Friday at HB

Our last day at the beach, boo hoo!!
Time to pull out my brand new bikini, wear it for the first time, and take some selfies.  (I like to call them my "before" pictures, as I seriously need to get back in shape, in order to one day post a much much better "after" pic!!  But, until that day, time to be simultaneously vain and humiliated, as I share these with you:

                    (as i suck in my stomach, that grotesque muffin top, as hard as i possibly can!!)

                                                   At least my feet aren't fat (yet).

 Waves picked up later today, had some awesome rides on the boogie board.  Now exhausted, a bit sunburned, not looking forward to the long drive back to Cary.  oh well.  thanks for letting me share my trip with you!

Wednesday-Thursday at HB

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand i'm back!

                               Wednesday morning: say goodbye to Grandma, who leaves with Aunt Cyndy and Uncle Gary, who take her back to their house in SC to finish off her southern vacation.

And soon our new guests arrive, a couple girls and their mom.

                     They accompany us on the beach, and to get ice cream later that evening.

                        (Poor Colby, outnumbered by all of us girls!!)

                                             Thursday- a lazy, warmer day, finally got in lots of boogie boarding!

                                                  Also dug some holes in the sand...

                                    ....and just lay around.

                                                               Shadows in the foam...                
           

                                                                     Low tide...

                                                                Late afternoon sun.

                              Tomorrow's our last day here. (sniff, sniff)  We'll enjoy every sun-kissed minute of it!

Tuesday at HB

Today was my mom's birthday.  She turned 87!  I know that makes me seem old, too, but I would be quick to add that I was the youngest of 5 kids AND my parents were a bit older than average when they started our family.

Anyway, it was nice to have our mom with me and one of my sisters, at the beach these past few days, and especially on her birthday. 

After her birthday dinner, we headed out to the ocean for one last time before she goes home with my sister and brother-in-law tomorrow.  She hadn't yet actually touched the ocean water yet, so this time she was determined to put her feet into the Atlantic so she could tell her landlocked friends in Wisconsin about it.

 It was a sweet time, me and my sister helping our elderly mother walk across the sandy beach to the water, then carefully take a couple steps into the chilly surf.  She was like a little kid in a way, the same way I feel when I first jump into the ocean on a vacation.  Giddy.  Joyful.

                                                         Daughter, Mom, Grandma.
                                           

And that's all for tonight. 

so tired...

Monday at HB

Another day at the beach.  Always a great place to be.  Today was cooler, and my boy wasn't feeling well, so we laid low and stayed at the house most the day.  Hopefully he'll be better tomorrow.  Still, it's great to be here. My sister made a great stir-fry with fresh shrimp from a local seafood stand, and fresh veggies from a farmers market. Brown rice, too.  And guess who got her first real cooking lesson: my girl!  

This girl, formerly terrified to go near the stove, is now sauteing mushrooms!  Whooda thunk??

                      After a good dinner, it was time for a solo walk on the beach.

Standing before the ocean is like a spiritual experience for me.  No, I'm not a tree hugger or into worshipping nature or the universe or whatever...it's more like...this verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:2 that says:

"The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."

I just love that.  Sure, many, many years have passed since the beginning of the earth's creation, but when I stand before the mass of water, that huge expanse of intense motion and life and liquid music... I feel as if God is in it all...and His spirit is still hovering....dancing...dipping...swirling...breathing.

Each individual shell,  a million masterpieces equal to none.

  There's a security in those never-ending waves.  Like the faithfulness of the Lord.  Always returning, never                               leaving us.

And when that sun goes down, splashing its gorgeous hues of pink and orange and violet across the sky....

...how dare we even try to compare ourselves to the Great I Am..the One who gave us eyes and hearts to take this all in, and still not explode from the intense wonder of it all.

I even saw a pod of dolphins swimming by...I kept up with them on my walk, and felt a sense of harmony with them, like we were enjoying this moment together.  Their dark sleek bodies moving so gracefully through the waters, flipping up and diving back down, playfully.  They must be having so much fun.

  Yeah, this is healing for the soul.  

                                                              Don't worry, I'll be back.

Sunday at HB

Highlights of Day 2

Exploring the marsh habitat

                                               (See the white ibis flying away?)

                                                                  Let's go crab fishing!

                                                       Lessons in nature.

                        Look beyond what you can see...and you will see...teeny tiny crabs in the mud!!

                Hmmm, all this talk about crabs is making me hungry.  Time for the seafood steamer pot at
                                                         Castaways Raw Bar & Grill

                                                        Sunday in a jumble of words:

Wake up to coffee being made by sister, she and "Grandma" go to church, we go marsh exploring, Uncle Gary rests (still recovering from surgery), set up umbrellas on beach, Grandma makes it down too, relaxing in chairs, we play in waves, son-in-law drives back to Cary for work week, we go out for dinner, Uncle Gary has bout of vertigo, has to be escorted from restaurant, while I juggle 3 boxes of leftover seafood while assisting my mom down rickety steps in pouring rain, beautiful double rainbows appear over the ocean, speeding "home" to beach house due to Gary's condition plus Sam's exploding bladder from too much Coke, barely make it home on time, we chill out, play Trionomoes, read to Colby, now time for Netflix.

                                                                     Goodnight!

Holden Beach: day one

Ocean overload?  No way.  I could never get enough of the sea.  Every second it changes.  Always moving.  Beautiful.

More pics to come as the week progresses.   I'm in my happy place.  goodnight.  ;-)