Taking A Deep Breath

Once a year for MeMa's birthday in October we plan a family stay at the beach.  Unfortunately October weather in Oregon is not conducive to romping on the beach in ones swim wear.  So after our rainy stay at the beach house last year we decided that this year the family beach trip would be in August which affords us some of the nicest weather of the year.  After a rough year there is nothing more therapeutic than the excited voices and squeals of laughter from the Little Terrorists as they pile out the vehicles.  Breathing in the salt air as I open the front door, I can already feel the tension spilling off me, the Little Terrorists zoom past, excitement building as they find their rooms and trade travel clothes for swim wear.  The house is large with three full bedroom suites, large open kitchen, living room, dining room and the attached double garage has been turned into an entertainment room with a pool table, piano and large television.  It is in walking distance to the beach and about six minute drive to the casino.  After getting the house opened up so the breeze could move from room to room we all headed to the beach.


Taeya, Brooklyn and Adrianne test out the water



The tide was out so we had a good look round

We had three lovely days ahead of us that were just what Doc ordered for this stressed out family, we had spent a good deal of time grieving for the loss of five family members in less than a year's time.  I always thought that bad things happened in threes, well, "hello", someone lost count.  But enough of that as we were all here together to take back the wonderful life that we have been blessed with.  As evening approached we switched from playing in the surf to exploring tide pools and  everyone put on light weight jackets, but it was still quite warm.

Started early and left to simmer all day, MeMa's clam chowder.

Besides all the fun and games there were many good meals and one of the favorites is MeMa's clam chowder a carefully guarded family recipe passed on from mother to daughter.  Not one speck of chowder was left over.  After everyone had their fill the father and son clean-up crew got started in the kitchen.......

Our eldest son Nathan and myself, wow when did he get so tall?

........while a rousing game of cribbage got under way in the dinning room.

Card shark Little Lucy was there to supervise the game.  No hanky panky on her watch!

Lucy expelled a few harsh words when her game rules were ignored. Notice the look on her fathers face.



The next morning after breakfast with walking stick in hand, I headed for the beach and found everyone once again enjoying the beautiful sun and water.  Sorry MeMa, your October birthday has officially been bumped up to August.

MeMa, Aúngelle and Lucy



Taeya getting some MeMa time

The whole gang

MeMa and her boys
Nathan - MeMa - Ian

"The Shell Seekers"
I love this photo of Brooklyn and Taeya walking hand in hand as it was totally unprompted, but you should have seen us all quickly scrambling to get cell phones out of pockets. We needn't have hurried as they walked for ages like that talking and laughing about the days events