February beach day!

It's always annoying when you are writing a blog post and then in disappears, but here I am, at it again.

SO, Last week Marissa brought up the wild idea of going to the beach the following Monday. All the weather reports said it was going to be about 66 degrees and sunny skies. Richard was going to take a day off work and we were hoping our families could go together. I told Marissa that I would see if Max could go but that I would probably just go anyway if he couldn't. The boys have been asking to go to the beach pretty regularly, And I've been craving a beach trip since summer ended. It turned out that even though Max has a more flexible schedule these days, he still had an important meeting to go to that he couldn't miss. He sent us off with his blessing and we only felt a little bad that we were going to spend a day playing at the beach while he worked. (Good thing he is loving what he is doing) I have never attempted an outing like this on my own with the boys but I was feeling brave and anxious for the sea, so we went for it. The drive went pretty smoothly, we had to listen to Where the Wild Things Are about 20 times, so the boys can quote most of the book now. Miles got a little restless the last twenty minutes and Charlie had endless comments about the beach being really far away. 

When we arrived, I climbed out of the car and felt heat that I hadn't felt in months. I couldn't believe it. I've been to the Oregon Coast may times, usually in the Spring and Summer and the majority of those visits have been overcast and cold. But here we were IN FEBRUARY, It is still blowing my mind!

Richard and Marissa and their family met me at our car. They took Miles while I took Charlie to the bathroom. We then met them on the warm beach.

Of course they wanted to play in the sand immediately. But eventually I got them to eat their little picnic lunch!

 

Richard and Marissa and family set off to hike up the dunes and out onto the cape. We stayed back eating lunch and soaking in the sun. It didn't take long before we shed the coats and long pants. 

It makes me so happy that my boys have this is their playground, and they love it. It's great that their favorite toys just happen to be sand, sticks, and water.

 

I alternated a lot between my camera and my phone for photos since Miles kept throwing sand and I was paranoid that he would ruin my camera and lens, which would be devastating weeks before I leave for Armenia.  

After burying the boys legs in the sand, Charlie made a video to send to Max saying that a Shark bit off his legs. We thought we were so funny!

I feel like my kids are at a magical age right now. I don't have a baby that needs to cling to me. Charlie is getting old enough to be a better listener and Miles still is so innocent before we hit the dreaded terrible twos. I feel like I need to make the most of this time.

And then there was the cute thing Miles did, you know, filling our lunch bag with sand.

 

 

When Richard and Marissa got back we took the kids to feel the ocean, Charlie only briefly touched it then ran back to fly a kite with Richard and Lacey. William loved it. Miles had an awkward whine followed by laughter whenever the little waves hit him. He got happier with each wave. 

 

Then there was this great sand wall which led to hours of fun. Charlie liked to climb down it then use his stick to climb back up. When Lacey went down the wall, Charlie would hold out his stick to help her back up the wall. What a gentleman! Miles liked to go down like a slide. He could have done this forever. Too bad I got tired of lifting him back up on the wall. 

 

 

Another perk about going on a warm February day (which I really don't expect to happen much in my lifetime)  is that you can stay for the sunset and still not be up too late with the kids. We didn't stay until it was completely set but it was nice watching it sink in the sky.

At one point they were all sitting on this log, pretending it was a train. It was precious but I wasn't quick enough to get a photograph.

And it was beautiful!

We decided to leave  shortly after five and go to a restaurant to fill our bellies before the drive home. We went to a great little and inexpensive Mexican restaurant, chowed down some good food then got in the car to head home. The boys both fell asleep but about halfway through the drive they woke up and were crying for most of the remaining part of the trip. We got home shortly after eight so the boys got showers and still got to bed at a somewhat decent time. It was a wonderful day that could have only been made better if Max was able to come. I'm so glad that we still ended up going.