Life's a beach, when you're lucky

After our separate "vacations" earlier in the week, Friday it was time for the big family get-away. The hubby and I packed everyone up and headed off to the Oregon Coast and had a really fantastic time. Even sleep wasn't as hard as it has been on past trips. Not sure how much of that was due to the girls being a little older and how much was due to the fact that we worked hard at wearing them out each day.

This picture is at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It is a really nice little aquarium that specializes in the wildlife found in and around the ocean in the Northwest. I highly recommend it if you are ever in Newport, Oregon. The jellyfish and shark exhibits are particularly memorable.


Here the girls are checking out the touch tank. There were sea stars, urchins, abalone and sea cucumbers, among other cool things. I'd never seen a sea cucumber in a touch tank before. They really do feel as squishy as you would imagine.

This is how the girls spent most of the weekend. I must have at least a dozen pictures of the tops of their heads taken while they dug in the sand. Think we need a sandbox?

The weather was amazing - sunny, warm and NO WIND. Anyone who has ever been to the Oregon Coast knows this is very rare indeed.

Here's another view of A. digging. The sunset was beautiful. We went out for a walk at sunset along the road and it was A.'s idea to walk back on the beach. I am so glad we did as it was my favorite part of the trip. One of those beautiful times I hope to always remember.

See that little dot? That's me, carrying V. and walking into the edge of the waves. What this picture doesn't capture is her little voice giggling and saying "Mommy - look, there's another wave, quick run into it". Sigh. It was so hard to go back to work today!