A Day at the Beach

Some days are purely magical.

Today was one of those days.

When Stacey and I saw the forecast for Tuesday was 99 degrees, we decided to head to the beach for the day, where it was a perfect 82.  We didn’t tell the kids until after breakfast, and they were so excited to go.  We left in the morning for Pacific City, and arrived to blue skies and warm sand just before 11:00.  We even got the perfect parking spot.  The kids jumped out and ran straight to the sand.

Someone had given us some boogie boards when they moved, and those were an instant hit with the kids.  Landon was a champion and pulled Kallie and Davis around on them over and over since Stacey and I were each to busy keeping the three littles safe from the waves.

   

I did try to pull Landon a little too, but I wasn’t quite as fast with Asher on my back.

 

The kids played non-stop, only taking a break to eat some PB&J and apples before running back to the water and sand.  Even Asher was excited to be in the waves.  He would just walk right out into them, laughing when the wave crashed into him, getting mad when he felt my touch on him to keep him from falling right in.  After awhile, I put him in the Ergo just to give myself a break from chasing him.

       

On one side of the beach, there is a huge sand dune and a marine garden area.  The kids begged and begged to climb to the top of the sand dune.  The pictures just don’t quite capture how high it is.  We didn’t think they would make it, but they did!  They took frequent breaks to rest and cool their feet from the hot sand, then would jump right back up and keep going.  Ethan got a little frustrated on the way down because he got behind the others and the sand was too hot, but Landon went back up and walked with him down the rest of the way.

 

Below right:  At the “top.”  Landon went up most of the rest of the way past this rock ledge, but most of the kids stopped there.

 

Landon walking down with Ethan.

 

The Marine Garden area was really fun too.  We climbed over a few rocks and found a little alcove where the kids had fun playing in the waves.

   

It was a great day at the beach.  I couldn’t help but thinking over and over how beautiful this world is.  Even though the beach became quite crowded as the day wore on, you could still just look out at the ocean, see the sun sparkling off the water, the blue skies, and the soft sand and be reminded of how blessed we are.  It was a day to always remember.