A much needed vacation

The Oregon Coast was beautiful and just what our family needed to relax and get back into sync. Our friends invited us along because they had extra room at the place they were renting and we couldn't pass it up. 

The drive there and back was very long- but our kiddos handled it surprisingly well. I was proud of them. :)

 We took it easy once we were there. Mostly lounging around. Played at the beach a lot!! Penny and Scotty loved it there. They got filthy from head to toe every time with went. Scotty didn't really like the ocean all that much and would stay clear of it. However Penny got over her fears fast. She loved to run right up to the edge, throw rocks or sand in and then turn around and run and it followed her back. She did this over and over. A couple of times she timed it wrong and was caught, didn't like that too much but kept going.

 We did drive up to Newport and spend the morning walking along the shops by the bay. It was a great morning and we finished it off having lunch a the famous "Mo's". It was delish!!!

There were a lot of little outlets of water on the beach leading into the ocean and the kids spent most of their time playing in that water and in the sand. 

James of course had to try out the shell-fishing experience. He went crabbing and clamming. We didn't join him on the crabbing because I didn't want the little ones playing on the docs. But he had fun with our friends. They actually caught a lot of crab but none of them were big enough to keep. However with the clamming he limited out both days he went. So that was a success!!! Cooking them was a different story but it was a learning process. lets just say it is hard to get all the sand our of those before you steam them :) We know better for next time I guess.

It was a great vacation and I am so glad we were able to go and spend that time as a family. It is just what we needed this Summer!!!