We don't have great travelers, so we try to mentally prepare for the worst and then we can be pleasantly surprised:) This is the start to our family vacation...we are still on our road here. Not 30 minutes out of town, not even down town, but on the road where our house is. Todd gave me the "please kill me now" look and I just started cracking up. I always tell him that we have to hold it together or we're really in for it. Attitude is everything, attitude is everything...our little mantra. And honestly, they wound up doing great! The kids had their moments but even I got bored a few times on that long drive!
Only 10 hours to go;)
Off we go! And who would've guessed that the last time we'd see rain all week was on our way out of town!
Some scenery pictures from the road, proof that I have ADD. I should be like someone I know and sleep the whole time the other one is driving....I think the co-pilot should stay awake for conversation, movie and music changes, snack duty etc. Can you tell I'm bitter about that?
Stuck at construction, again... perfect time to take a picture. It's green, so we must be close! And notice the SUNSHINE?!
We drove by this a lot while lost:) We were about 20 seconds from our beach house.... for about 15 minutes.
We made it! After a quick stop at the beach house for a change of clothes, we started off on our 1st trek to the beach!
Mitch approached his 1st ocean experience with typical trepidation. He kept his distance, with one periscope eye always on the look-out. He was very suspicious of the loud, large, splashy, watery area.
On the other hand, Charlie's typical reaction to new things looks like this.
Death grip on Mommy
"Auntie D says it okay, so it must be."
"Hey, maybe this isn't so bad after all..."
The mini Mamas:)
Home away from home
The girls found a crab!
Love this picture, such sweetness between these 2 girls
Only a girl would notice or care, but how cute is it that the Wells boys, the girls, and my 3 boys were all wearing matching outfits?!
The Mamas...
and the Papas
Dawson and his beloved stick
The twins' little beach birthday party
The weather was awesome, but one evening it got super windy down at the beach. So we made our campfire and s'mores back at the house.
Chubby Bunny
Wells Bros with the ladies;)
The ultimate sandbox!
Ella found this stick and limped like an old lady the whole length of Cannon Beach.
Rocky's little nap at Lumberjack's. Seriously, kids {and Todd} can sleep anywhere.
Charlie absolutely LoVeD the water, he was so precious ~ just giggling and cracking up every time a wave got him wet.
Poor Kel, I think this was the 1st time she went down to the water, and a rogue wave came up and splashed her. No one else standing right next to her got wet, that wave had her name on it;)
NJP and Ella, 2 explorers ready for action
I miss my chunky baby boy, he's getting so long and lean as he grows up:(
*SpArKLeRs**
Our firecracker with her sparkler
our family picture went from this....
to this:)
Rocky protecting his fort
"My faveret part at the oregon coste was when we did a fire, and sleeping on the top bunk bed. Me and Livey got in trubel." This is an exerpt from Ella's little journal that she had at the coast. Cracks me up. The girls were a bit naughty so had to postpone their "sleepover" {sleeping in the same bed} until the next night. They were just too excited to worry about a silly little thing like sleep.
Okay, this needs a little explanation. So the beach house we stayed at was beautiful. It was a gorgeous Craftsman style house, decorated really tastefully without the overly cheesy beach theme. Well, it was tasteful except for one thing. This weird lamp. Us girls started referring to it as the "pap light" right away. It was just totally out of place to begin with, and it looks exactly like a gyno light. So one night when the kids were all tucked in bed, Richie somehow convinced us to watch a ridiculous show called "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" and when we looked over at him, this is what we saw, unfortunately. 
Every time I get a mental image of Richie doing this I start laughing out loud. Between him and Shane's Saturday Night Live skits and re-enactments of Kelli's pregnancy woes, we had a lot of laughs.
Saying goodbye to the beach house
And a final goodbye to the ocean before heading home
A quick detour to get one last treat from the best bakery ever!
{Waves of Grain}
So one of our stops on the way home was my parents' house. When I got Ella out of her seat she was an Oompa-Loompa color. Apparently she got bored and decided she'd rather be orange then boring old skin color. And what the heck is she doing? I'm sure it's sign language for something inappropriate.
We made it home a little after 11pm, I got the kids bathed and made them a bedtime snack while Todd unloaded the car. Poor Charlie couldn't even make it through the quesadilla in his hand before conking out.
That's an Ella-Mitchy snuggle sandwich. So tired....
I'm overly sentimental so I got all melancholy looking at our sandy shoes and cooler drying in the sun the next day. Sigh...so hard to come home from vacation!
3 comments:
I feel your pain....I loved our time at the beach.....I think it is time that we talk about a FAMILY vacation home.....I saw a cute one in Seaside :)
we must, must, must do this together some year! love you!
Those are the best pictures, looks like it was a blast! My fav is of Dawson riding your back at the beach!
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