The Beach

Anyone who knows me knows that the beach is where I love to be. Listening to the waves crashing and the shore birds calling is just next to Heaven for me. Soothes my soul. Not to say I don't love the solitude of the forest at times also, I do but the beach is where I revive. Living where I do in Oregon I am lucky to say that I have the best of both worlds, the shore or the forest are less than an hour away from home. For the last 8 yrs. or so, when my grandkids were old enough to feel comfortable away from home for an extended stay, we have stayed at the beach for a week. These trips are always such a joy for me. Seeing them just being kids and enjoying time together has been every grandma's dream. The last few yrs. we have only been able to go for a few days but it is still worth it. Now that they are older, 17 & 14 time with Grams is more limited, too many activities but this last week my youngest grandson and I took off on a very warm and sunny day and headed to the beach for one night. We packed as much stuff in that one day as we could. We have traditions that we follow, one is to stop at our favorite clam chowder place, Camp 18, on the way to the beach. Brandon said it was even better this time than last time.  It was sunny but a bit windy at the beach but not uncomfortable. Off to the store for wood to make a fire and sand toys, forks for roasting marshmallows and all the stuff for S'mores later on the beach. One other tradition we have is going to Mo's restaurant in Cannon Beach for steamer clams, and for Brandon more chowder. YUMM YUMM. Spent the evening on the beach, the wind died down and we had a great time. A bit of fog so we didn't see the sunset. The next day was spent looking in shops while we waited for the bumper cars to open. We have to ride them and see who can hit the other more. It was a draw this time. Spent most of the next day, after the bumper cars on the beach playing in the sand and soaking up the sun. My favorite thing to do is fly the kite, usually I can't get the kids to do it but this time Brandon wanted to be the retriever, the wind the first day was blowing pretty good so the kite was doing lots of loops and crashing before I could get it up into the air. Finally got it to really fly, makes my heart soar. We rented one of the pedi-cabs to petal around town, boy let me tell you, they are a lot of work, but we managed to use up almost the whole hour before we were out of steam.