Solstice Recap

As most of you know, our family has certain traditions that we honor on the first day of all four of the seasons. Yesterday was the summer solstice and we made our way to the beach to catch the sunset.
It had been a pretty crazy day and we didn't check the forecast or anything - tradition is tradition. We just got in the car and drove like mad, hoping we wouldn't miss it.
Once we got to the coast, though, things were looking a little rough.


In ten years of solstice beach trips, we have never been rained out. I was really hoping it was moving in the other direction, so once we parked the car, I hopped out to survey the area.
Not good.


In short order, it started to really storm. But we'd driven for more than an hour to get there, so we decided to wait it out. Tradition is tradition. This is the solstice. We have to get onto the beach.



Things did clear up a bit eventually. We had a break in the clouds that lasted just long enough to get a little wet,


stick our toes in the sand,


and see the beautiful sunset I showed you earlier.

With the rain and storms, the light turned incredibly colorful. I took a couple of hand-held long exposure shots (read: they are supposed to be blurry). I love the softness of the moving water and...well...just how these make me feel.



There was homemade lemonade (Emma squeezed the lemons this year) and ice cream too. All in all, a wonderful way to celebrate the official start of summer.