Family Weekend at Seaside, Oregon

It all began when Travis and I realized we've never gone to the coast with only our little family. We also realized we'd been so busy lately that we'd left little time for our little family to just be... just be together, just enjoy each other, just experience life as a family. We opted to change that...

Thus, the trip to Seaside, Oregon, came about. God went before us, had a weekend stay at the Worldmark Hotel in Seaside on craigslist (on the beach, heated outdoor pool, full kitchen and two bedrooms!) and planned the most beautiful weekend for our mini vacation!

We left Friday morning and headed to the Tillamook Air Museum (if this is a vacation, we've got to see some sights, right?). This air museum is a huge hangar full of old planes. We knew the boys would love it, but Katiree did too!

I can't remember what type of plane this one was...

This plane was called the "Dolphin". Katiree has been studying dolphins at school and thought it was AWESOME!

An F-14. The boys love fighter jets right now, so this was what they were both thrilled to find.

This picture cracks me up... Tate and Zane looking under the helicopter to see if they can see how it works.

A DC-3... My Grandpa Randall was an airplane mechanic for 40 years. We have a picture of him in front of a DC-3. The picture looks VERY similar to this one.

 We left the air museum and headed for Tillamook Cheese Factory. If you've never been there, I'm sad for you! =) We watched them make cheese and had an ice cream cone! Yum. The kids posed for pictures...

Tate the cow... Katiree the farmer with four arms.  Kezia on the cow's back.  Is Zane the milk can?

It was nap time and we hadn't left Tillamook Cheese Factory. Tate was starting to get really silly! All the kids wanted to "drive" the loaf car. (cheese loaf)

 We went from Tillamook up to Seaside, Oregon, where we had fun on the beach for the next two days. Sand castles, jumping in the water (even Zane tried), playing in the pool, flying our kite and enjoying the sunshine. God really gave us the PERFECT weekend. No wind and lots of sunshine. In the Northwest, this is just not easy to predict or find in April.

Zane's (and Travis') sand castle

Katiree and Tate's sand castle (notice the awesome fence around the moat)

This is what happens when you say you are leaving the area where we built sandcastles. The boys think they better destroy at least one of them!

A beautiful day!

Zane getting his feet wet.

Running from the waves (and then back in)

 

Kezia was there too... she just napped in the Ergo carrier or enjoyed the sites.

Jumping as the waves roll in...

Sunset

The beach

 We praise God for our wonderful time! We enjoyed our family. We were thankful for purposeful time spent together that was uplifting and relaxing. We were thankful for sunshine so we could enjoy the beach and the pool every minute that we were there!