Beach time=happy me

 Last week was kind of lame. I didn't do much during the day while the kids were at school; it was just a low-energy week. I did take the boys to baseball though and Wednesday I took Emma and Brandon to the pool and Thursday Josh called me at 11:30 am and asked if I could meet him for lunch at 12 so that was fun. I just felt bleh and lonely and yet anti-social all week. It happens. 

Friday morning we left by 8:30 am to head to North Carolina though and I was so happy. It was the weekend I'd been looking forward to all summer and I had been nervous about the hurricane but it had already blown through and wasn't a big deal in NC so our amazing weekend was on. We had a super easy drive and made it by 2:30, stopped at the grocery store quickly, got to the house and we were on the beach by 3:30. It was amazing and so beautiful. We stayed until almost 7pm and then went back to the house for tacos and ice cream and then the big kids watched part of Free Guy with us, which we finished Saturday night because we were all pretty tired. 

 

 

Saturday we were at the beach from 10 until 6. It was perfect weather and the waves were clean so it was pretty calm past where they were breaking, which made for fun swimming and some good boogie boarding. Josh even paddle surfed and caught a good number of waves. It was a soul-filling kind of day for me. The water was so sparkly and the sand so soft and I love watching all the birds (pelicans and sanderlings especially) and feeling the sun and smelling the salty air. I'm so in awe of when waves crash and the energy and power of the ocean. I also love watching the horizon and imagining what's out there and thinking about how big the world is and how beautiful and it all just makes me so happy and feel such deep peace. 

 

My neighborhood friend (one of the very first I made here in MD) moved down to NC two years ago and her family came and met us for some beach time in the afternoon and it was so fun to see her and talk for hours. Nothing beats face to face friend time and it was great to be with her. After we dragged ourselves away and got showered up we went to the Crab Shack for dinner. It was fun to watch the sun set over the sound and the hush puppies were delicious. I got blackened red snapper that was also delicious. Josh got salmon, Curtis got snow crab legs and the other three got shrimp and everyone was happy. 

 

Sunday morning Josh made pancakes and we did a family testimony meeting that was really special and sweet. We also discussed gospel principles the beach can teach us or remind us of and that was fun. Then we spent the rest of the day at the beach and ended up eating dinner around 8pm again and did some packing up. It was another perfect beach day and I was so grateful for the perfect weather and that everyone was healthy and that we could even be there. The boys played a lot of baseball on the beach and everyone played in the sand and swam a lot and Josh and I took a walk and he was out on the paddle board a lot and I watched birds and waves and kids and it was all wonderful. 

 

Yesterday we got everything packed up and the house all cleaned up and then we went for a walk on the beach. I had hoped to swim for a couple of hours since we had a late check out but Curtis had a scrimmage so we kept it to a nice hour-long walk and took some pictures and said our goodbyes to the ocean until next summer. We had a super easy and quick drive home (my kids have been trained so we don't stop and it was just a straight 6 hours) and we got home in time for Curtis to get his uniform and make it to warm ups. The rest of us unpacked and then I took the kids to the pool for one last swim and then it was showers and bed since we all have a lot going on this week. It was a great weekend with wonderful family time. I feel like it is hard for us to all be together during the school year with dance and baseball and church stuff and Lily babysitting and now she is adding in volunteering and maybe teaching at the studio as well and Josh gets so busy with work and traveling and it was just nice to have four days all together in my favorite place.