Loves

Thanks Cheri for the pics.

I absolutely LOVE the Beach! I was looking so forward to it all week long. It was a beautiful day yesterday. Although it was a little windy that brought a little chill, the sun was shining and the sky was so blue! No matter how cold it is, the kids always love it. It was so great to be watching both my girls love the outdoors with pure joy in their faces. I don't know a place where Brooke is that happy all day long and never asks what else there is to do. We had been there for five hours and it was still a battle to get her to leave. (Of course there are always the little melt downs or small tantrums because her hand is still sandy and she is trying to eat her sandwich, but they don't last long.) Livia didn't nap all day and she was as happy as could be. Even when she would drop a cracker in the sand and then eat it, sand and all, she never cried. I am pretty sure all kids love the Beach. There were 21 kids in our group with 9 moms and I don't think I heard more than five or ten minutes of crying or fighting or whining put together ALL DAY LONG! It was so much fun to watch my kids enjoy th eoutdoors and play in the sand with them. Although Brookelyn rarely wants anything to do with me while we are there because she is so enthralled with swimming, friends and building and digging in the sand, it is nice when she wants a towel because she is freezing from the water and then curls on my lap to eat her snacks, then goes right back to playing. Livia on the other hand was so fun to play in the sand with and watch her try to be a little daring near the water, but always chicken out! (thank goodness). I can't wait to go to the beach all summer!

I think my mom instilled this love for the beach by taking us there every week in the summer. No matter how cold or foggy it was we were always at the beach. And we always stayed even if it was cold. When we were getting ready to leave yesterday morning it was pretty cold outside, it brought back a flood of memories of getting ready to go to the beach when I was a kid. I always remember it being cold in the morning before we left. For some reason as I was packing the lunches and rounding up the towels I started thinking of when I was a kid and all the little jobs each of us had to do to go to the beach. Jobs around the house, but more like the jobs to go to the beach. One week I was in charge of getting towels for everyone in the brown leather bag, or boogie boards, wet suits and sand toys, or chairs, or making sure the ice chest was cleaned out and ready to pack, etc. I can still remember the bickering of who wasn't doing their job or my mom having to get on us 500 times to get the towels in the car. But no matter what, we always went and we always had a blast when we were there! Even when our big brown van would break down on highway 17 packed with kids (and I mean packed!), we still made it to the beach. 

But I think it might even go even further to my grandma Smith. It seems like almost every family vacation was centered around a place near or at teh beach (or at least near water, like Villa Grand on the Russian River, and Gualala!)  Over thanksgiving she rented condos on the beach with all the cousins, I even think we went for Easter one year. I remember camping with all of the cousins at Sea Cliff and one year at New Brighton. My Grandma was so good at making so many memories for us grandkids and my mom carried that tradition on. I think the beach is such a great place for those memories because it is inexpensive, always a stress reliever to be near the water, and pretty much no clean up, and all kids every age love it!! 

Thanks mom and grandma for always planning opportunities for our family to have so many great memories together!!