Oregon Coast - Day 3

The rain that had been forecasted for the entire week, finally arrived on Thursday. So we drove into Seaside to check out the Aquarium and the shops.
Sam and Mommy in town. Mr was a little grumpy this day.
Sam and Daddy learning about chitons, anemones and nudibranchs.

Speaking of grumpy...

Sam was ecstatic to get to ride on a giraffe.

Walking back to the car after spending the morning shopping and exploring. Sam was falling asleep on my shoulders :)


Well, that concludes our trip. We are so thankful that the Cox family allowed us to join them on their vacation in Oregon, and we hope we can explore the beaches again soon!

The Oregon Coast - Day 2

Tuesday morning we headed over to Hug Point at low tide to check out some caves and to see if we could find any tide pools.

This beach was awesome.

View to the north.

And the view to the south.

It took no time at all to find some tide pools with living creatures. Sam was even brave enough to touch them all.

The boys ran in and out of all of the caves. Some of them were really deep and dark.

Matty and Sam checking out the sea life.

Some really cool (and supposedly rare) sea barnacles.

"Shmool", dancing on the beach.

Eli was more interested in building castles than tide pooling.

The girls walking down to Hug Point.

The rock formations are pretty cool. You can actually climb around these to get to another beach with a great view of Cannon beach.

One of the caves.

Eli and Eric.

Grace laughing at the boys playing in the sand.

Watching big brother gather water.

Me. Checking out the view from the cliffs. FYI-Wear shoes when climbing over mussel covered rocks :)

Yep, those are nuns.

I hope that they were not offended by my half naked boy running up and down the beach.


After all the fun at Hug Point, we drove back into Manzanita, ate some lunch and took some naps. Then we got all cleaned and prettied for family pictures at the beach.

The boys were excited. More about being at the beach than getting pictures taken.

Our family.

I am so grateful for these shots. I am rarely in any pictures :)

Matt took this one while Sam and I played. Gosh, I love it.

Ahhh! The weather and sunset worked out perfectly in our favor. Could the cloud covering be any more beautiful!?

Every minute the colors changed and we even had some sunbeams for a while. It was so pretty.

A family from Spokane brought their horses to the beach and let us meet them.

I asked Sam for a kiss and he said, "No mommy. No kiss. No kiss on the geek." (cheek)

What a ham. Hard to believe he's my kid, right?

The Cox family. We are so thankful for our friends.

What a happy family!

Gracie and Mommy.

Gracie and Daddy.

I love reflections.

Eric and Sarah.

Did I mention it was a beautiful night?!


You can image we slept pretty good after a day packed full of such fun :)

The Oregon Coast - Day 1

We arrived at the beach house late Monday and met the Cox family for a week of fun along the Oregon Coast.

Sam and Eli were so excited to see each other. They quickly ran through the whole house checking it out.Tuesday we packed up our buckets and shovels and headed north into Cannon Beach. After we fueled up on pizza and candy we wakled down to the water.
Twins. They wore matching Mariners sweatshirts all week.
Cannon Beach. Although the clouds look daunting, the weather was perfect.
It took the boys no time at all to start constructing towers to knock down.
Sam was in his element.Seriously. Eric and Grace.
Thank you Sarah for taking this picture. We have a shot from 4 years ago in the same location and its always fun to get updates! I LOVE it.
Miss Grace got tossed...
and the boys asked for turns. This shot cracks me up.
The tide was low but getting higher very quickly. It was fun for the little ones to get their feet wet.


We love this family. :)
Sam did not want to be held for a picture. Stinker. He had better things to do.
Grace and Mommy.
Sam making roads for his car.
Me, making sand creatures...
like an octopus....
that take two year old boys only seconds to destroy.

When eyes started to show signs of exhaustion, we headed back to the cabin for some naps. Sam fell asleep in the car, so by the time we had arrived back in Manzanita, he was ready for some more beach time. So we walked to the shore.

This beach was only a minute walk from the house. It was perfect.

Daddy joined Sam and I even though he was hoping for a nap himself.
We got very sandy. VERY. VERY. SANDY.Feets.

Sam played "run away from the waves" for a good hour and laughed like it was the funniest thing every time. Pure joy.
Little boy.
The weather got better and better throughout the day.
This water is COLD. But Sam didn't seem to notice, probably because his limbs were numb.
Cute boy. 
When Sam finally started to complain about the cold and all the sand we walked to the house and jumped in the bath with Eli. They had a good time.After an amazing dinner outside we celebrated Grace's birthday with some cake. Grace had no problem downing her slice.
When the cake had been eaten and the kids had been put into bed, the adults sat out back around the fire and roasted marshmallows. Yes, a second dessert. Because that's what you do on vacation.