Maggie in the Maldives: Manzanita vacation

Sunset at Manzanita

Judy and I went to the Oregon Coast last week with Rose and John, their daughter Jessamy, her husband Rob, their three children Josh, Megan, and Jamie, and the lovely dog Bree. We stayed in a house with glorious views. Out the front windows we saw the sand and the ocean and the sky, and out the side windows we looked up at Neahkahnie Mountain. In the early morning light and at sunset we could see the spouts of the gray whales migrating up the coast.

Rob and Bree

We watched Josh ride his skim board at low tide, and Megan and Jamie jump puddles. John and Rob took long bike ride in Nehalem Bay State Park, where John saw seals in the water. Bree and Rob took long walks exploring the beach.

We played games. The math whizzes among us played a "simple" game where you make the numbers on four dice equal the number on two others, using any combination of functions: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, factors or factorials. Got that? I didn't either.

Josh and Megan play pinball

Megan and Judy play Look! Look!

Jess and Jamie play speed Scrabble

Rob and Bree

There was lots of reading going on, and we finished some puzzles. Jess, Rose, and Judy made fantastic food. Megan taught me to fold paper to make a fortune teller like the ones we made in grade school.

Jamie and John

Megan

We had a leisurely discussion about a name for David and Courtney's new baby girl, due in May. Megan and Jamie have read a series of books called Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and that led them to suggest Greek names. Artemis? Thalia? John suggested Zorba. Jamie, who is just beginning to read, had a good idea. She found her fairy book, and said, "There are lots of names in here." She went though the book and picked out the proper names. We tried each one out. Fawn? Fern? Daisy?

Judy and Bree

My friend Sheila Sullivan came down for the day on Friday. Rose and Sheila and I walked through the fine shops on Manzanita's one commercial street. As we looked at the expensive baby clothes made of soft cotton and bamboo, I hesitated to buy. "Maybe I'll come back tomorrow, " I hemmed and hawed. "Why?" Sheila nudged. Three Sullivan sisters browsing; how I wished there were more!