Onslow Beach - day 4

Matt had a few work meetings Monday morning, so we hung out for a bit.

The girls tidied their loft area and I let them throw down their dirty clothes to me. We had leftover pancakes and cereal for breakfast and then headed out for some shopping fun!

We went to Shark Attack and then Tsunami right across the street. We were all overwhelmed by the beachy cuteness and we all picked out some fun vacation treasures. 

That’s a delaney Ray in there. 

We also had to run into Food Lion for a few necessities and we came hone starving. I made a giant cabbage salad and then we hit the beach by 1. I left my phone at the cabin, but Joseph and Shauna took some pictures on their big camera. 

Adi didn’t really want to swim today but I convinced her to wear her suit down to the beach anyway. As we were carrying our gear down a boy asked her if she wanted to play and she was all, “I think I’ll play over here, mom.” And those 2 frolicked in the waves for hours. It was surprising and cute and a little grown up. 

We bobbed in the waves and searched for blue crab - we found one, but only because someone else had caught it. And since we’d only found one we let Delaney let it go. Laura and I bought matching swim tops so we were #adorable. I felt a little red, but I thought I was pretty careful with my sunscreen application and we went out so late in the day. But no, I am reburned in some places and freshly burned in others. I’m very over being burned. And also, Adi got artsy with her silicone shot glass. 

We ate white chicken chili, peanut butter cup brownies and tillanook ice cream, and then played games. First we played Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza and that was hysterical and then we played Skull King again. Incidentally, yours truly won both games. 

We ended the night with a 10:30 walk to see the bioluminescent plankton. We could see sparks when we stomped and we did lots of stomping. Othwr than the burns, this trip is going swimmingly!

Onslow Beach - day 3

We slept our toasty sun burnt bodies in and then made pancakes, bacon, and eggs for the whole crew. The Mc’s came over for a leisurely brekkie and we visited until 11. We left for 1:00 church (my favorite time!) at 12 and got there super early, but it was great because we got a nice pew all together. I had a 3:00 meeting and then when I got done with that Joseph and Shauna had arrived. We all hit the beach when the uv rays were not as strong, but it was still nice and warm. 

Adi decided not to swim today. She’s listening to a good book and it’s kept her occupied. I just finished Refuge on her recommendation and now I want all the Syrian families to come live with us. 😭 They’re my family now. 

It was a red flag day and the waves were nice and big but not powerful at all and the current wasn’t dragging us all the way down the beach, so it was fabulous. Maybe yesterday was a red flag day also? We all bobbed together and then when josh and Michelle got here our girls wanted to bob with josh every time. He lifts them out of the waves. 

We stayed down there till 8 when spaghetti was ready, then we all played Do You Know Me? and ate peanut m&m’s. 

We also got exciting news from Christian! He graduates this Friday and at first it was going to be a family weekend, then after everyone got their covid shots so they could have family weekend, they made it a virtual weekend. And today we found out that he’ll have a few hours free hopefully all weekend, but maybe just Friday. Aaaahhhh!! Matt and I walked through every scenario, me flying, me and the girls flying, the girls and I driving and Matt flying home, different cities and days even. We think we have a good plan and we’re praying it will all work out! Stupid Covid. 

We’re hoping everyone’s burns are better tomorrow and we can have another wonderful day at the beach. 

Onslow Beach - day 2

We woke up at 5:55 to see the sunset, but it was a cloudy day. Whomp, whomp. 

We came back to the cabins for naps and then hit the beach for real at 10. 

It took a little while to get the girls back acclimated to a real beach. We had lessons on going under and over waves, breakers, currents, and riptides - which we found ourselves in twice. We kept our cool and lessons were learned all around. 

We played in the waves and sand and back again. 

It was the best day!

And also very bright. 

The only downside is that the Rays received a failing grade in sunscreen application. We’ve all got whatever is worse than sun kissed cheeks. 

Matt grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, we had Laura’s potato salad, and then we had s’mores. 

After dinner we played Cover your Assets and David won and then Matt. 

Then we walked to the beach to see if we could see the bioluminescent plankton, but no such luck. 

It was such a fun day!

Onslow Beach - day 1

It’s been so long since we’ve spent a dedicated week at the beach that I struggled to remember what we usually bring. I’d been slowly prepping for awhile, but in the final morning of packing the car and remembering things I’d forgotten, many a random bag was thrown into the jolly green. Not our tidiest packing job, but so far I only forgot 2 things. 

Adi had a blast at camp!

With all of the covid craziness camp was fixing to be pretty lame, but as soon as the guidelines changes the leaders kicked it into gear and made a really special and fun experience for the girls. 

Adi really loved it. 

