Down by the sea

Captain John Smith hit it right on the nail when he made the statement back in 1608: "... Heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man's habitation."  He was so right. We made it to the beach today. After taking 2 weeks off work to move, I have found myself swamped with work all day every day this week. Well, today I had had enough. It was time to get out of the house and hit the waves. The bishop's wife invited us to go with a bunch of people to the beach this morning and I gladly took her up on it. Ryan is feeling the pressure to get everything done here before school starts so he stayed home and tore up our master bathroom. Me and the kids happily hopped in the car and drove to Croatan Beach. It was fabulous. This is one of the beaches us locals go to (because us locals are pretty cool you know). Away from the strip. And perfect. It was really hot and sunny today so the water felt so good. I'm used to NorCal's frigid waters that are unswimmable (if that's a word) so it was fun to actually enjoy the ocean in a place other than Hawaii or somewhere tropical. There were a few parasailers out on the horizon and dolphins swimming everywhere. Kinda cool. I hear there's often jellyfish but we didn't see any today, good thing. The sand is light and so soft on your feet. Gwen liked laughing at the male lifeguards, who had the typical lifeguard ego. I tell you, every day here in Virginia Beach is like I'm on vacation. It just has that feeling. And my plans for our "beach house" will help keep that feeling alive on a daily basis. I feel so energized by all of it. It's renewing and so different and I could totally find myself becoming a big beach bum. The kids digged boogie boarding big-time. I've got to find a shop somewhere QUICK and go buy each of them their own (they borrowed some). It was great to see them so brave out there as the little ones are not big swimmers. I have a feeling they soon will be.

So anyway, today as I took the beautiful (sorry, am I rubbing it in?) route home from the beach, I thought to myself how blessed we are to live somewhere so beautiful and somewhere that makes us all happy. The blessings just keep on coming in ways I'd never expected. I also thought to myself how fun it will be to have VISITORS come stay with us so that they can enjoy the glorious beach too!! (Hint Hint...) And all the other sites and things Virginia has to offer...

So now it's well after 5:00 and it's time to get to work. Yikes. Good thing tomorrow's Saturday so I have TWO days to get it done Ü. It was all worth it and I can't wait to go back.









That's Gwen in the red tube


this is our group!