"Sky above our heads, Sand beneath our feet, Life is Good."
I have a photo of three little toe-headed munchkins sitting on a log just like this in front of this very lighthouse. Jonah was there too, growing inside my belly, we just didn't know it yet. That was 13 years ago. The constant passing of time is a crazy thing.
I have an even older picture of a fairly newly married couple sitting on yet another tree in front of this very lighthouse. That was 18 years ago. We've changed a little. It was 18 years ago that I fell in love with the Coquille River Lighthouse.
One of our favorite things to do when visiting this lighthouse is to walk along the jetty. It can be quite treacherous. People have been washed off the jetty by rogue waves and have drowned. We only ventured because it was low tide, and we weren't even brave enough to walk to the end of the jetty. I took few pictures, because the ocean mist and wind was pretty crazy. The Oregon Coast has ruined an appalling amount of my cameras. I was trying to preserve my camera on this trip. But Jess got a few shots.
You can feel the cold and the mist just looking at this couple and their fogged glasses.
Once safely off the jetty, it was time to fly kites. An absolute Watson-Must-Do while on the coast. Every year I forget to actually pack kites, so every year we buy kites at our favorite shop in Lincoln City. We have quite an assortment in our basement. You don't need any skills to fly a kite on the coast. Simply let go of the kite, and the wind will take care of the rest. I believe Sabrina was actually looking for seashells while kite-flying. Her kite just floated on ahead of her like a dog on a leash.
Sabrina had to do some beach combing before sending her kite up.
Darn that cute couple, making it impossible for me to put my camera away.
Now this is a familiar picture. Neil spends much of his time assembling kites on the beach for excited children. Sabrina actually made the mistake of letting go of her kite at one point, forcing Neil to hunt through a massive gnarly patch of driftwood to retrieve it. The things this man does for his children.
I have a faint memory of an afternoon with my dad flying a kite in the field behind our house. I was only three years old when we lived in that house, but that moment with my dad was so thrilling that the memory is forever etched in my mind. For this reason, I love to watch my children fly kites. Even when they are virtual adults. It makes me happy. I hope this will be one of their anchor memories.
I love watching this sweet boy of mine getting out all of his energy without any restrictions. He can just run and run to his heart's content.
Goodbye sweet little lighthouse of mine. We'll try to bring all of the children with us next time.
With the remainder of our time, the kids wanted to check out the shops in downtown Bandon. First stop, Coastal Mist chocolate shop and bakery. That we would find such delicious Belgian chocolates and pastries in such a sleepy town as this made us all very happy.
Sabrina fell in love with this wall and insisted that I take a picture because she absolutely adores Gene Wilder in this movie.
This is the single very expensive but so scrumptious chocolate that I bought for myself.
We noticed that the shops in Bandon closed at 4:00ish and 3:00ish, and sometimes at whatever the heck time they felt like closing up shop. We fell in love with the locals as we wandered from shop to shop.
Then there was the bookstore with this policy. Only in quiet little coastal towns.
Some more signs that we couldn't help but chuckle at.
Then there was this sign found just around the corner from our beach shack. It's true. There were gooziz ranging all around this particular home.
And there was more than one sign like this found around Bandon. If your dog needs a potty break, well he'd better go find himself another log.
It's 4:00, and the town is officially asleep. If only the rest of us lived life a little more like the folks of Bandon Oregon.
We came home and indulged in our decadent pastries.
And we relaxed and watched some t.v. after a most enjoyable week.
Is that another macaroon I spot? She's a sucker for them.
And this is when that panicky feeling sets in. When the trip is coming to a close and you wonder if you saw all the things you wanted to see and did all of the things you wanted to do or whether you relaxed sufficiently. On this the last night in our Bandon Beach Shack, the answer was undoubtedly Yes!
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