THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for mornings that start by sitting in a rocking chair and looking at my back yard while drinking a mug of hot water or tea. What's something you're thankful for?

NEW SPECS

Tyler got new glasses on Thursday, so we snapped a quick picture before heading in to get them. Why? Because both sides of his current frames had broken within a few days of each other, so he balanced the lenses on his nose just for a laugh. 

His new glasses have transition lenses, which he's super excited about because he's missed being able to wear sunglasses.

 

TIME WITH GABI

I'm always thankful for time with our original bonus W, including the few hours he spent with us today. So glad Gabi was our neighbor for a season so that he could become our friend!

SISTERS' WEEKEND - 2021

Beep and I got away for our third annual sisters' weekend over the last few days. (Or maybe our fourth? Depends on if we count the first year, even though we stayed at my home that time.) As always, the break from real life, resting without any set schedule, and time spent together was wonderful. 

We go somewhere different each fall and this time we decided to go back to our hometown as Perkins girls. I think it's been twenty years since we've been there at the same time, so it was special to go with someone who shares the same memories.

FRIDAY - We met in Medford before carpooling to Brookings, so our first stop was lunch at Tosu. We ate a delicious lunch that included my first sushi experience, watched a family's surprise reunion that was filled with tears and smiles, then stopped by WinCo to get groceries for our weekend. Our evening was spent at Harris, just walking along the beach and watching the sunset. 

Notice our matching hoodies? The art is one of my sister's new BMoff designs that she added some writing to (there's more on the back) and surprised me with for our weekend. We headed back to our room at Ocean Suites Motel after the sunset and caught the last color of the evening sky from the deck.

SATURDAY - We spent a chunk of our morning driving by places that were significant in our childhood - the four homes we lived in, original building of the church we grew up in, and the campus of a private school we attended. We also took some time to stop by Mom's grave together.

After lunch in our room, we headed back out to wander around the boardwalk and get ice cream at Slugs 'n Stones, then went down to the port. The sunshine and stillness of the previous night had been pretty, but we both also loved the blustery day with choppy water as we walked up and down the beach. 

Beep's a sneaky photographer and caught me watching the water. 

The obligatory picture of the back of our custom hoodies.

As we walked back to our car, we passed a group taking a picture together. I offered to take it for them so the gal holding her camera in selfie mode with everyone behind her could sit with them. She declined, but someone else in the group asked if I'd take one with her phone. It was at that point, as I turned to face the group, that I realized it was the same family we'd watched be reunited the day before. I love small world moments! 

We told them we'd seen them at Tosa, took their picture, then went back to our room to spend an evening chatting, looking at old photo albums and scrapbooks, and putting together a puzzle we'd picked up at Goodwill earlier in the day. 

SUNDAY - Having already spent time at two different beaches, we opted to head up river for our final hometown nature fix. We drove out to Loeb and were the only people at the water. So peaceful! We strolled from one end to the other, pausing to watch birds, skip rocks, and look at pretty flowers, then looped through the campground back to our car. 

I have no idea how many times I jumped off this rock as a kid. Lots and lots.

Our last stop was lunch at Pizza Deli, paid for with money someone had generously given us for a weekend indulgence. Then we headed back to Medford and parted ways. 

I'm so thankful for a season of life where this tradition of a weekend together each year is possible. It's definitely an oxygen mask thing for me, a refreshing time that helps keep my head and heart in a good place.  

(Photo credit: All the pictures of people are from Beep's camera.)

FOOTBALL WITH FRIENDS

I got back tonight from a fantastic weekend with my sister, which I'll post about tomorrow because it's late and it will take a while to go through the pictures, but thought I'd get these three up tonight. 

I was able to spend a little bit of time with Shon and the boys on my way home. It was a beautiful day, so we headed to a park where they could practice some football plays. I plopped myself down in the grass and just relaxed while I watched. Snapped a few pictures for their fam, but figured I'd also put them here. 

Wrapped up our time outside, then I went home to see Tim and the kids. 

 

DEVON & TYLER IN THE YARD

Devon had a rare day home back on the 6th, so he spent some time stretched out on the trampoline to read and snack in the sunshine.

Two days ago he decided to expand his paracord skill set. He's made countless whips, but this time he made a sling. His ammo? Tons of little tomatoes from our yard.  

Four days ago Tyler decided to make sit in the morning sun to read some school books. The perfect classroom.

A SNEAKY FLOWER DELIVERY

I wish I could remember the year, but my sibs and I were probably in about 7th, 5th, and 2nd grade when we decided we wanted to have flowers delivered to Mom at her workplace. And we wanted it to be anonymous. We had absolutely no idea how much flowers cost, so we called That Special Touch, the local florist where Mom bought flowers for other people and that created the bouquets she sometimes received from others. I don't remember who made the call, but we had a script written out.

"How much is One carnation, baby breath, and ferns in green wrappings, delivered & CFCU" 

No punctuation at the end. The first part appears to have been added after we wrote out what we wanted. An "and" sign instead of the word "at.  Whatever works.

Anyway, we got our answer. We gathered our loose change, came up with the $2.00, and called Dad at work to tell him our plan. We asked if he would pay the florist after work (we lived several miles out of town), then we'd reimburse him when he got home. He agreed. 

We called That Special Touch back and placed our order. They called Dad to confirm the plan, then delivered the arrangement, along with a card that said "Have a great day!" and was left unsigned. I'm pretty sure we didn't get charged for that delivery. I mean, $2.00 for a flower and delivery isn't much, even for the 1980s. Perks of small town life where everyone knows everyone and people are kind. 

I remember that Dad told us that night, or maybe the next day, that she'd been wracking her brain trying to figure out who might have sent the flower. To my knowledge, she never knew it was her kids.