oceans and athletes

 Sadly, one of the great advantages of living in northwest Oregon is mostly lost on my little family.  (Meaning- we rarely go to the beach.)    (...Why didn't I just say we rarely go to the beach?)
But after the kids had seen the beach while coming to cheer me at the marathon finish line (Did I tell you about that?  You know, that I'm a marathoner?  Yup.) Brenda had been asking 2 or 3 times a day to 'go to beach, please'.
Weeks later I decided to put on a brave face and take on the task.  (Well, I'm wasn't that brave.  I brought along a babysitter/assistant.)  

It went like this:

Brenda was bolting from the rocks to the water, from the kites to the dogs, back to the water and up and down and all around...
Garret had to be gently coaxed onto the sand.  He eventually just planted himself near the rocks and refused to move.  (I don't know why the beach scares him.  He loves water and sand.  Just, perhaps, not so much of it...?)
Suzie wanted to bolt from the rocks to the water, from the kites to the dogs, back to the water and up and down and all around, but expected to be carried exclusively.  (She would scream the moment her toes touched the sand.)
I acted disappointed when after 45 minutes it started to rain, but was actually relieved to contain the kids in the car.  The remainder of the time was spent running through a kite store with delighted Oh's and Ah's. 

We had a lovely time.  

(Happy to go, happy to go home!)

grainy-but-cute pictures from my phone

Those glasses were a BUCK.  I adore 2nd hand!

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You wanna know what I did today?

I went and cheered on athletes competing in the Special Olympics!  It was exciting to see events scattered all over the town.  My favorite was watching the 100 meter race.  There were some runners with guides that ran with them.  Some fell, some walked, some looked prepared, some looked not-so, some were focused and intense as they crossed the finish line, and some had the biggest grins as they triumphantly came over the finish line in last place.  They would then all congratulate each other as their families swarmed with hugs and cheers.

It was such a great atmosphere!

picture from here

 So next time I want to do more.  Volunteer, see the torch coming in, get-to-know and cheer on the local athletes.  And a few years down the road maybe even take my tenacious Brenda to compete.  (Have I mentioned how that girl can run?  She seriously can.)

Well now I'm too tired to talk about watching the last Harry Potter.  Meh, I probably don't know the story well enough to have an opinion anyway...

Later!