beach bums

after a soccer-filled saturday,
the boys and i decided to spend most of sunday at the beach!

we headed down to our favorite spot at the end of law street
anticipating we'd run into families we know. {and we did}
scout saw c's surfboards and said he wanted to surf with dad.
he followed that with "i might even be a professional someday".

here he is waiting for his sunscreen to soak in.

silly me, forgot a beach chair,

so c dug me one in the sand.
{with shade of course}

right when i settled into my cozy sand chair,

scout was back from his surfing expedition announcing he was "cold".
with the water temp up to 68 degrees we thought he would be ok
without his wetsuit. nope {he takes after his momma in this}.

he grabbed his 39 clues book {which he takes everywhere}

and sat himself down in MY chair. now if he weren't so stinkin' cute,
i'd probably had been really frustrated, but look at him.

he was so intent on reading. 

he did scoot over so i could sit on half of the towel,
and he did finish his chapter book that afternoon.
{now he and finn are having animated discussions about the
various branches of the cahill family: the ekaterinas, lucians, etc.}

~ tonight just before story time, the boys and i pulled out the gratitude journal.
the thought on today's page said:

i  would maintain that thanks is the highest form of thought;
and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.  
~ G.K. Chesterton


i read it to the boys and we talked about what it meant,
about the importance of being thankful - for life and all the things we get to do, and see and learn.
and most importantly, for people in our lives who makes our lives better, richer and fuller.

then we filled out a page in the book.
finn said he was grateful he could read,
scoutie was grateful for soccer {he loves to play},
and i am grateful for a wonderful extended family,
including mother-in-laws i adore, and for a spouse
who supports and encourages me in everything i do.

how about you?  what are you grateful for?
take a few minutes to think about it, journal it, or share.

have a wonderful day!

xo

~ tonight we also called cousin soren and wished him a Happy Birthday.
he turned 6 today! *gasp*  oh how time flies.  we let him know how grateful
we are to have him in our family.

a taste of summer...

i've been sick with a horrible flu bug for the past week and today was the first day
that i actually had the energy to do something other than lay around.

the santa anas swept into san diego this weekend and gave us summer-like
weather which was a perfect way to welcome my body back to the land of the living.

sundays are officially 'Family Days.' c and i decided a few years ago that it was important
to designate one day out of the week to spend the majority of the day together. it doesn't
always happen, but we really try to make it a priority.

because christopher has had to be mr. dad and mr. mom so much over the past week,
he needed some time for him, so i encouraged him to sneak away to enjoy a little tennis early
in the day while i caught up on some housework.

the sunshine was calling us all in a BIG way, and by 10am, i had my beach bag and camera
in the back of the car, and the boys and i were lathered up in sunscreen heading to law street
(a popular family meeting spot in pacific beach) to enjoy a few hours of sunshine.

as always, we ran into several families from the neighborhood which was great.
christopher met up with us shortly after with lunch from rubios in hand!
i would have had two fish tacos to eat, but a pigeon flew off with one (wrapper and all)
as i left my food unattended for a few minutes. those darn pigeons.
a few years back, i actually had one take a burrito right out of my hand!

being sick has really made me stop and be thankful for good health.
and really, what is more precious than our health?
without it, it's harder to enjoy life in the way we can when we are healthy.
like alot of people, i took it for granted, but this past week has reminded me not to.

i left the beach feeling rejuvenated after getting much needed fresh air and some
quality time with the boys. we all left with smiles on our faces and slightly pink cheeks. *grin*