Magical Summer Continued

One morning we got up really early and headed off to Depoe Bay. 

Early mornings in a fishing community is magical too with the sounds and sights of boats getting ready to leave the safety of the bay for the open sea. It truly was an experience I won't soon forget!

BTW, do you see the little beach in the corner there? 

In all the times I have been to Depoe Bay (and there have been countless times), I had NO idea there was any beach in the city at all:)

Some of the life to be seen in the tidal pools further north...

incredible!

One of the local residents--

I never tire of seeing them. 

Might have already posted this..apologies if I did. 

This is looking northward from the tidal pools. 

Our visitors totally fell in love with them...

I can hardly wait to show them the ones we recently visited--

no slippery rocks there :)

I feel like someone is watching me!

Shudder, shudder. 

Pink flowers! As you may know this girl LOVES pink. 

Did I tell you my sweet kids bought me a iPhone this summer?

And, they made sure it was rose colored (technically rose gold)...

it is SO fun to be able to FaceTime them now and, not only hear them, but SEE them too!

Can hardly wait till my DD joins our bunch of Apple lovers:)

North of Depoe Bay, south of the tide pools, is the historic community of Taft (part of Lincoln City) and lovely Siletz Bay. And these guys are some of their more famous residents--

the Salesian Spit harbor seals. 

They were more active then I had seen them before and we enjoyed watching them move about on land and in the bay.

Such fun we had--posting these photos brings back those days!

Hope you are making sweet memories this summer too!

Blessings, 

Aimee

Magical Summer

This has been a magical summer. 

YES it has!

Not too hot for the most part

(always awesome for those of us who are heat intolerant), 

but still filled with many beautiful days.

Garden pickings have been plentiful enough for us to be able to stop buying fruit at the grocery store. 

Figs, lots of berries, apples and Asian pears with more fruit on the way. 

Hubby and I have been eating MUCH healthier and losing weight (yippee!)

and I am right on schedule to be my ideal, healthy weight in early autumn:)

Now that my DH is retired, 

we've also been hiking more in varied locations

(although I am sidelined today by a blister--boo!). 

And hopefully, hopefully we'll be able to do some camping soon too. 

It has indeed been a summer full of blessings

and I will be telling you more about them in the next few weeks

(we upped our data plan and have figured out part of the tech trouble we were having)

And now for blessing #1: 

Do you remember way back in May when I said I had some news?

Well between tech problems -- which included phone issues on both of my smartphones--

I just couldn't find a good pix of someone special who I wanted to introduce you to. 

And I definitely wanted a good pic because this little somebody is indeed VERY special...

then early one morning, about 0100 (1:00 AM for those who don't speak hospital or military time), I got the strangest text from my DD and it turned out she was bringing this special little someone, 

and four other very special people to see us. Oh--and she expected to be here in about 6 hours.

And, a bit later then the appointed time, 

after a marathon 6 -8 hour all night cleaning session, 

my house and we were ready to meet our guests:)

So, without further delay, 

our newest special one. 

Yes, we are totally in love with her--and with ALL of our special guests!

SO adorable!

Just like her adorable daddy and mommy:)

This special little someone is our very FIRST great-granddaughter

and it goes without saying that she is cute, charming, totally well behaved 

and very, VERY special!

And, though our family had been on the road for hours and hours...

I knew where they'd want to go...

I told my hubby before they ever arrived.

And, yep, I was right...

they wanted to see our lovely sand and ocean right then. 

So down to the sand we did go. 

BTW, THREE of our very special guests had never, 

and I do mean NEVER, 

been to a ocean beach before.  

So, over the next 

--all too short days--

we beach hopped. 

And had an AMAZING time!!

And I remembered, what I had seemingly forgotten, 

that EARLY mornings are BEST spent on the sand...

(oh yea, one of my special visitors is on one of those boats out there)

Though you can't really see, 

the lighting is more magical in the morning, 

the beaches and roads a LOT less crowded. 

The atmosphere even feels different. 

And when a minus tide and those early AM hours coincide?

Aimee is in heaven. 

And that's the SAME way our special visitors felt as we walked the sands 

and explored the AMAZING life to be found in the tide pools.

God definitely blessed us this summer

and there were more blessings to come. 

I hope this has been a summer of blessings for you as well. 

Blessings, 

Aimee

Photos: 

Lincoln City, Oregon