Sandy Beaches

Vacation: day 2 started and ended at the beach.  After breakfast we walked down to the beach with a shovel, a blanket, some snacks and water, and books for mom and dad. 

  The kids chased waves and dug holes in the sand while Ryan and I enjoyed our books.

 The weather was unbelievable.  It was so warm and sunny and not at all windy.

 Then we had fun jumping off the sand dunes.  We took some videos, and one of these days I should load them here.

 We went back to our room for lunch, and then drove to Seaside to poke around shops and look around.  Maddie won a stick of candy at a candy shop.

We spent a few minutes at a free mirror fun house.

 The kids rode the carousel.

Instead of ice cream, we had gelato.  It was so yummy!

 Emma and Annie had mint chocolate chip, and Daddy and Maddie had rocky road.  Elizabeth had bubblegum flavored, and I had a sinfully rich and delicious Dutch chocolate.

 Of course we had to check out the Seaside beach too.  It was pretty windy there.

 Before we left Seaside, we went back to Safeway for more tv dinners to take "home."  We did pick up a couple of plastic forks from the deli so everyone could eat at the same time.

 Then we were off to Cannon Beach again.

 Back to the tide pools.

 A worker? volunteer? for the tide pool conservation came out to tell everyone that the tide was going to come in again in about 20 minutes and to be careful because the water can come in fast.  Elizabeth was out of there so fast.  She took it very seriously and did not wish to be caught on the rocks.  It was a little funny.

We kept having people offer to take a picture of our family.  It was really sweet.

Then we got started on the long promised sand castle as a family.  Over the course of the day we found two extra shovels left on the beach, which we put to good use.

I thought our "castle" looked like a tug boat.  Really it was a 4 sided pyramid with two towers and a strangely shaped moat.  (I was not in charge of this.)

 We were all covered in sand.

Before bed, we made all of the kids rinse off in the shower.  I know we brought a whole lot of the beach back with us.  The kids were exhausted and were all asleep by the time I was out of the shower.  But it was such a fun day.