Beach Trip the Weekend before the 4th of July

In February, Sean’s sister Dawn expressed wanting to get the family together in the summer time.  We ended up settling on the weekend before 4^th of July as 4^th of July fell on a Tuesday this year and Dawn and her husband had the day before the 4^th of July off with their employer.  Sean and I took Monday off and got a four day weekend.  We got the house for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night and then headed out on Tuesday (the 4^th).  We ended up finding a vacation house in Lincoln City that accommodated all of us (which is hard to do as Sean’s sister’s family is a family of 5 and then Sean’s parents were coming too of course).  The house we rented ended up having 3 bedrooms and a fun basement game room and then a good open concept kitchen and living room.  It also had an awesome deck with views of the ocean.  Olivia was a bit sad because it didn’t have a hot tub but it ended being a fun house for us all.

We got to the beach house by the late afternoon on Saturday and Sean’s mom had made a yummy steak dinner.  We ate steak and salad and then the kids were super excited to go see the ocean.  We all loaded up and headed out just in time to see the sunset.  Then the kids came back and we got them ready for bed.  They were so excited to have a cousin sleep over in the basement.  

Going down to the beach

So excited to see the ocean

Beautiful evening

Running at the beach

Shot with Auntie Dawn near the ocean

Sean holding our niece Sofia 

Olivia being held by Auntie Dawn

Cousin sleepover 

Snuggled up against her cousin Biana

Unfortunately only two of them made it through the night

We all woke up and hung out around the house in the morning.  The kids were having a blast playing together.  They loved playing hide-and-seek in the beach house.  Then we headed out to get some grocery items and the fresh seafood (shrimp and claims) that we were going to have for dinner that night.  We got back and then took the kids out to the beach for the afternoon.  We followed a recommendation in the beach house book and went to a beach that we were able to drive down to which was a lot of fun.  The kids had a blast searching for shells and rocks and chasing the waves.  We brought fun water balloons down to by the water.  It was a beautiful day at the beach, nice and sunny and not too windy.  We headed back home after a few hours and enjoyed an awesome seafood dinner that night and then all headed to bed.

Having an early morning tea party with Grammy on the deck

The girls gave two thumbs up for the tea

Sweet Pea sunbathing in the sun 

Chilling on the deck

Enjoying his time at the beach

Running at the beach

Looking for rocks with her cousin

Having so much fun with her cousin Bianca 

Sand is in her hands!

Brandon and Kevin looking for rocks

Such a beautiful day at the beach

Angels on the beach

Running from the waves

Exploring rocks

Love this one of us looking for tide pools

The crew hanging out 

Olivia days away from 4 and Bianca 3.5  

Sunbathing  

Having so much fun in the ocean

Running in the waves 

Helping Auntie Dawn make pizza 

The next day was Monday and we all woke up and hung out again in the morning and made a yummy breakfast.  Then we headed out to the beach.  The kids had a ton of fun playing at the beach again but it was a bit windy so we decided to leave and head to the candy shop (Olivia’s highlight of the trip!) and then to Regatta Park which is on Devil’s Lake.  Regatta Park has a very fun sheltered beach/swimming area and then a really fun wooden playground.  The kids had a blast at the park.  We then headed back home to change quickly and then went out to dinner at Pelican Brewery at Pacific City (which was about 30 minutes North of Lincoln City).  We were all starving by the time we got there and they were super busy so it took a bit to get the food.  The atmosphere there was so pretty as it literally was right on the beach, amongst the sand.  We enjoyed hanging out at the beach for a bit before we headed back to the house.  We spent the last night at the beach house just relaxing.  I got to experience a gorgeous sunset with my little niece Sofia who had turned 1 at the end of April.  

Playing at the beach again 

Running at the beach with Sean 

Haha from our favorite candy shop

Swinging high again at Regatta Park!

Cousins hanging out on the deck with popsicles

Cousins hanging out on the couch

Olivia out in Pacific City after dinner

Haystack Rock 2 as we call it is in the background

Ninja moves!

Beautiful sunset

Sofia hanging with me watching the sunset

Sweet baby girl

So pretty

We had to pack up the house the next day (which is never fun) and clean up. After we packed up and said our goodbyes we went to our favorite restaurant Wild Flower for breakfast.  The kids dressed up in their festive 4^th of July gear and I got some cute pictures.  We then headed back to Portland.  

Out in front of the Wild Flower 

Happy 4th of July!