Beautiful Day at the Beach

It was supposed to be about 80 degrees in Portland on Monday-- so we decided to head to the coast. Grandma, Aunt Sara, Uncle Andrew, Joshua, Elisabeth, Summer, Dylan, Jarom, Ezra, and Merilee all went to the beach. We pulled Summer and Dylan out of school for the day since we had company just for the day. Good thing that they are good kids and good students that they could afford to miss a day!! The beach was beautiful, but a bit cool. We had fun.

Lance, Grandpa, and Uncle James spent the day on the river in the boat. They did not catch fish, but they did fish a few not-so-bright people who were headed down the river on inner tubes that got stranded in a tree in the middle of the river.

Here is Ezra enjoying the sand.

Dyland digging a hole.

Ezra and Jarom playing in the little river that runs to the river.

We brought a little tent to keep kids out of the wind. Summer decided to sit in it while she was warming up and blow some bubbles.

Jarom enjoys playing in the sand and water.

Dylan digging!!

Summer and Ezra play in the little river. At one point Summer and Dyaln went running to the ocean water. Ezra ran as fast as he could after them yelling "guys! guys!" He just kept running and running until a seagull crossed his path flying low in the opposite direction. Ezra turned and started following the bird until it was too far and fast for him, did a little double-take, and took off after Summer and Dyaln again. So cute.

Crooked glasses and sand on the tip of the nose!

Elisabeth doing what babies do best at the beach-- eat sand. She only scoots on her bottom. At one point she got stuck in a hole and just kept rocking and rocking. She is such a content and quiet baby girl. Another time, she found the same hole and this time and enough momentum to scoot through the hole, only to land face down in the sand. Mom and I waited to see what she would do. She just sat there for a minute licking the sand. Not a peep out of her. I picked her up and she had sand all over her face. I think I would have cried. She just smirked and was happy. Sweet baby.

She did learn by the end not to eat the sand and would just play with it with her hands.

Mom and Ezra sporting the cool shades!!

What trip to the beach would be complete without a proper burrial?


So, Grandma thought it would be really funny to put crackers on Dylan's burried body to see how fast the seagulls would swarm. I thought that was a brilliant idea!!!! So I put a handful of crackers on Dyaln's sand body. Within seconds, the seagulls were there. This picture is great. You can see one seagull coming in for a landing, and the shadows of a lot more-- and one trotting across the sand to get in on the action. One landed on the sand and Dyaln could feel it on his toe through the sand. . . .

He got out of there fast!!

A few of the flock!

A great day at the beach!!