Beach DAY!

A couple weeks ago, My sister in law told us they were doing an impromptu trip to the beach and we should meet them there. There was a cheap groupon for a hotel in Tillamook. We looked into it but realized we wouldn't be able to get there until late Sunday night, just in time to sleep, and we would just barely miss James and Elizabeth and family. But the idea was already in my head so we decided on a beach day trip on Monday, and save the money for our upcoming anniversary. So we had a beach day without cousins but we are looking forward to a future beach trip with cousin

We decided to take a slow journey to the beach. We stopped at Old Navy to get some flip flops for Max and Charlie. Charlie and I also ran over to winco for lunch, snacks, and doughnuts.

We then made our way toward the coast. We decided to go to Tillamook first to explore the cheese factory.
Charlie has been talking about the Cheese Factory a lot. He likes to say "Charlie and the CHEESE factory!" Charlie loves factories! One of his favorite things is to watch "how it's made" clips on you tube and he is completely enthralled. He is my little inventor and creator, he is always coming up with new inventions, some of which are very useful.

We took all the usual photos, then checked out the factory.

And here are some cow photos. The cow is new since last time we went.. so we enjoyed that.

So Max is the son of a dairy farmer (who was also born and raised in (near) Tillamook) so I think that qualified him to teach all about milking cows!

How one becomes a vegan! haha!!

Ok, so that was a lot of cow pictures and you are welcome!

And then, my favorite part, the cheese tasting line. We slowed down the line a bit with all the samples.
And we couldn't get out of there without some ice cream.We shared a heaping bowl!

We then made our way to the beach, Charlie requested Pacific city because he had so much fun climbing up and down the sand wall last time when we went. We made it happen! My camera was put away for a lot of it but I still managed to take a million pictures when I had my camera out.  It was such a warm day and even the freezing ocean felt refreshing. We spent a lot of time running with the waves.

We would cheer the waves on and call to them and I thought it was great.

Miles had mixed feelings at first but ultimately he loved it.

Lots and lots of running with the waves!

 

We collected a whole lot of sand dollars!

Look, proof that I'm here too!

Miles laid down in the sand and asked for a blanket, so he got a sand one and loved it until Charlie tried to bury his face.

Daddy taking care of Miles' sandy face

And we did a whole lot of climbing and running down the sand hills.

More potty training, that seems to be a theme in my pictures these days. Miles did great with his potty training, even at the beach...but I guess I wouldn't really know if he peed his pants so whatevs'

We decided to go in the ocean one last time before the sun had set.
And boy do my boys love their daddy!

 

We stayed until the sun was gone. 

We then decided to go find a place to eat dinner, but soon realized that everything closes early in beach towns. We drove for awhile and found a 24 hr Denny's in Tillamook. We had to wake up Charlie when we got there but it ended up being a fun memory to have a 10pm family dinner at Denny's The boys were unbelievably well behaved and Charlie ate all his food plus some of mine and Miles'  We got everyone cozy and in their pajamas then enjoyed our long drive home.

He was being a little goofy, but mostly his charming self.

What A great little family I have!!