Thanks for Fun and Sun

hostess gift part 1

Our family has just enjoyed a fabulous week of fun and sun at the beach.

perpetual motion beach babies playing with their new friends

With friends at church we traded a week at their oceanfront condo for a week at our cabin in the mountains.  Just 30 miles from home, the condo was conveniently located and the perfect place for a family gathering.

One reason it is so relaxing was that cars are not allowed on this section of the waterfront,  unlike most of Daytona Beach.   The children were able to run around and dig anywhere that seemed deserving of a deep hole.  Meanwhile, I sat under the beach umbrella with my daughter Rebecca and baby Vivian Rose who was mesmerized by the waves and  the pelicans.

The designs are from Dakota Collectibles Shell collection.

As a thank you/hostess gift, I embroidered some kitchen and fingertip towels for the condo.

The kitchen is decorated with a very pretty shell border, so these dishtowels were color coordinated with that.  Once again, I congratulated myself for having the foresight to maintain a variety of these nice kitchen towels from All About Blanks.  I re-order as soon as my supply gets low, then pre-wash and press the stack.  Then they are ready to go.

More Dakota Collectibles design. These are from their Embossed Towels set.

Fingertip towels are another of my favorite stash items.  Not only are they handy in the bathroom, but they are fun and easy to coordinate with the decor.  These three were made for the bathroom that goes with this delightful under the sea bedroom.

The master bathroom has a shell border similar to the kitchen, but with waves and more blue.  These towels are a pretty close match in design and color.

This was such a magical time for our family.  On our last day at the beach, just-turned-8 Robert leaned against the pool fence, looked out at the ocean and sighed, “This is the most peaceful day of my life.”

Moments later,  a flock of pelicans flew by in perfect formation.  After I pointed them out to still contemplative Robert, he looked up and said, “I’m surprised there aren’t doves flying in all this peace.  It’s so beautiful.”

Now that’s magical, at least for this Nana.