Heading Home!

Before we left the beach I took a photo of all the puzzles that we put together throughout the week.

 

We've stayed in quite a few houses over the years at the coast but this was definitely our favorite.  It was fantastic.  There were 16 people in the house and it lived very comfortably for us.  I snapped a few photos of the main downstairs living space as we were finishing packing up.





And one of the sweetest pictures of the week.



Noah is a sweet boy, but at this age he isn't overly physically affectionate with a lot of people.  (Which is perfectly fine, Matthew is the same way).  I just mention it because it is one of the reasons why this photo is so endearing ~ to see how he's holding on to Andrew.  These two were together all week and were still disappointed when it was time to say goodbye and were asking for more time together.  They decided that they are going to be college roommates someday.  They have very different personalities and yet they balance one another out beautifully.  Their friendship is a joy to watch

We managed to pack up and were out of the house by noon.  No small task.  The unloading, sand and laundry when we returned home is a whole other story.  We love the beach trip but it is a LOT of work.  And totally worth it.

We were so grateful for this week away.  We are already looking forward to doing it again!

Day 6 ~ Last Full Day at the Beach

Our last day at the beach was just a really relaxing day.  We started to pack for home and had some outings as well.

This is one of my favorite photos from the beach....

 

(Michelle is one of those people who can look beautiful right out of bed in the morning.  I am another story entirely).

It just reminds me of the pace and ease of the beach.  Slow mornings, Pjs, really good food.



And of course, puzzles.  They were really addicting.  When we first arrived it took me a while to slow the pace of  my internal self down enough to have the patience to focus and do them.  But once I did, it was so relaxing and it was really hard to break out of that slow, lazy mode and re-enter life on the "crazy train."  I think that was really the gift of this vacation.  Being able to really disengage and relax in a way that we haven't done for many, many years.



I couldn't resist snapping this photo.

Cocktail hour happened every day at 5 before dinner while at the beach.

After breakfast Dan, the kids and I got ready and headed to "Devil's Punchbowl" where it was reported the tide would rush in to make a spectacular display of water and seaspray.



Not so much.

It was a little anticlimatic.

Clearly we visited at the wrong time.

Nonetheless, there were beautiful views to behold.  Though the wind was blowing HARD.  (That's the Oregon coast for you).

 

 

It was so windy the kids had trouble appreciating the views, but they cooperated nicely for a photo.

 

We returned to our van where a lady left her door open and it blew hard into the side of my van (that JUST had all the body work done).  We now have a dent with red paint on it to always remind us of our trip to Devil's punchbowl).  Grump grump.

We then returned to the house and made a final trip to the tidal pools to explore.



Andrew loves all the sea creatures to be found.



I have to say, the sea is just awe inspiring.  The plants and creatures it produces are fascinating.  I find Barnacles to be so interesting and completely disgusting all at the same time.  I can't stop looking at them and yet they completely gross me out. Anenomes and Sea stars are my favorite.



We took the kids exploring and found some neat caves and rock formations.









The tide was coming in and we decided we should head back before we would be forced to swim.



Sweet Isaiah...



And love this of Noah.  Not posed at all, this was just his joy....





Andrew can always be counted on to find something slimy (and sometimes decomposing) to haul around.





Noah and Andrew waded out to a rock....



Where they stood talking (and perhaps scheming) until Noah took his shoe off and threw it into the ocean.



Then he stood on the rock motioning with his hands for the shoe to come to him (it didn't cooperate) so I waded in (jeans and all) and retrieved the shoe, and that brought an end to our beach explorations.  (We were pretty much done anyway).



We returned home to start packing and had a lazy afternoon.  This was the upstairs bonus room ~ only a small part of the room, it housed another sofa, a card table and two futons.  It overlooked the ocean and the little girls slept here.  Bugs Bunny happened here as well.



Love this lazy scene. 



The little boys worked really hard under Nana's direction to set up a fire pit.  There were dreams of hot dogs and S'mores on the beach but the wind proved to be uncooperative.  Everyone headed out to see what the kids had accomplished and posed for a picture. 





Dan even used some engineering to move this HEAVY piece of driftwood to make more seating.



Leverage and spinning.


And the ever so humble celebrating of his awesome idea.



The die hards hung in there for a bit, while the rest of us headed back inside and made S'mores in the oven.






And because we were trying to empty the refrigerator, there was ice cream to be had too.



All in the name of not being wasteful.  We all did our part.





I ended the night with some cards with Isaiah, Mom and Mike.  Isaiah likes to play a card game that I grew up playing, called Shanghai.  Such fun that he's old enough to do these things now. 

It was a great last day at the beach.  I went to bed feeling a little sad that our vacation was coming to an end.
 

Day 5 ~ Cannon Beach/Pacific City

We headed South to Newport to go to the Aquarium for the day on Thursday.  Mom bought the kids matching shirts and they were looking pretty cute in their "Team Awesome" shirts.



The aquarium isn't huge, but our kids love it and look forward to visiting.  They love being able to touch the sea stars and the squishy anenomes are always a favorite.







They added a part on to the aquarium that was very much like a children's museum. The kids loved exploring the new exhibits....



And if there is a theater within a 500 mile radius, Kaitlin will sniff it out.  She found one, was dressed up and putting on a performance in no time.



The funny thing was that people saw her and were coming in, sitting down and watching. like she really was putting on a show.  :)

Shortly, an aquarium employee came in and read a story....



And the image of her sitting in that little costume, listening to the story was just so so sweet.



We toured the outdoor exhibits, where Nana indulged the kids with salt water taffy.  This is just a classic shot...Nana's hand with candy in it for her Grand kids.



Nana with sweet Isaiah.



The tunnel is always a favorite as well.  This is about as close to a shark I ever plan on getting.

There was a diver doing some cleaning and they were waving to Kitti.  She thought that was pretty fun.










We wrapped up our time in the aquarium with a photo in the mouth of a great white.  Exhibit A of why I do NOT swim in the ocean.

Taking that many kids through the aquarium was a little like herding cats...I was happy to head to Rogue Brewery for some lunch.



It took a long time for our crew to get seated (and we lost Andrew during the wait...when will we stop losing children?)  But we managed to have a complete brood by the time we were seated.











Kaitlin and Dennis had a staring contest.  The intensity at which she engaged in this was quite entertaining.  Isaiah had a good laugh at the spectical of it all.



Everyone else headed back and I took Mom, Uncle Butch and Marcia to the historic bayfront at Newport.  I love the view of the bridge, but it is not my favorite coastal spot.  It is a fishing bay and it is smelly.  Really smelly.



But the reason we go is for this little gem....



I love the charm of Bruce's Candy Kitchen in Cannon Beach.  It is so cute.  But Aunt Belinda's has the best salt water taffy (SO soft!) and biggest selection of flavors that I've found on the Oregon Coast.



We collected our haul and headed back to the house after a quick stop at one of my favorite Christmas shops for Advent Calendars.

It was another great day at the beach!