Mother's Day

Better late than never, right? For a Mother's Day recap, I mean. I've been swamped this week and tonight is my first opportunity to blog. Someday, I'll resolve to post (if even just a few sentences) each day. Someday....

Anyhow...Mother's Day 2008 was fantastic! As has become our tradition in recent years, we made our first trip of the season to the beach. The weather had been pretty unpredictable all week, so we weren't quite sure that we would even make it there is year, but when Saturday turned out to be sunny, we made the final call to attempt our Mother's Day beach trip after all. I was SO glad that we did! Krystal, Will and the kids joined us this year (it was the twin's first time ever to the beach!) and we had a wonderful day! It was cool and grey when we arrived, and the beach was unexpectedly barren, which surprised me since it was a holiday and all. We parked ultra close to the sand (wooohooo!) and settled ourselves in for a day of playing and relaxing. The kids instantly busied themselves with shovels and buckets (minus Ellie, of-course, who is still too little), and I plopped myself down on the blanket where I remained much of the day. :) Ellie and I nibbled on blueberry scones as we chatted with Krystal and watched the others run in and out of the frigid waves.




Luke had an absolute blast this time around! Especially in the water, where he showed very little of the trepidation he's had in years past. And despite the water being so chilly, he giggled and played for a long while in the surf! It made my heart happy to watch him! By lunch time, the sun began to peek through the clouds and we peeled off our sweatshirts and doused ourselves for a second time in sunscreen. Will and Ty helped Luke and Matt dig a gigantic hole in the sand; deep enough to hide in and I snuggled into Ellie as she napped close to my chest in the Moby wrap. What more could I have asked for in a day??? I eventually made it to the water's edge too. Luke and I played a game of chase for a spell, and in no time,he had me jumping in and over the approaching waves! We had so much fun! That is, until my feet began to ache from the cold and I made a b-line for the blanket! :)

The beach trip would not have been completed had Ellie not dipped her toes in the water too (it was, after all, her first trip to the sand too!) so I peeled off her clothes to reveal her cute little suit and attempted to get her acquainted with the water.

You can see from this picture though, that she wanted little to do with that cold water, and she made every attempt to avoid putting her feet down on the wet sand! LOL!

She began to cry when her feet actually got wet and I just had to laugh! Silly, sweet little girl!! We opted to wiggle our toes in the warm sand after that. She seemed to enjoy that, and did not attempt to eat it, as I thought she might! :)

As the kids tired and nap time drew near, we packed up and headed for home. It was nearly 4:30 before we arrived, with a take-out dinner from BJ's pizza in hand so that I was saved from cooking! :) We ate early and then Ty took Luke down to see his mom for awhile. Ellie and I shared her first shower ever while the boys were gone, and before I knew it, we were all pj-clad and ready for a good night's sleep. I was intensely tired that night, as there have been too many late nights and early mornings in a row for me lately, so I didn't stay up much past putting the kids down. I think it was 8:30 when my own head hit the pillow.....something that is almost entirely unheard of for me these days. But I relished slipping between the cool sheets after such a beautiful day and enjoying a long sleep! A perfect way to end a perfect day!