Beach Trip

Today Margot is with Matt's mom, the boys are enjoying this wonderful weather outside, and I am recovering from surgery. So, I figured I would post some pictures of a happier time a couple of weeks ago at the beach. Back when our whole family was together every day, back when I could move my face.

Quick note about the surgery: I had a tumor in my parotid gland. It's been there a while, albeit we didn't know what it was. It began growing earlier this year, so I had to have a partial parotidectomy last Thursday (no fun!) The good news is: the doctor says the surgery went well and that he preserved my facial nerve (although the extreme numbness and inability to move my face has me feeling less optimistic than he), and all the preliminary tests are showing it to be benign. He assures me that I will be able to move my face again and that the pain will subside, it just takes time-like months time. I might, however, never regain feeling back to my face and ear. I suppose that I will get used to that. Okay, enough boo hooing. Back to the beach:

We decided to take an early Spring Break with Matt's mom, dad, and sister to Gulf Shores. Despite the unseasonably warm winter, we had lots of clouds and chilly wind. Honestly, it wasn't too much of a bummer for us not to have to lather sunscreen on the kids every day. Most days were still very pleasant to be outside playing, walking along the beach, etc. The ocean on this particular trip was especially gorgeous. Because of the heavy cloud cover, it looked absolutely enormous because you couldn't tell where it ended and the sky began. The waves were huge-such a soothing sound. Matt and I commented on one of our walks that we felt so small. Such a tiny speck in this enormous world. Isn't it funny how we blow ourselves up to be the center of the universe sometimes? And yet, small as we are, the Lord of all creation loves us and cares about us? So humbling it was staring at that vast ocean.

The kids had a blast playing with so many attentive adults. They braved the chilly waters and jumped in the waves, swam in the indoor pool, played beach golf, built castles, went on a scavenger hunt, flew kites, played Pass the Pigs hundreds of times with Aunt Maggie, drove go karts, and ate adventurous foods (both the boys declared a love for oysters on the half shell!). Margot was enthralled by the ocean. She asked about the beach all the time. She loved putting her feet in and jumping when the waves crashed against the shore. If I would have let her, she would have jumped all the way in; she's a water baby-that girl. She became very skilled at "pat pat" patting the sand in the buckets to make a sand castle, and asked to get in her "back pack" for walks with the family down the shore. She now puts her dolls in her small play back pack and walks around the house-so cute.

We so enjoyed ourselves and all the quality time we were able to spend with family. Funny how you can live in the same city as someone, and yet it takes a getaway to really spend time together. We are so thankful we had the opportunity to take this trip and hope we can plan another one soon.

Margot and her Aunt Maggie