How does this sound to all of you? One week on the beach, surrounded by your family, with no work (except every day having the drudgery of lathering up with sunscreen and, may I remind you, that you need to do this on cloudy days too! The sun may hide, but its effects won’t!) and days of fun, fun, fun!  Sounds FANTASTIC doesn’t it! Let me tell you, it is!  I’ve been fortunate to have enjoyed family beach vacations for many years!   

Please allow me to start at the very beginning (according to Julie Andrews, in “The Sound of Music”, it’s a very good place to start!) Ha ha ha. To me, you cannot beat the feeling of just having left work for ONE WHOLE WEEK and having the adventure of your entire vacation still ahead of you! It’s hard waiting for everyone to get off from their jobs so you can finally leave and be on your way. On the other hand, the longer you wait, it’s all still ahead of you! Then, that magical time finally comes when everyone’s home, the car is packed and all passengers are on board. BUT WAIT… There’s always someone who yells out, “Wait, I forgot my sunglasses!”  Or, it’s funny if they yell, ”Wait, I forgot my bathing suit!”  My answer to that problem is…SHOPPING!  Just hurry up, get in the car, let’s go! Finally, the friendly, “Remember to lock the door” has been given and carried out, we’re all in the car and on our way!  That’s all it takes folks! My three sisters and I drive together, and we believe that the vacationing starts the moment we leave the driveway!  We’ll get on the road, and someone will say, “Well, where do we want coffee from?”  There’s nothing better than sipping (guzzling, in my case) down a nice, large, iced coffee while savoring that start of vacation feeling! 

We usually leave on Friday and spend the night on the road!  It’s so fun arriving at the beach house, seeing your “new home” for the week! It’s always fun to move into a completely new bedroom for the week! When I could walk and get into them, the bathtubs were a big highlight for me.  They would always be those large, round, sunken down tubs with jets!  Why go down to the beach?  I have to be totally honest with you- I’m partly kidding with you, partly not!   

When I was younger and could walk, I used to pride myself on being able to get back and forth from the house to the water all by myself!  Let me say, my family is always willing to help me if and when I need it!  But sometimes, I like to be independent and figure out how to do things on my own!  For several years, we went to the Outer Banks.  From the house you had to go over a major sand dune to get to and fro (can you deal with my way super cool lingo?  For those of you who are not up to date on your way, super cool lingo the word “fro” means from!) ha ha.  I’d crawl up the dune on my hands and knees and slide down the dune (as much as I could) on my keister!  For the sake of you all, I won’t go into much detail but, let me just say there’s a reason you WALK not CRAWL in SAND!  That’s all I’m going to say on the matter!  Figure it out for yourselves!  I will say this though, thank goodness for showers!!!! 

In the summer, one of the big activities is fishing.  My Dad and brothers have enjoyed “soaking a line” over the years and have caught some interesting fish!  My older brother once caught a Manta Ray; it took several hours to reel it in! It kept taking my brother up and down the shore while he was trying to wrangle it and reel it in! More and more people got caught (no pun intended!) up in watching this drama play out!  By the end, there was a huge crowd of people watching!  Everyone clapped when my brother was finally declared the victor and brought that ole Manta Ray ashore! (if any of you would like to see it, we have HOURS of video footage!)

Another big part of beach fun is sand art- making the traditional sandcastles and, of course, burying people in the sand and turning them into giant turtles and mermaids.  If you’re a highly skilled sand sculpturer and want the world to marvel at your work, go ahead sculpt the Taj Mahal out of sand! Leave it for the masses of beach combers to ooh and goo over!  Just be prepared to have it all wiped away a couple hours later by the incoming tide!  In a way it adds to the fun…it’s kind of like God’s beach etch-a-sketch!  What can you build next? 

I have a really unique family; we all get along and really enjoy being together! Nighttime, at the beach, is really special!  We’ll gather together; someone will make all of us their special milkshakes and we’ll settle in for a movie!  In the morning, those of us who are early risers, (not me, of course) will take their coffee and sit out on the deck; this is a good time for dolphin sightings! Spotting dolphins is one of those things that no matter how many times you see it, it’s always so surprising and fun!  All of a sudden, a holler will go out, informing anyone in ear shot that a dolphin has been spotted.  Out come the binoculars with everyone waiting their turn to view the frolicking scene! It’s always exciting to be out swimming and see a dolphin! On the other hand, there are some creatures you rather not know about! Those creatures can stay hidden and way, way, way out at sea! One bit of advice- it would probably not be wise to watch “Jaws” the night before you leave on a beach vacation! 

As my walking became increasingly difficult, we discovered a great invention called the Beach Wheelchair! Its frame is made out of PVC pipe; the tires are nice, big, rubber wheels.  It really does work well in sand!  Beach Wheelchairs have allowed me, to be a beach comber for a few more years for which I am very grateful! My younger brother, Steve, discovered a way to turn an ordinary wheelchair ride into a thrilling amusement park ride! He’ll put me up on the shore away from the water with my back facing towards the water, he’ll start by pulling me a little bit to get me going, then he’ll let go of me and run ahead to the water, I keep rolling with the natural slant of the shore and just before I reach the water, he’ll catch me!  To add to the drama, I’ll shut my eyes and lift up my arms! I KNOW he’ll always catch me but, there’s still the “are you ready and watching” question!

When I can’t  find  serenity in my own mind, I’ll go looking for serenity on the beach!  Hey, I did find some on the beach!  And I can prove it, I have a whole jar of them sitting on my dresser!  They’re stones- smooth and round!  My brother named them “serenity stones” and I think it’s perfect.  The actual stones themselves look calm and peaceful lying there on the beach and the way they make you feel is serene!  “Serenity stones” are such nice souvenirs and great reminders of fun times.  I also love shell seeking.  One vacation I found lots of heart shaped shells, and my sister helped me turn them into wall art when we got home.  We’ve gone to the beach in winter, to escape the cold and snow! It is on these vacations where searching for serenity stones can be especially entertaining and fun!  

If you’re looking for a great place to go on a vacation, I suggest the beach! Not only is it fun, but seeing dolphins, watching the motion of the waves come in and all the other things you can enjoy and experience at the beach, like sunrises and sunsets, you will be struck all over again, with what an amazing, powerful and terrific God we serve!