Once upon a time, there was a little girl who wanted to see the ocean for her eighth birthday. So she got on a bus with her friends, paid the fare (one sand dollar) and took off.
BEEP! BEEP! "Next stop: Oysterville," said the bus driver.
Unfortunately, the bus couldn't take them all the way to the water. "Schools of fish are always trying to get on for a field trip," the bus driver explained, "and they are far too soggy.
So the friends had to walk the rest of the way to the beach.
"But where IS it? We must explore!"
Finally, through the tall grass, they saw some seagulls and heard the crashing of waves.
"There it is!" cried Taylor. "The OCEAN!"
Morgen was delighted!
She immediately waded into the ocean's shore...
...only to find it FREEZING cold, so she jumped right out and into the air!
Micah was still trying to find his way through the tall grass....
(...he thought it tickled his nose...)
...until Taylor found him and showed him the way out!
Feeling the cold water, Micah exclaimed, "I'm going to be BRAVE!" He hiked up his shorts and ran straight into the oncoming surf. What a brave little boy, indeed!
Their big sister apprehensively watched from up in the tall grass. She wasn't sure she wanted to venture into that cold, cold water with her siblings.
But the salty ocean air, the sound of seagulls and the water crashing onto the sand exhilarated her senses until she couldn't help but to come out of hiding.
She paused momentarily, as if to unknowingly reflect the Birth of Venus itself...
...and lept for joy into the frigid surf!
Korah was very pleased to be at the ocean's edge.
Back and forth, back and forth, they ran with the tide....
...until it was time to line up and travel back from whence they came.
It was time for some birthday cake!
HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY, MORGEN!
(Editor's note: it's amazing to me that I can lay down the strangest-looking cakes, so far from my cake-decorating fantasies, and all the children ooo and ahhh, salivating with forks poised at the ready. Maybe it's because cake is such a novely around here, or maybe it's because children have simple, joyful hearts and I ought to take a lesson. Either way... they heal my perfectionist spirit with their cheerful ones.)
Two things to notice here: one, that Noble is apparently trying to put cake directly into his stomach, thereby fitting his entire fist into his mouth. And secondly, notice the little friend in the foreground. Morgen and her school pal she brought along, found these fuzzy little guys and invited them to the party!
"We're here!"
Hmph. Party crashers.
Taylor always writes the funniest cards.
Then... how do you burn off a sugar high when it's dark and rainy outside and you're stuck inside a beach house? STAIR SURFING!
This is where mommy turns a blind eye. It looks like someone's ankle is about to break here.
This is a laughing face, believe it or not.
They've never had so much fun smooshing into each other!
One last family photo around the birthday girl before we leave.
You are so loved, Morgen-girl! May God bless you big, this ninth year of life!
Korah is a budding photographer now that she's got her own camera. She babysat all summer, dividing up her earnings between giving, savings and spending jars. Her grammy, who's a bookkeeper, showed her how to keep records, and I'm proud to say that Korah kept them! Every time she earned some babysitting money, she came home and divvied it out, taking note of her employer, her hours, her pay. I could take a lesson!
