My Personal Heaven

On Monday, August 1st, we left Tiffany's house and drove to the Miller's home to pick up the key to their beach house.  My family is extremely lucky that the Millers allow us to stay in their beach house for FREE.  It's the most beautiful area I've ever seen, and the beach house has 3 large bedrooms, an additional loft area bedroom, a family room stocked with games and movies, 2 bathrooms and a fully-equipped kitchen.  It is in a gated community in Depoe Bay, Oregon.  I'm being honest when I say that I imagine heaven to be somewhat similar!  It had been 4 years since I stayed at the beach house (with my sisters when I was pregnant with Logan), and 7 years since Ryan, Brevan and Brynlie had been at the beach house (when I was pregnant with Lindsey).  My Springer family has started visiting the beach house since the first year Ryan and I were married, when we could all fit fairly well into the house together, because the only grandkids were 5-year-old Brandon and newborns Austin and Bailey.  Sometime soon I will scan some pictures from those trips to include on this blog.

As soon as we arrived at the beach house, we set out on a walk along the ocean trail.  It is without a doubt the most beautiful trail in the world.  We stopped to look at a slug that was collecting pine needles.  I had almost picked it up, thinking it was a stick! We decided to name it Poopy Slug, since it looked like a large . . .poo.

 This bench always reminds me of the my mom, because while she was going through chemotherapy 12 years ago, she would try to relax by imagining herself sitting here and watching the ocean waves splash along the shore below her.  I can also remember a good talk I had with my Dad, while sitting on this bench 7 years ago.  At that time of life I was beginning to realize that my parents will not always be on this earth with me, as scary and sad as that seems.  I very seriously asked my Dad, "Are you scared that you are getting older?  Because the years seem to go by faster all the time, so the 1980's must not seem like that long ago to you, since it was only 20 years ago.  But you could have passed away already 20 years from now."  His answer was something to the effect of, "I'm proud of the things I've accomplished, and I'm proud of the life I've lived.  I don't fear death, although I hope it doesn't come for many more years.  I'm starting to come to a point where I think it will be wonderful to not have to experience any more trials."

 On Monday evening, Roy and Bonnie (Ryan's parents) arrived at the beach house after a long 2-day drive with Kelsi (age 13) and Brayden (age 4).  Logan and Brayden were immediately inseperable and loved every minute they were laughing together for the next week.  Kelsi and Brevan picked right up where they left off last year.  They have always been good friends since they were babies.  Kelsi was a HUGE help during the week, always volunteering to spend time playing with the girls or helping cook a meal in the kitchen.

After a super yummy breakfast of french toast with buttermilk syrup (a new favorite we stole from Tiff's recipe book), we headed out on a whale-watching expedition.  What a perfect, beautiful day to be on the ocean and a whale came right up to the side of our boat!

 Being the "queens of the world!"

 This seal was so cute, hoping we would throw some fish his way.