it comes and goes in waves

I sat all my kids down this morning and we had a discussion on contention and love. Maybe it was more of a lecture. 

Whatever it was, can it please sink in for awhile? 

We have moments of peace and fun. Then we have moments of chaos and fighting. Like all things in life, it comes and goes like the ocean waves.

Yesterday was no exception. The waves of happiness and frustration came just like the literal waves that we played in. 

I do love the challenge of it. I love being a part of a big family and helping each other learn and grow. We each have such different strengths and weaknesses that we bring such value to each other's lives. It's not bad that we experience all these things in one day. It's an amazing opportunity actually.

We learn, we improve, we persist.

Let's ignore all those fights and whining for a moment and focus on some of those happy moments from the day. One highlight was riding bikes down to Balboa pier. 

Riding along the beach is my favorite.

The bucket bike was an amazing gift to myself. These girls of mine have already taken some really great naps in their seats.


Too bad Eric and Perry had to wait for the tow truck to take our van to the mechanic and missed our ride. We made sure to bring them back some donuts.

Our beach time was full of sand castles.

Layla loved her boogie boarding time with her brother.

I loved watching Brinna catch the water in her bucket.

Perry worked hard again!

This is the life--just a nice long rest right on the sand. I sat next to her and we talked like this for quite some time.

Until she ran off to the ocean with Perry.

And to play with her boat.

We had a lot of time just to sit around and talk and hang out as a family.










K's smile gets me every time.


More football...

And lots more running into and from the waves.

Kyler had this brilliant idea for a sand bath.

looks relaxing, doesn't it? We all pitched in to get them buried. And it was exciting every time a wave washed over part of them.

Meanwhile, the girls and I were pretty excited to turn our towel into a kite and do a little dancing under it while it flew.

Every little girl needs a chance to find joy in flying a beach blanket.

We did end the day on a very happy wave after another episode of AGT, a beach walk for me and E, a sunset gaze for the older boys and E, a quick family game of "that's it," and cozy beds to settle in to.

Grateful for another day at the beach and all the different waves of life.