Dave and I stayed up late the night before and decked our tiny tree and stuffed stockings.
Then we cleaned house. That was the challenging part for me. I usually don't like doing dishes, but once I start, I usually do OK loading and unloading the dishwasher, but the counters and sink drain get put off for another time. However, since I was leaving for 11 days I couldn't justify any procrastinating and as the boys were put to bed and Dave click-clicked away on the computer I faced one of my greatest fears: finishing the kitchen. First, I asked Dave to please empty the skanky compost bucket which was "soaking" with swill. Thankfully, he got up and dealt with that so I wouldn't feel so alone. Then... I started. I kept going, fighting all the way. I ached to be done, to do something fun and creative, but I kept finding things I couldn't deny: dust under the table, grime around the burners, food caked in the cracks of the woven place mats. ...Through mental kicking and screaming, I finished.
Dave hugged me an hour later. "Thanks for finishing the kitchen." I still pouted, "It was so hard!" I'm such a rebel.
We swam in the pool under cold rain and wind from the surf, but the best part was the colored lights in the water.
The next two days we spent doing puzzles, games, walks on the beach, and even a drive to Astoria where Dave showed us his old home, school, and steep streets. The climb up the Astoria Column made my thighs ache, but it was a good adventure. Dave and Weston especially liked the huge bridge to Washington.
I love the ocean. It's so important. Our last morning there it was so sunny. We had a long walk on the beach and the waves were bigger than when we visited in August.
It was tough to keep the boys out of the water, but this was the day we were leaving and it didn't make sense to have wet feet the whole day. (Of course the day before they went in winter coats and all.)
So, that's the report of the first few days of our vacation.
More to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment