Beach time!

After 4 days of fun in Portland, we headed off to the coast. Cora and Violet rode with cousins, and Evelyn and Luke fell asleep (after eating a powdered donut). The drive was our most peaceful yet!

We stopped for icecream at Tillamook-- yum!

 And then we were at the beach! Dawn was able to get two beach houses next to each other, there were so many of us! We were lucky to have the master suite. With Evelyn in the walk-in closet, the girls sharing another room, and Luke on a mattress on the floor, it was so nice to really have room for all of us. It was our best sleeping for all of us of any vacation we've taken for a long time (so best energy and attitudes too!). Wonderful!

We spent 5 nights at the beach house, filled with games, crafts, walks, day trips, yummy food, and of course, most of all, the beach! The ocean is such a novelty for our family, no one cared it was overcast most of the time and highs were in the 60's with cold water. We all had so much fun!

 

 Kevin, Dawn, and the kids worked so hard on this sandcastle!It was fun to watch the tide come in a fill the moat. 

 We were so close to the beach, which was so handy, especially for the kids.

 We took a day trip to Seaside and enjoyed window shopping along the boardwalk. 

 There was a big volleyball tournament going on. 

The kids were so excited to look in a lot of shops (especially the candy shop!) to spend their souvenir money. Now, there is one way for a parent to practice patience!

The big kids loved the tilt-a-whirl so much that Luke begged to go too. I think he said it was fun afterward, but he didn't want to go again!

 Kristen captured this great picture of the cousins wearing the sarongs Dawn brought them back from Hawaii. 

 And now here are a whole bunch of beach pictures! I loved them all so much, it was hard to cut them out. Such great memories!

 

   

All the kids loved collecting seashells. Luke would sing the clean-up song while he filled his bucket. That's a big tidying up job! 

 

 The kids spent a lot of time wading and running from waves.

 Here Cora wasn't too thrilled when she got caught!

  Run, run, run!

 Evelyn wanted to be in the ocean as much as possible. It took constant supervision to keep her safe!

  

  

 

Luke and I took a selfie while on a mommy-son beach walk. 

 

  Evelyn and I took a beach walk by ourselves too. It happened to be the lowest tide in a two week time period, and we saw tons of intact sand dollars. Evelyn waded and crawled in the little pools. 

 

We spent an afternoon on a little beach hike to another beach. It was a pretty little cove, and the walk was nice too. So green!

    

  

 Our last night we had a bonfire on the beach with smore's. Perfect!

  Evelyn had her pick of rides! We really appreciated all the help with the kids from Brad and Dawn.

 

 

  Our family on a beach walk

 

 Kevin was lucky he got dinner after this stunt!

 

 Kristen's beautiful picture of the gulls and ocean.

 Luke, on a mission!

 It was nice to sit on the beach and watch the ocean, and the kids having so much fun.

 

The last stop o the last day was a park-- with these three little monkeys!

 It was a family vacation we will always remember!