Family Summer Vacation, Part 3: Surf & Sand

Summer came to our neck of the woods (Columbia River Gorge) a bit late this year.  We had just begun to have sunny days and weather worthy of short-sleeved shirts when we headed to the northern California coast where we expected cloudy days and temperatures in the mid 60s.  I was a little bummed by that forecast, but we nonetheless made the best of it and spent a lot of time outdoors and even got in some beach time.  You can tell from the dull gray sky and the long sleeves that it wasn't fantastic weather, but the pictures also tell you that we didn't let that stop us from playing in the surf and the sand.  Hey, we're from the Northwest.  This is a day at the beach for us.

Here, I flirt with the waves just a bit.  Cassie, Dana, and Adah are at the right of the photo.

And here, those waves got me!  I wasn't actually planning to get much more than my toes wet.  Oh well!  The little girls were thrilled with playing in the water, though.

Gunnar took another chance to fly the kite he'd made in Brookings, but then he also played in the waves and sand.

Holly also attempted some kite-flying.  Somehow I don't think she got it airborne.

I, foolishly, thought that the sand was to be the main attraction at the beach.  Ironically, I had the kids' swimming suits in the back of the van the whole time.  In fact, Gunnar was so damp and sandy when we left that I changed him into his swimming trunks and shirt for the ride back to the house.

Holly and Cassie especially enjoyed playing in the sand.  Once I had my encounter with the waves, I took over supervising Holly while Damon stayed with the other kids.  Craig took all these photos from a huge driftwood log behind all the action.

We raided the kitchen & garage at the rental house and actually found quite a few excellent "sand toys" to use at the beach.

 Maggie joined in the sandplay eventually.  You can see that she's sandy from the knees down.  She and Dana were the designated water-haulers, braving the waves to carry back seawater for help in building moats and other key elements of the sand castles.

When everyone was sufficiently chilled from the surf and gritty from the sand, we got in our cars and headed back to the house just as it started to rain.  Perfect timing is rare on a vacation, especially one with 13 people, 6 of whom are young children.  That was a nice touch.

Nice warm showers back at the rental house before dinner made for an excellent afternoon beach outing.  That night we were all tuckered out.