February at Cannon Beach

Last month we went to the coast to celebrate my father's birthday. I posted about my house epiphany but not much else about the trip. We had terrific weather for February at the Oregon coast. When my dad turned 50 my mom threw a surprise party at the beach and flew me in from New York. After that it just became an annual thing which we have continued since he passed away. Since he wasn't religious he wanted his ashes spread at the beach so if the weather is cooperative we make the journey to the spot where he remains.
My Little Helper loves going to the beach. He lines up all the chairs in his room to create a garbage truck, has us get in the back of it or throws every.single.toy in his room into the big chair, and drives us down to the beach to have a picnic. I love his imagination! It was surprising then that after driving down to the beach and waking up in the beach house he didn't want to get dressed to go out onto the beach. "I don't want to go to the beach! I don't want to have fun!" he exclaimed. I have learned that 3 year olds are very fickle. But eventually we got him dressed and bundled up and out on the sand, which he of course loved. I wanted to take some nice family photos of my growing family since it was so sunny and nice. My problem is that even if I have everyone standing where I want them, zoom and set up the camera how I want it, and ask the photo taker to stand here, I never end up with the photos that I imagined in my head. This happened last year in Japan and San Gimignano; here part of my problem was you should never turn your back on the sea.
We had a nice, laid back weekend. Since we were there with my mom and sister, Mr. W and I even had a chance to go out for a walk on our own. We made a little trip into Cannon Beach and I was able to squeeze in an antique store on Hemlock St. One of the tables had some religious items on it and I found these holy candles which I knew had to come home with me. I haven't celebrated St. Jude's feast day yet so now I have some homework to do. After I unpacked the box of candles at home My Little Helper wanted to hold it and against my better judgment I let him. He promptly dropped the box on the floor and broke one of the candles. Sigh! I am constantly reminded of the Jeff Foxworthy routine and his line, "We just can't have nice things!"