As Vacation Ends

 Today is Saturday.  I love Saturday, it has quickly become my favorite day of the week as a day set aside to rest physically from the things of the week.  Every Saturday is different and this Saturday marks the end of a vacation time.  During our vacation we worked on the garden, the animal shelters and fences and many other small 'must dos'.  There is so much more to do...but without play we would soon experience burnout.  Our plans had fallen through on a trip with some friends and our second choice didn't work out either, so we made a decision and went to the ocean for a few days to end our vacation time with play. 

The first day at the ocean was sunny and in the low 60's, by sunset it had become quite chilly with the wind blowing.  The kids were building sand cities and sculptures behind me as I sat and watched the sun set on the first day, knowing the weather forecast was for rain for the next two days at least and hoping it would be different.

Sunset on the first day...lovely.

We were awakened by the pitter-patter of rain on our travel trailer the next morning, but after breakfast it had eased up enough to venture down to the beach.  Our oldest son had already taken a walk when the sun rose so he stayed behind to read while we enjoyed watching these little birds skitter across the sand stopping only long enough to eat something in the sand (probably those pesky sand fleas) or sleep.  If they weren't running full speed to their next meal, they were hopping or standing on one leg, it was quite funny to watch them.

Our youngest son brought his bike down and he had some fun chasing them.  They would fly up into the air and come right back down behind him.

Love how she is so often in her own world.

Later we took a drive up the coast 16 miles to another beach, our oldest had a good time getting the dog totally wet.

Oldest and youngest spending a second together watching the waves.

Sunset of the second day.

The third day at the ocean was my husbands birthday, we went for a beach hike out to Damon Point, this sign says it all.

The deserted washed out roadway.

My husband found a door, possibly to the old Catala ship wreck that used to be here, the boys had fun digging it out of the sand and setting it up to document there find with the camera.  It was a great example of archaeology.

Coal washes up on this shore quite often and there are lots of wonderful rocks and shells too.

The waves here are especially loud and very beautiful, the boys had fun running from them.

As we were heading back to the truck we noticed that our way was quite covered by water as the sign warned it could be...I had to overcome my fear...it wasn't as deep as I thought it would be but we did get our feet wet except the dog who was carried by our oldest son. I was very relieved to get across and too overwhelmed by the experience to take a picture.  We had a nice dinner out at the Galway Bay Irish Pub and went out to watch the sunset...what a wonderful day for my husband.

Wednesday was a windy chilly very sunny day, I walked to the beach alone it was very peaceful and so beautiful.

At the beach we flew our kites...

...and played in the sand.

Then we drove to town on the beach and saw this coyote...

...that is the Shilo Inn in the background.

Later that night we walked down to the beach, it was kind of scary after seeing a coyote, it's one thing to know they are there, another thing entirely to have seen one in broad daylight with people around.

The next morning was very rainy, we didn't go back to the beach...before we left it had stopped raining and we got one last picture.  This is the tree in our campsite, the kids had a great time climbing it.

We had a great vacation together but had to get home for one more birthday on Friday...our youngest son is now 14...time really has gone by fast and I am so glad to have this vacation to remember.

~Blessings

Have Courage!