Spring Break

"If you're lucky enough to be at the beach, you're lucky enough." I love coming to the beach. It puts everything in perspective. We are all together, there are no activities, no where we have to be. It's not warm, but it's not too cold. Jubilee did think we were trying to turn her into a Popsicle yesterday. As soon as we got to the beach we took off our shoes and started looking for shells. The boys spent a couple of hours dragging, pushing, pulling and rolling logs down the beach to build a fort. They worked hard for a long time. They got dirty, they worked together and they made something they loved. It will get washed away in a week or so, but for now it is their vacation home. Ed and Omega are decorating it with shells and seaweed. I will add pictures as soon as figure out how to get the pictures off my camera and onto my computer.

Jubilee is very tentative about getting sandy and climbing on the rocks. I think it will be good for her to dig her toes in the sand and to climb along the jetty. Bk took a little spill on the rocks today. She thinks she is bulletproof, but I think she realized that if she would have hit her head instead of her knee it could have been ugly. Maybe she will use a little more wisdom. I love that all of my kids, kindergarten to high school, love to play in the sand. They are all entertained, and work together.

This is one of those thinking generationally moments. I want to give my children and grandchildren opportunities to do things like this. My mom owns a condo that is right on the beach, unfortunately she is almost never here. She was here yesterday, but today she left for work and may not be back until after we leave. The other downside of her place is that we can't all sleep here. The upside is, that there are a lot of rental units around. It just takes some time and money to make our visits possible. We did find a wonderful cottage for a VERY reasonable price, that will make it possible for us to come back again soon.

The cottage is nothing fancy, but lovely and very functional. It is exactly what I am hoping I can talk one of our dad's into building on their property. It is two bedrooms, two baths, and a great room. It is less than 1000 square feet, but it is perfect for us. It gives us room to sleep and leave all of our clothes so that they aren't cluttering up Mom's place. It also allows us to have our own space, and grandma has hers. We will have to think about this the next time we are house shopping.

Mom's place is a destination resort, so there is a pool, basketball courts, beach trails and a playground. The pool is not open this time of year, but when it is the kids spend most of the afternoon there. This trip we are trying to walk to the jetty once a day. Walking in the sand is a workout. Mads has been doing her track workouts, while Jubilee stops for rest often. Throwing rocks into the surf can be very therapeutic. When it gets too cold to play outside, grandma has more than enough movies to keep us entertained. To top it all off there is this to die for donut shop in town.

Tomorrow Jubilee gets to meet three of her AHOPE friends in Oly. She can hardly wait. I can hardly wait to see her smile a real smile. It will be a very special day.