Spontaneous Beach Trip: Part 1

On Thursday afternoon, the kids and I stopped by my husbands work for a quick little visit. Both kids jumped into his arms. When it was my turn for a hug, I also received this question, "Hey, do you want to take the kids to the beach tomorrow for a couple of days?". My response, "OfcourseIabsolutelydo".

Less than 24 hours later, our car was packed and our family was settled in for the drive to coast. Just minutes behind, drove a mini van packed with our closest family friends and their two dogs. The weather was soaking wet. The whole state seemed to be drenched with rain but it didn't matter. We didn't care because we were heading out of town. We were all headed to the beach!

When we were just minutes away from our friend's beach house, we pulled off of the road to take a look at the ocean. The rain was no where to be seen. In its place was a light blanket of fog covering the ocean. It was beautiful. The fog wrapped around the huge rocks that jetted out into the sea and the waves were crashing against them. Don't you worry, the camera was in hand and very hard at work. Knowing that our friends were just minutes behind us, I set my camera accordingly and we waited for them to zoom on by. Like clockwork, we saw the black mini van rounding the corner and I got my action shot. I captured my girlfriend (one of my trees) with her face and hands pressed against the window with an expression of "wooooohooooo" on her face. If I didn't have this spectacular shot to share with blipland, then I would have posted it for comedic purposes only!

When we all pulled up to the house, we jumped out and turned the kids loose. They are best little friends and they couldn't wait to start playing. The house has a beautiful span of grass with a deep river bed running behind it. A swing hangs from a tall branch in the yard and it is definitely the star attraction. When we finished unloading the cars, we decided to walk down to the beach and catch the sunset. From the house, just minutes before we had gathered up all of the kids and the two dogs, I saw the beginning of the sunset. It was happening right before our eyes. I knew that we wouldn't get down to the beach fast enough to catch the spectacular view so I just stood there and enjoyed it. My husband was up on the deck and I shouted up to him so that he would not miss the most spectacular sight that I've ever seen. He was all over it. Everyone was. Everyone saw the sun take a dip behind the enormous cloud. Everyone saw the rays of light shooting up towards heaven. We all saw that "silver lining" that is always being talked about in poems and songs. It was magnificent. I have a picture of it. There are a couple of houses and telephone wires in the way and that is the ONLY reason why it is not tonight's blip. I will always remember that moment. I knew that I would miss it if I tried to get closer for a better shot, so I took the time to just stop and stare.

By the time we all got down to the beach, the sun had completely disappeared behind the low clouds that were grazing the ocean. But the colors. Oh my gosh, the colors were indescribable. I know that I am sounding like a complete over exaggerator, and if you ask almost everyone that I know, they would tell you that I am.....but really, really the colors were amazing. From the beach, we had the perfect view of the rock. Sara grew up calling it toad rock because of its shape. For some reason I refer to it as turtle rock and I have no idea why. But it is a little rock formation nestled out in the sea and tonight, it was glowing. The light of the fallen sun was giving the sky an orangish glow. It was spectacular. A different kind of spectacular from the actual sunset with the glorious rays of light, but spectacular in its own way. We took some great family photos with this setting as the backdrop. I have a feeling that both of our families will have each of our photos framed front and center in our living rooms.

When we got back to the house, it was dusk and we welcomed cozying up by the fire, eating pizza, playing a game, and talking and laughing our way through the evening. However, the kids were in bed and the movie was started, I checked into dreamland as there was no possible way that the combo of a leather couch and a glowing fire could keep me awake........

Spontaneous Beach Trip: Part 1,
To be continued.