surf city USA...

We spend the last week of every summer (or at least for the past five years) on the Oregon coast with the same friends. It's a great way to close out the summer--some sun and beach, usually a little rain. But the rain did not stop Boaz and crew from hitting the waves and deciding that this was the year that B and Samuel would teach everyone to surf.

The first lesson involved learning how to put on the wet suit, which apparently is not an obvious thing since five of our six surfers put theirs on wrong. Four were backward ("I wondered why the zipper had such a long pull in front!") and one was inside out... But after some minor corrections, they were off!

The kids were amazingly brave, with all of them being able to stand up on their boards for at least a short bit. Olin and Samuel definitely looked the part of little surfer rats and Gracie and Claire definitely looked cooler than Gidget ever did.

And Samuel managed to really improve on what he'd learned during his first lessons in Kauai... I know that Boaz has sugar plum father/son surfing trips floating in his head.

Next year, Tali and I will get on the boards, as well, since learning to surf is definitely on my bucket list.

But for now, I'm satisfied with the long run I had by myself on the beach this morning. It just does not get much better than this...

We're all going to have quite the rude awakening next week when school begins.

the roadshow continues... next stop--the oregon coast

The air-travel-alone-with-three-children-gods must have been watching over me yesterday because almost as soon as I got my red, puffy from crying because I was leaving my cousin sister face on the airplane with my three kids and then got them settled in their seats, Naomi's eyes drooped and she passed out for two hours. This is a child who hasn't had a nap for a week so I think she was just grateful to be sitting and buckled in.

And then I looked at Tali sitting in the row behind me who had made friends with the two kids she was sitting with. Samuel was playing his Nintendo DS, despite the fact that I'd taken it away for pretty much the rest of his life for disrespectful behavior. But it didn't matter and I let it slide because for the first time in months, I was free to start the novel that I'd been carrying around in my purse for just in case.

So I read for two hours. And then Naomi woke up and the kids began to get restless, but not so much so and I was refreshed. Which makes me firmly believe that if I could get just two hours a day to myself everyday, I'd be a completely different parent. Now I just need to find someone willing to let me have that...

Anyway, by the time we landed at Sea-Tac, we were all in good moods and excited to see Boaz who pulled up in the car with the Thule already packed and ready to go. And then without passing Go or going home, we were on our way to the Oregon coast for four days with a stop in Portland for the night on the way.

It was the perfect transition... First of all, Portland is an amazing city. Somehow it's hippy and cosmopolitan all at once. We ate at an amazing sushi place and the kids actually ate sushi, which makes me very excited about future eating out adventures. And then today after stopping at Powell's Books where we bought a bunch of great new and used books for the kids in an effort to lure them away from brainsucking television shows, as well as a copy of the latest O. Henry short fiction prize winners for me, we headed down to the coast for four days of beach play on our annual trip with our friends the Wolfs and the Morris's.

I'm starting to get very used to this transient lifestyle... And the kids are totally loving it. Six different beds in three weeks and Samuel is thrilled to have been in three states yesterday.

Wonder how I'm going to get myself back to work next month...