You're Getting to the Beach Much Slower than Lightning

It really is a favorite place. The favorite place.    

I read a quote this morning by Brigham Young that is making me think today. He said that in the next world we will "move with ease and like lightning." That "if we want to visit Jerusalem ... there we are ... We may visit any city we please that exists upon [the earth's] surface."

Um. 

Move with ease and like lightning?! Any city we please?! Do we all agree that that sounds amazing?

There is more to the quote, and the whole thing explodes my mind with far more questions than it does answers, but let's just settle with the idea that it will only take me as long to get to the beach as the nearest lightning bolt. Which a quick calculation says would take 0.0019 seconds. 

And, please, let's not be misinterpreting here, because now I have my hopes up.

Heidi shares my love for the beach, so when she suggested that we go together and take our kids the answer was an emphatic yes. It was fun to see Eliza and Livvy playing together on the beach.

Which they did not do very often. 

Turns out they have some pretty interesting little personalities that run together a bit like oil and water. Livvy likes to be in charge, and Eliza doesn't like to be controlled. Livvy likes to play with others, Eliza likes to play by herself. Livvy likes to think 'what's yours is for sharing', Eliza prefers to think, 'what's mine is just for me'.

It will be fun to see how their personalities grow and develop.

I have a feeling that they'll figure out each others differences and become pretty good friends. We definitely saw moments of that. 

I love watching my kids react when they're placed in new situations. I saw some things come out in Eliza that I know she'll want to refine as she gets older. I saw some big strengths as well. My favorite: she knew what she needed and was not afraid to stand up for herself. She needed mom time? She made it happen. She needed quiet time? She made it happen. She needed alone time? She made it happen.

I was proud of her for turning inward and acknowledging her own needs and then for expressing those needs and working to meet them herself.

I'm sure she'll want to work on incorporating kindness and compassion and understanding for others as she grows, but for now it appears she's decided to focus on figuring out who she is and what makes her happy and fulfilled. Which is an important life-skill, too.

The other kids spent almost allllllllllllllll the hours in the water. In the past, they would spend a few hours in the water before walking out shivering and chaffed, saying that they wanted to keep playing but felt their bodies just couldn't handle any more. So this time we got wet-suits and, let me tell you, it was a game changer. They spent triple the amount of time in the water and came out happy every time. No chaffing, no shivering. We are wet suit wearers for life. In the Pacific Ocean, anyway.

Miles created a tooth-shaped shadow man that danced when he moved. It kept us laughing for an embarrassing amount of time. 

Once, when we were on our way back to the cute little home we rented, we happened to cross the boardwalk at the same time a skateboarding event was being set up so we decided to stay to watch. It wasn't quite as amazing as we thought it was going to be... it was mostly just a few locals jumping over ramps and falling on rails... but I love this picture that was taken as we watched.

The kids talked us into getting sushi that night. I'm not really familiar with sushi, but Heidi knows her way around a sushi menu, so she introduced us to some of her favorites and we had a feast. 

We never have enough time at the beach. Eventually the sun sets and eventually it's time to go home. But we leave with all the memories and all the pictures and plans to visit again so, so soon. And eagerly await the day when we can get there with the lightning.