Summer vacation part 1

“The beach is in our blood. Everyone in our family returns to the beach instinctively, just like the sea turtles.”
--Sandy Archibald

We went on two vacations this summer. We decided this would be a good year to do "cheaper" vacations and choose places we could drive to. Both vacations involved a big group of family wherever we go... that's the way to do it!

For our first vacation this summer, we went to the Oregon coast for a family reunion. It was a lot of fun!!

You will see from the pictures that it was very foggy. It was pretty cold too... at the end of July!! On our drive home, though, it was record heat in Portland, OR. You will see our thermometer says 119 degrees outside. I've never experienced heat like that. It was hard to breathe. I wanted to turn the car around and go back to the ocean!

Cameron wanted to try crabbing this year. He has this little fantasy of catching tons of crabs and "taking them back to the cabin, boiling them, throw them in the middle of the table with some butter and chow down". Yep. I've heard that one a few times, I can even quote it. (we've been married too long, I guess. The stories are recycling themselves) Anyway, we had horrible luck. Why? The world may never know. Maybe next year.

We took the kids to the Sea Lion Caves. That place is awesome! The kids really enjoyed themselves. I could have watched those sea lions for hours. The last time I was there, I was newly pregnant and the smell made me really sick! This experience was much better!

The kids favorite activity at the coast was playing on the beach. It was hard for me to watch them get covered in sand, but even with fog and cold, they could have played out there all day. They had a blast.

It was great to visit with lots of relatives I don't see very often. I have a lot of great childhood memories on that same beach we stayed at. Not much changed over the years. I hope to create some great memories for my children, too.