Vacation at the beach

The vacation rental house. It was pretty decent. Furnishings were definitely
chosen to be used by strangers. LOL.

I've been quiet because I've been preoccupied. We've been off for a week to the Long Beach peninsula in Washington.  It was a family reunion of sorts. There was a brief period when pretty much all members of my direct family were together in one place. A rare one indeed.  My eldest sister and her husband showed up on Thursday afternoon, I finally was introduced to her husband, and then that night, my eldest brother of 57 showed up with his wife, whom I'd only met once back in 1997.  Friday morning, my husband and I packed up the car with the kids and the dogs, hubby took his motorcyle, and I filled the only remaining space in the Prius with Satan... err... Mom. Yes, she's Satan again. Not surprised, but we'll get to it.

Oysterville.

We took off after breakfast at the Kennedy School where my sister and brother stayed the night, and headed out to follow the Columbia River to Astoria, where we crossed the long bridge into Washington State.  We rented a decent little house on the beach (it was a longish walk through dunes to get to the water, but it was still right there.  Later on that night, my sister Helen and her husband showed up. The goodwill lasted for a bit, but invariably, there was drama. Almost all, naturally, prompted by my mother, who now had the audience she needed in order to exercise her passive aggressive nastiness with alacrity.  Of course, that sent hackles up everywhere, and soon enough, there was sniping among the siblings.

Flower poses for the camera.

Dan and Simon play. Flower looks on.

Dan's birthday and our anniversary fell into this week.  We celebrated both there. Her husband's birthday was also on our anniversary. So we made a cake. A cake wreck. My sister broke it trying to get it out of the pan, so she hid it beneath a layer of icing, which she applied to the hot cake, so it became crumby icing. It still tasted good and we all had a good laugh.

All the activity knocked our little girl out. She
catches a sun-ray.

The tetherball in the yard was all Simon needed to be
happy.

My brother didn't stay long. He left Sunday night with his wife, Helen's husband driving them back to Portland, since he had to work on Monday. Helen didn't last longer than the night, and left the next day, leaving only myself, my husband, my sister Anna, her husband, Baby J, and Satan, who was a snarly bitch, but not quite as bad when the better part of her audience left.

Alex channels a certain German dictator.

The runny nose and the sand... not a great combination.
It was like the sand was enameled to his skin.

As expected at the beach, Simon digs.

He didn't know what to make of the sand at first. But he liked it,
and thought it tasted good too, apparently.

In spite of all the crap, we still managed to have a good time. Alex was meeting his auntie Anna and uncle Bryan for the first time, and they were both so wonderful with him. Anna didn't seem to expect to adore him as much, being kind of anti-human-baby.  But I think the genetic connection was too strong for her to be aloof, and she fell deeply in love with her nephew as I knew she would. It's kind of sad she had to wait almost a year to meet him.

The beach marker, indicating where the path to the house was.

Misty morning. You can't see the water.

Grandma offers a smooch for her grandson.

So after they came our way after the beach to stay at the Timberline Lodge for a couple of days, we parted with sadness.  I love my sister very much, and her husband Bryan is just the nicest guy ever.  I wish we lived closer so Alex could spend more time with them.

Sister Anna and her husband.

Anita is letting Alex have a snack on her lap.

There were some EPIC mushrooms in he little conifer
copse between the house and the beach. Boletus and
toadstools.

As it goes with vacations, it's hard to go back to routine. For the first time since i can remember, I sat down to hand sew a gown during the vacation week, during the day and didn't have to worry what Alex is up to, because there were up to eight other adults around watching him. It was luxurious.  Alex cut his top two teeth during the vacation week.  That marks four, he has his chipmunk teeth as they call them. He is so close to walking now. He is Mr. Bruise though, from all his bumps and tumbles. He explores everything, and unless I'm helicoptering over him 24/7, there is no way to catch him every time he falls.  He had a bruise on his cheek that finally just went away that made me feel like the worst mother ever.

Uncle Bryan visits with his country cousin.

Admiring Mount Hood.

So now I'm working on a project, and a gown for myself for an upcoming event for the ORS. I'm squeezing it in as I always do, between when Alex goes to bed and morning. LOL.   Anyway, that's what we've been up to over here at Johanesen Cottage.  I'll update in a bit. I made the round-gown version of the bib-front from my pattern for a photo-project. I'll post pictures of it when the project is done.