A Little Time at the Beach

We just got back last night from spending four days down on the Washington and Oregon coast. Dean had vacation all last week, so we left Wednesday night and headed south. We arrived at Dean's parents house a bit before 11pm and were soon asleep after getting everyone settled for the night.

Thursday, Dean and I took off for Cannon Beach, Oregon. Since we started our family 11 years ago, Dean and I have tried to make a point of getting away for at least a night or two on our own. We both really appreciate these times when we can reconnect and spend some time as a couple. (It also helps us to get recharged as parents). This time we only took one night away so we decided to splurge a little and stayed at a hotel right on the beach. It was a beautiful hotel with an amazing view (see the picture below). We were also excited to get back to Bill's Tavern and Brew House for what, we think, are the best fish and chips ever. I think since the first time we ate there it is now a must whenever we are in the area.

This was the view from our balcony

Friday we headed back to Ocean Park and our boys. That afternoon, we headed a little further north on the peninsula to Leadbetter Point. There are some trails that loop around either to the bay side of the peninsula or the ocean side. We decided to head toward the beach but as we got closer and closer to the ocean we ran into bigger muddy spots that finally brought us to a portion of the trail covered in water. We tried to forge ahead but ended up turning around. On our way back we passed a couple going toward the water and warned them but they decided to try anyway (no kids to whine and complain). We went toward the bay and walked along that beach for awhile finding all kinds of shells. As we got ready to leave we saw the brave couple and asked if they made it to the ocean. They said that they waded through the water at times half way up their shins and then turned around. (I'm glad we didn't go any further). Later that day we noticed that our poor Jake came home with some trophies...4-5 bug bites on his forehead that puffed up to make him look a little bit like a Klingon from Star Trek.


Saturday, the wind that we had been having the past few days died down so we headed out to the ocean (this time by car). Austin and Griff had a great time digging in the sand while Jake and Dean threw a football back and forth. They even let me throw it sometimes and helped me improve my form.
As I left the football game, I turned to see my other two funny boys making....

SAND ANGELS!

They crack me up! They were so determined to make good ones too. Finally the call of the water was too much to ignore. Griff and Aus headed down and began the ever fun game of running from the waves. They had so much fun running from the icy cold ocean that was chasing after them.


Jake came down to the water a little bit later and joined in the running fun. They each got a little wetter with each wave but then jake won the prize when he fell down and got drenched. Of course we didn't plan ahead too well for our impromptu trip to the ocean and didn't have any towels or changes of clothes. Oops!

We had so much fun playing together and are ready to finish up the school year and have some more fun this summer.