Jasper Beach and Russell hugs...aaaaahhhhhhhh

Sunday was spectacular and some of my family (Matt and Kiley, Faye, Taryn and Russell) headed to Jasper Beach - miles of coastline that consists of finely worn rocks, all tumbled and tumbled until they are smooth as silk. Everyone that goes comes back with their pockets filled with beautiful stones.
Kiley and daddy got to feel just how cold the water can be in Maine!
And we all got to see how beautiful it can be....
Russell found a driftwood saxophone and played us a tune...
And Kiley spent a happy hour picking up stones and putting them in daddy's hand.

We also had a rock throwing contest targeted at a driftwood log but SOME of the kids got carried away and began throwing them at me while I was taking pictures. The one that hit me in the head was small and Russell said he was very sorry...

Sunday ended with a wonderful meal - meat on the grill, roasted onions, white and sweet potatoes, a big salad. We drove on down to The Shake Pit but I was so full I couldn't even fit a baby cone. Taryn got a "black and white" which we learned is vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce (or the reverse) and it took her three times to explain to the teenage clerk what she wanted. I guess the Downeaster didn't speak Jersey.

We collapsed on the sofas and in the morning, Russ and Taryn left for the horrifically long drive back to Bayonne. I will never, ever let this much time go by without seeing them (six months!) and I'm already checking plane fares for mid-May.

A highlight of the weekend was early Saturday morning, when Russ woke up and came into the kitchen and wrapped me in one of his big bear hugs. "I don't get to do this often enough,'' he said.

So to all you mothers out there that are being kept up all night by crying babies, or are wallowing in the terrible twos, or struggling through the horrid teenage years, I promise you there will come a Saturday morning when you will get your special hug.
I promise.
And it will be so incredibly, overwhelmingly worth it.