Back to the beach

If I'm not careful, I find myself looking around -- looking at my neighbors, my mommy friends down the street, blog friends across the country, family members back at home -- and my house starts to look paltry in comparison.

While many of my (non-military) peers are building or buying their first or second homes on spacious parcels in the suburbs, our family is living quite a different existence.

We're on our second rental property in just over a year. Our home is a three-story condo with about six feet of space on each side separating us from our neighbors. No backyard. No street-facing front door. We're crammed in here.

Sometimes I get to lamenting my situation. When that happens it's vital that I start counting my blessings. One of the biggest bonuses of our current surroundings is that we're just a handful of blocks from the Pacific Ocean--a pretty terrific backyard.

We spent some time in our backyard last night.

It was little H's first real visit.



He let me dig his tootsies into the sand.



These kiddos are supremely skilled rock climbers these days. This was a great place to do some scaling.





We met Papa there. He was surfing.



He led a foot race followed by some calisthenics.



Then the sun started to sink into the sea. The surf threatened our beach blanket. It was time to go home.



We'll be back to play again soon. Next time we won't wait so long to start counting our blessings.