Beach fun before the storm

Our friends were in town this past weekend due to an illness in the family and we got to spend some time with them on Sunday before the tropical storm arrived.  Sharon took her two boys to the beach to let them run off some of the buckets of energy they hold in reserve.  Tom, the girls and I met them and spent a few hours enjoying the calm before the storm.

The boys had started building a sand castle and the girls quickly joined in.  They worked for some time on the moat that surrounded the castle, at one point having it run down toward the water.  The day was very overcast with a threat of storms, but it didn't really rain the entire time we were there.

It was, however, windy and Sharon and I were very lucky we had each other to hold to so that we didn't blow away.  Our hats were another story...

After getting good and sandy the troops headed into the water to clean up and enjoy the surf that the storm was just beginning to churn up toward our way.  The tide was low so the boys could stand pretty far out and both are good swimmers (but of course!), but Darcy made sure to keep an eye out for little Henry.

After awhile Tom, who spent consider time on his phone, alerted us to a weather report of rain so we dutifully packed up and hiked through the sand to the playground area.  We figured we would get a few minutes in on the equipment, but the rain never came and the kids never tired.

We ended the day with some swimming in our pool and some hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill.  We were thrilled to finally see them after 9 months despite the reason for them being in town.  (We are keeping our fingers crossed for the boys grandfather who is fighting lung cancer)  Sometimes it takes getting back with people to realize how much you really miss them!