Christmas at the coast...

The day after Christmas we drove to the coast to spend time with my extended family. I am often reminded of just how lucky I am to have so many great people in my life. On this side of the family I have 12 cousins, 9 cousin-in-laws, and between us there are now 11 kids - second cousins I guess. We don't see each other often, and when we do it is usually pure chaos, but it is fun. 

Here we are - minus the 15 who couldn't make it. 

The beach was beautiful - in a very wintry way. No rain, not too much wind, but a storm on its way that brought great big waves and a really high tide. It was nice to be able to spend time on the sand without being soggy and freezing.

These girls don't like the beach at all. 

Seth, the resident hunter, taking care of the dead sea fowl for the crowd.

Big girls using team work.

Sand angels. I was entertained. He is not my son and thus I didn't have to clean him up after this adventure. =)

I love this picture, so I stole it from Emily.

There wasn't much of a sunset to speak of, but the sky was a beautiful shade of blue/gray as the light was dwindling on the horizon.

I fully plan on writing more about this, but Grace got a camera for Christmas, and the kids managed to capture quite a few great pictures of our day at Harbor Villa. You might have to click on the collage to get it big enough to see. Silly, yet, but to me these images really sum up our day - sitting by the warm wood stove, playing games, eating soup and drinking hot chocolate.