Cannon Beach Wrap up

Dan agreed to some family photos on the beach on our last morning.  It was VERY windy when we headed out ~ so much that we couldn't sit on the beach without Kaitlin's and my hair blowing in our face.  I found this spot that was a little sheltered and we snapped some photos.  I am suspicious that this is where we might have picked up our little flea friends who came home with us!

I set up my tripod and managed to get this in two shots!  My mission was to be quick and we really didn't spend much time doing this at all, but I was so grateful for the cooperation.  It gave me my creativity fix.



Lately the boys have been asking a lot of questions about when they have to leave home. My answer to them is simply when they are ready. I feel like they are too young to have to worry about leaving home.  I do tell them that while they don't feel this way now, some day they will want to leave home.  They are fascinated with the concept of living with their friends at college.  :)  However, I look at this photo and think that if they'd start picking up after themselves, they'd never have to leave as far as I'm concerned.




Since Dan doesn't have hair to fly in his face we could take his photo on the beach.
The benefits of being bald.
If my hair doesn't stop falling out, I'll use this as my consolation.



Dan snapped this. There was some "Raaring" going on. :)

A friend told me at our reunion that she loves seeing our kids' photos on face book because they look like they did that computer thing (she used the technical term because she's smart like that, but I'll just call it the "computer thing") where they sort of morph two people's faces to see what their kids look like.  She said she so clearly sees both of us in all of our kids.  I thought that was fun. You can definitely tell they are related!

Dan introduced himself to Andrew's soccer coach (he arrived after Andrew and I to the game).  Dan said, "I'm Andrew's Dad."  The coach replied, "I can tell." :)




The kids found some crab shells in the top right photo. I loved their little heads all together. 

The weather was getting cool and it actually started to rain just as we were finishing up. We headed into town for a slice of pizza and a stroll through the shops.



Gepetto's toy shop is a favorite.

 

 This is my favorite shop. I'm a Christmas girl.  I have bought many ornaments here through the years.  This year I purchased the kids' advent calendar as well as our christmas ornaments for the year (I buy one for each of the children and a family ornament that represents something special for us each year).  I didn't find one that was quite right for Matthew. When I returned outside, Kaitlin was dancing in front of some street musicians.

oh. my.

No photos, but Dan has some great blackmail footage. I'm telling you, that girl is so funny.

 

And even though it was raining we went for ice cream cones because it was the reward for cooperating so nicely for photos. 




The kids had asked why the town was called "Cannon Beach."  So we took them to the historical museum to read about it.  And for those of you wondering, it was because of this cannon that was found on the beach after a shipwreck.

We thought we'd take the kids inside and have an educational experience.




But a quiet, subdued museum wasn't a great idea when the kids were in run on the beach and explore mode.  They ran in like animals and you can see Katie and Andrew climbing the furniture in the background.  (In all fairness, I shouldn't include Matthew in that generalization ~ he was great).

We spent most of our time corralling and reprimanding until we finally left in frustration.

We're not quite ready for family trips to the museum. 
Clearly we should have done a little "how you behave in a museum" talk beforehand.
I wasn't on my A game at this point.

We loaded up in the car and headed home, stopping off at Camp 18 for some dinner. 
It was a short weekend get away, but it was wonderful to have the change in our routine, do something new for a while and have some good family time.