mom and Bobster, with the added bonus of seeing my sissy and her boys.  It was a great day to play in the Washougal River!  See:  

And a peaceful night's sleep in the quiet little cabin helped me transition back to normal-ish life.  


Today, I did lots of laundry, made myself a dentist appointment, and called up Subaru to schedule a time for them to take a look at the Freedom Wagon, as she seems to be runnin' a little rough, I fear she has a clutch issue--think good thoughts for me, please.  I wandered around outside and marveled at how big my plants got in only one week, dead-headed flowers, pet the chickens, cuddled with the kittens, charged up Sister Bluebell's battery, and enjoyed one of my last few days of puttering about; I go back to work on Thursday!  Oh my!  Until then, I'll enjoy the idleness of summer and bask in the sweetness of our week at the beach.