Adventure #9: The Beach

I hate missing out on any sleep, ever.  I love my sleep.  We wanted a trip to the beach this summer, but didn't want to stay the night.  Until we get Noah used to a regular bed we don't plan to spend any more sleepless hotel nights.  We realized something, when you live in Hillsboro, the beach is only a little over an hour away.  There and back in one day is not only doable, but makes a beach trip incredibly affordable too.

 Packing a lunch, kite, sand toys, and more clothes than a day trip should ever require (but weather at the Oregon Coast is fickle) we set off for the beach.  Now we were pretty sure we had all the makings for a great day.  All the supplies were packed, Owen loves the beach, and Noah lives in his sand box.  Here we are taking him to the world's biggest sand box.

We found a parking spot in Cannon Beach right next to beach access and walk on down.  Two initial obstacles hinder us.  We have a ton of stuff to lug down the beach.  Geoff just wants to give up and set up our spot pretty much as soon as we hit sand.  I insist we trek closer to the water for water play and sand castle glue.  While Geoff and I have our hands full we are making the kids walk.  Owen has no problems, Noah however, quickly decides he is not walking.  At first I wasn't giving in.  It took me a minute to understand what his reaching up to me while trying to stand on one leg meant.  Noah has terrible balance and never tries to stand on one leg.  His little piggies were burning up on the hot sand!  So, we re-shuffle gear, so I can carry 50 pound Noah and fewer toys.

The one photo of our cameraman Geoff, his fingers!

Noah is a happy little clam all set up with his sand toys and a bucket of water to play with.  Owen is my surfer, heading straight for the water regardless of how freezing the Oregon Coast Pacific is.

We play and eat lunch.  Geoff and I remember why we hate eating on the beach as we enjoy our rather sandy sandwiches.  Owen decides he doesn't like seagulls when they fly off with his chips.  We were there on the one non-windy day, so Owen's totally awesome fighter jet kite doesn't really fly.  He had fun running around with it, trying to get it to anyway.

Before we go, I want to try out the water with Noah.  He has never been in the ocean.  He loves swimming pools and bathtubs, but this is totally new.  We go down to the waters edge and the first wave totally startles Noah.  The water is cold and rushing fast.  I think he couldn't quite decide if he liked it or not.  He would reach out to me with each wave.  When Noah decided to pelt the waves with wet sand, I think he was declaring he did not like the ocean.

As we finished up, we hauled wet kids and all the gear back to the car.  We changed each kid into dry clothes and headed home.  We had such a fun day.  And outside of gas money, it didn't cost us a thing.