My Mother's Day gift

I love the beach. I once lived at the beach. The summers in between college years, I was living with my sister and family in a beach town. And even though Oregon beaches are cold all year long, with the exception of one or two days, i still love the beach. The smell, the sounds, the amazing vastness of it all, the awesome views of God's creation.
Doesn't this tree stump look like a foot?! I think it is the same stump that has been floating around there for the past few years. Every time we go to this beach, the kids have climbed on it ... until this time.

So for Mother's Day we went to the beach - but we went the day AFTER everyone else was there. We went on Monday. G took the day off, we almost pulled the Boy out of school, but for various reasons did not, and so the 4 girls, G and I went to the beach.
And it was so cold. The wind was the main culprit, without it, the day would have been pleasant.

But that didn't deter the kids much, They still ran along the shore, and dug in the sand. I shivered in my sweatshirt, not having brought a jacket along.

This is one of my favorites of my husband - he's playing Peek with Little K, and I just love the joy on his face when she squeals.

 

The girls kept asking us to come and see what they had found. Seems like someone had written a message in the sand. The someone just happened to be our daughter.

 

 

And if I try to take a picture of my husband ... this is often what I have to work with. I didn't put up the winner of them all though - I'll either save it for blackmail or email it to his brothers.

 

And Little K - have I mentioned how much she loves sticks?