That is one of the best parts of the beach house - there is always things to see, do, and experience. It is such a unique experience, and hard to explain in words.
We spend the morning just walking around for a bit, my big brother joined us. Sometimes I do wish we were closer together - I miss him!
WARNING! more photo overload ahead.
We went back home for a last little "braai" aka bbq with the whole family there. I love hanging out on the front porch - seeing the ocean, sitting in the sun, sifting through the shells treasures from the days before, a cold beverages, and having conversation with family.
Even the beach house garden teems with life, from frogs to lizards & geckos, to beautiful wild flowers. I am convinced that everything here is just perfect and beautiful.
Also this little beauty slays me. Being a far away auntie truly sucks - so I cherish each and every moment with her. She also started to come to me without crying - #auntiewin!
This is my grandma, she is wonderfully fierce lady, I get my love for cooking and good food from her, and I like to think that I get my green thumb from her as well. I love these pictures of her, the place where she is in her element - plants and nature. Also on a side note, Hayleigh is named after her <3
A wild flower bouquet from Hayleigh.
We headed back to the beach in the afternoon, and this is when true adventure hit. We loved every single minute of it. My full grown man converts back to being a child, and gets all giddy with every single discovery, and I just soak it all in.
A cuddle fish to get us started off...
Millions of little shells everywhere...
another crab...
more rock pool exploring...
As we headed home from the beach we stumbled upon a ton of starfish, it was such a hit.
This place is pure magic...
The last day was the most difficult, yet the most beautiful.
Good-byes are so hard, especially when it is people who you love so deeply that it hurts. My brother and his family had to catch their flight back to Cape Town, and my parents took my grandma home.
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| four generations. |
After many tears, and all the good-byes they all went on their way. Watching them drive away with my grandma just breaks my heart in two every single time (she is 87), it always feels like it might be last time I get to see her, and I want to cling to her presence, and savor her smell, and the feel of her hands. She has inspired me in so many ways (she will also probably roll her eyes when she reads this - love you too grandma ;)) - I am pretty much a little bit of a train wreck after good-byes.
Luckily I had the kids and Nate to distract me, as well as a whole beach to explore. Since it was just the four of us for the day we packed the backpack, and set off for an whole day on the beach.
Mother nature come through, and we had the most beautifully warm and sunny day, absolutely NO wind, I might mention that it is super rare.
We walked a little bit further down, and ended up having some sand dune fun. On a side note - the kids spent fifty percent of the day running up the sand dunes, and belly sliding down.
This was the view we saw once we got to the top of the sand dune - and I just knew in my heart that we were going to have a glorious day.
We walked from this one beach all the way to where the shipwreck is. The kids loved it, walking and skipping in the waves. Their joy were contagious, and their excitement was breathtaking.
We stopped along the way for some discoveries, and treasures.
More starfish...
Sea urchins...
We walked some more, the strange thing is the beach is ever changing - it has so much diversity. I also love this beach because we were on the beach from about ten hours, and in that whole time we saw only five other people. I love the seclusion, and "alone-ness" to align my heart and soul.
We walk, but stopped and went as we saw fit, no care in the world, just the presence, the now, and absolute beauty before us.
As we finally approached the ship-wreck beach my heart kind of became a little emotional. My grandpa passed away in 2015 (you can read my tribute to him here), I never got to see good-bye, and I was unable to make it to the funeral to honor his life. This was also the first time that I have been back to the beach house since he passed away. This is weird, but I have had this empty spot inside of me since the day he died. His ashes was released her, and for a moment I feel like I felt him, like I finally got my closer, my chance to say good-bye. And it felt so good, it was freeing, and empowering, and I know he would be so proud of how far I have come.
We found more awesomeness - sea urchin shells aka pumpkin shells galore.
and all sorts of sea grasses, sea weeds, see trees, shark eggs, and you name it...
We parked for a while at another one of my favorite spots, there was a little bit of something for everyone.
sand to play in for the kids...
rocks to be explored, and more star fish to be found...
beautiful clams...
and a little scratch patch for me, this is the only place on this strip of beach that you can sift our pumpkin shells, by the hundreds in the shallow water, I can literally do this for hours and hours on end.
The beach is just so stunning.
We visited the little local (and very primitive) shop for afternoon ice-cream. My mom and grandpa use to take me to pick out and ice-cream and we would sit by the beach and it. So I of course had to do it for one last time. The ice-cream wasn't that great but the stirring of beautiful memories were.
As we started to slowly make our way back towards the beach house, we passed another little rock spot, and this was Nate's favorite part. There were hundreds of starfish - you saw a bunch in every single pool you would look into. We spend a good while here....
Our day was quickly coming to an end, and honestly I didn't want it to. I wanted it to last forever.
Our last moment on the beach was greeted with an epic sunset.
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| very last picture on the beach. |
Now for the super epic finale, and it is a good one... so the house sold before we got there, but we were able to negotiate with the new owners and that they will move in after we leave. As we were packing up and sorting out the last of the things, my dad realized that the old little trailer was still there and we needed to get rid of it. It needs a lot of tender, love, and care. So my dad found this guy who wants the trailer, and ended up trading the trailer for two fresh fish - hahaha! My mom was horrified (she is not a fish fan) and Nate was ecstatic. So from this day on it is known as Nate's fish (this happened the night before everyone left, and he had nothing to do with the transaction, that is what makes it so funny) so those fish stunk up the whole fridge - my mother's expressions were priceless. ;)
We had those two fresh fish from the ocean for our last supper at the beach house, and even the evening out on the front porch was perfect, it wasn't cold like the other nights, and everyone just hung out while my dad cooked, and we had a few drinks, and we soaked it in, savoring every single second.
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| the aftermath. |
***
It was the perfect end to our vacation, the best sort of refreshing for our souls. We made some of my most favorite memories to add to my mental collection. I did some soul searching on the beach, straightened out a few things in my heart, and I got to watch my kids take it all in.
Thank you beach house for almost twenty-years worth of the most exquisite memories, for always shining in your full glory, and for filly my heart with some much peace and joy. The healing powers of the ocean and the beach is something beautiful for reckon with.
"If you are brave enough to say good-bye, life will reward you with a new hello."
It is definitely a time of change in our family, especially as my parents are preparing for retirement, and moving away from their current location, closer to the beach. So that just means a new start, and a new chapter, and a new generation taking over and starting a new trail of traditions and memories.
Good-bye beach house - I will forever and always hold you near and dear to my heart.
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