Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Closing out 2010

Yes, we know it's February, but this post is dedicated to the last couple of fun events of 2010: Christmas, and New Years Beach Blast.

Christmas: We let Jude open one give per night starting two days before Christmas. This was done "not" because we lack patience, but from prior year learnings we knew that Jude needed to understand that inside the pretty paper were some nifty gifts. Unfortunately it still didn't quite work this way.

Christmas morning came, Jude and Greyson wore matching pj's, mom and dad made a hearty breakfast and relaxed (just the four of us). When it came time for presents, Jude became fixated on each gift. When we opened an Elmo DVD, Jude wanted to watch the entire thing - no longer caring that there could potentially be other exciting Elmo products under the tree. In the end, I think we continued to open Jude's gifts up until New Year's Eve.

New Years Beach Blast: We celebrated the annual "Bellamy" Beach Blast this year in Pacific City, Oregon in a giant 3 story, 8 bedroom house. Okay, I'm not positive it had 8 bedrooms, but it "officially" slept 30 people, and unofficially it could comfortably sleep probably 80. Normally our family - with all the new noisy kiddos - fills a house to above capacity. Not this time. It was an uncomfortably huge house with a surprisingly teenie-tiny kitchen. Overall the trip was a resounding success with lots of great memories. Mitch and Kel came and some of us went to the beach, climbed the dunes and scanned the immense horizon (it was uncharacteristically clear that week, not a cloud in the sky). Lots of board games, Jude played in the tide pools.

For me though, the highlight was driving on the beach in Josh's new 4x4, then getting impossibly stuck in a sand dune. Jude and Heather tried to help as much as they could but eventually Chris picked them up at a gas station. Josh and I stayed, on our bellies, under the truck, trying to scoop sand from under the entire area. Sand was well above the axles. Over an hour later in the pitch black night, Josh and I (with the help of 4 local boys) plowed the truck free. It was an exhilarating moment for us all and will remain a great bonding story for decades to come.

Whew! Now that these stories have been recalled, we can focus on the new year and family news to come.

1 comment:

Chris said...

As much as I would love to take credit for picking Heather and Jude up while you and Josh dug his truck out of the sand, I didn't do so. I'm not quite sure who did. Andy? Isaac maybe?

Was a fun beach trip! Jeanne and I have already been in discussions about planning for this next New Years. Where do we want to go!?