Hurricane  and then Tropical Storm Elsa passed through last night so for the last night of girls camp they slept in the Kinney’s basement.

They also changed the pickup time to 10, so we knew we were getting a later start than we’d hoped. Carolee had requested cookies and I had made them last night but with the storm dropped them off this morning, and also dropped off a card and gift for Chelsea and every stop took longer than I thought it would. Long story long, we didn’t end up leaving till noon. 

Messy and late, but we’re off!

We grabbed lunch and then started storm chasing. It rained hard off, but mostly on for a good 2 hours and we hit lots of slower traffic. 

That ended up extending our already late trip. Adi is pulling a Laney face. 

Then just before we cross the bridge over the inter coastal highway right before the beach, they closed the bridge down to bring about a dozen amphibious vehicles over. They each had two soldiers walking it, one in front and one on the side and they had several people inside sticking their heads out of the holes. It was actually cool to see but not when we were just ready to be here. We finally made it just after 7:30. We unloaded and then, happiness. 

It was super windy but oh so beautiful! We got pizza for dinner and visited and then the adults played Skull King and I won. We are so excited to be here and can’t wait to hit the beach tomorrow!

Of blue crabs, church stuff, and babies

This one was saved from June 8th:

Papa bought opening night tickets for our dear Blue Crabs for Friday night. And then he felt sick and didn’t end up making it, so that was a bummer. 

The game was so fun though! Delaney even took a few breaks from her book to pay attention. 

Adi had her first ever babysitting gig and our 13 year plus one day old was so stoked. It’s going to start happening where Adi will have things to do and we’ll just have these two little girls for our excursions. Everyone is growing up.  

We didn’t actually catch any shirts, but a little ball player near us did and he gave it to Delaney as he walked back to his seat. She was so excited!

The girls both tried out the tie dye guys… musical instrument?

Frankie was a little timid, but she played on it too. 

It was so fun and our BC’s beat the mighty Ducks 7-0. 

On Saturday morning I was able to attend a virtual training with Elder Christofferson and Sister Cordon. 

It was really good. And also, we all want answers and really, our church leaders are just people. They shared lots of things I already knew, there just was really nothing earth shattering. It was good, but also good lessons for me in other ways. 

We swam at Ainas for Islas birthday that afternoon. Schoeny’s came over right around dinner, so we decided to order pizza and we talked and the kids swam all night. Then I met up with some ladies for post dinner snacks and all the deep conversations. 

On Sunday I got to sit in with matt to teach his primary class with him. It was so fun to co-teach with him and the kids were so excited to be back in primary for the first time. . 

Every single kid participated and they were chatty and fun. He’s got Delaney’s class, and these 2012 kids are awesome. 

And some bonus babes. Car-baby on the top, Emmi-Bob on the bottom. 

Amy sent them some books and Lu sent her this adorbs pic. These boys are the sweetest!

And a youth activity bonus. The yw did a fun stump the bishopric night a few weeks ago. Adi took sea glass and she did indeed stump the bishopric. 

Then they made ice cream sculptures. 

This last year has been weird, and covid regulations are still tricky, but i am so grateful for church leaders that are going above and beyond to provide meaningful opportunities to participate in the gospel with our ward family. I am so grateful for the time we’ve gotten to spend together. I’m not worried about our girls being negatively impacted by anything going on because we’ve been able to have frank and honest discussions.  

We also swam at Schoeny’s pool a few times. We weirdly haven’t been to our pool yet, but I’m sure we’ll remedy that soon. 

Summer camp

I started writing this July 2. I’ve been the worst at blogging lately. 

The girls went to a fine arts summer camp from 9-4 M-Th of this past week. This was the first time since March, 2019 that they were away from home for any sustained amount of time and their first ever summer camp experience. Adi did a horse camp years ago, but other than that, this is it. We all had a great week!

I have not been in a funk, it’s been more of an unorganized slow forward motion? I’m doing things, but just as they come, which is honestly fine and still mostly good, but I’d always like to be more intentional. I spent many hours in the peaceful solitude of home which is one of my absolute favorite things, so I feel very much recharged. 

Adi and Frankie liked camp from day one. Delaney was a roller coaster, which is interesting because she’s the girl that’s been most certain about going back to school. On Monday she didn’t want to go back, but by Tuesday she’d been able to change her minor from visual arts to theater games and she liked that better. Then on Friday she didn’t want to go again. 🤷‍♀️

Jeanne’s birthday was June 30th and Christian had asked at the beginning of June for me to bring her flowers. I grabbed her a box of Heritage chocolates from us and dropped them off to her at work. She was so happy, she cried and gave me a big hug. She’s a sweetie.