highly anticipated

Throughout the year there are several things that my kids look forward to:

Friday night movie nights.

"Half" birthday donut celebrations.

Baking cupcakes for "whole" birthdays.

Forever family day celebrations.

Making jiaozi for Lunar New Year.

Holiday traditions with our "big family."

Each is enjoyed thoroughly.  Yet as much as each of those events are savored, I'm not sure that any are as highly anticipated as the second week of August.  

That is Sunset Beach week after all.

And the only thing more fun than the sand and the surf at the beach?

Why the sand and the surf at the beach with your cousins and your aunt and your uncle and your grandmas of course!

We spent countless hours building castles in the sand.  Perhaps those castles would last only a little while due to the forces of nature.

But it was the very act of creating them together that further strengthened the bonds of our relationships.

Parents with children.

Cousin with cousin.

Sibling with sibling.

Cousins mixed with siblings.

Summer friends met on the beach.

Of course, there was also the call of the water.

Young,

and not quite as young, we answered the beckoning waves.

that would be my mom and one of her lifelong friends, sue.  and yes, they rocked out those boogie boards!

We body surfed.

We caught air on the boards.

dq flying high with a little help from uncle adam

We played.

And somewhere during the course of the week, a most amazing thing happened.  She went from this response to the waves...

...to this in just a few days.

that would be my former "terrified of the ocean baby" practicing freestyle in the surf

There were shells to collect.

And kites to fly.

And bocce ball to be played.

With so much fun to be had, I guess it is no wonder that our little guy got worn out at the end of the week...

yes, he really did fall asleep in my arms out in the surf ~ waves crashed across his face before i got in this shallow and he slept on

Our goal on the each day was to seize the moment, play together and most of all enjoy the sandy playground God created here on the Carolina coast.

I think we succeeded.

"How long until we get to go back to the beach?" has already started floating around.

Already the anticipation builds...