We spent the day at the beach Monday. We planned for lots of rain, this is the Oregon Beach. We got the boys boots and Zarek a raincoat. There was actually only a little rain in the morning, when we went to ride the carousel and when we came out it was dry!

We went out to my grandparents’ the other evening. Which usually I dread and so does TJ. It’s not totally because of my crazy grandmother that we don’t enjoy it. It is boring too. I am the oldest cousin by 15 years and my youngest uncle is 9 years older than me. There is no one there our age.

But this time I really wanted to go. My grandfather is getting older and I don’t know how many times I will see him again. And we really won’t go back out there once he is gone. So I really had a desire to see him and where I grew up.

Of course a lot has changed because there was a few years ago and the house and old porch and big garage is gone. But I still remember stomping on the old flagstone walk, playing in the trees, eating the fresh fruits and pretending the old roof peak saved from the old barn was my castle.

Zane and I went around to all my favorite places that I used to love to play and he loved it.

I showed him the apple trees that my grandfather got all his apples from. We saw the growing corn that was just barely taller than him.  I had him climb into the hazelnut trees even though he didn’t like it, even when Daddy was holding him up in the tree.

We found the last plum from the plum tree in the front. My favorite evergreen was gone, cut down long ago, the one I wound sneak into the boughs and pretend was my house. We found pine cones from the tree that had the long pine needles I would braid together and weave into baskets.

I was excited to take a picture of Zane with the trees that I had planted when I was little. But they had not survived the winter and they had cut them down. So I got a picture of Zane in front of all the wood. I had gotten those trees on arbor day when I was in grade school.

I did get a picture of him in front of the roof of an old barn my grandfather had helped tear down. I used to pretend it was my castle when I was little.

He loved playing on my grandfather’s old farming equipment that he has collected over the years. “I drive it,” he said and he pretended it was a car.

And we got to get a great family picture while we were out there too.

It was a wonderful evening and we are so happy we made it!!!