Saturday, July 10, 2010

Our Local Vacation

Pete took a week off from work and we decided to get away. His "weekend" is Monday and Tuesday's so his vacation started, on Wednesday 6-16-09; which was going to be the day we left and started our "Adventure" as Cooper calls it. We had a plan to go to a place called NW Trek, which is an animal park featuring NW animals, IE Moose, Elk, Bears, etc. The park is about 2 hours away so we were going to go half way on Wednesday and stay in a hotel with a pool (for our little fish). We were then going to get up early on Thursday morning and head off to the park. Thursday, after the park, we would head back to the hotel for more swimming and sleep. Friday the agenda included a trip to an "old steam engine" to take a ride then head home. Saturday we would rest and Sunday, after church, head to my sister's house to celebrate Fathers Day. Monday, we were going to go to the Oregon Coast and stay the night in a hotel; which also had a pool. Monday we would play at the beach and swim in the pool. Finally, would head back home on Tuesday, then back to work for Dad on Wednesday.

To our surprise and delight we were called on Saturday 6-12-10 and told that our "family friends" beach house, in Long Beach, Washington,  was available on Monday, 6-14-10 though that Thursday. If we wanted it we could have it for those days for FREE! Of course we jumped on the offer and are so thankful for such generous friends! We invited our Niece Payton to join us on our Adventure. So we quickly got ready and headed to the beach late Monday morning. Everyone was so excited. It took about three hours to get there. The kids were restless and could hardly wait. I think we heard "are we there yet?" a few times. Thank goodness for DVD players! We arrived at the beach house and it was AMAZING. The property has beach access and is one of the only ones that have horse facilities. If we had horses we could of rode them on the beach. Now technically the house is  "on the beach", so there is nothing between the house and the beach, except for quite a walk, but it is worth every step!

While we were unpacking the car Cooper and Payton were already playing, in the sand, out back of the house. The weather was not the best, but it was the BEACH which is all that matters! After we unpacked and got settled in we headed out for the "hike" to the water. Since Pete and Payton had been there before they were our tour guides. I carried Delaney in a "baby carrier" and Pete carried the toys. I was surprised how far it really was to the water and was convinced that we took the wrong path. I did comment more than once "boy this is far!" Carrying an extra 18 lbs and walking in sand didn't help. Anyway, we  finally arrived at the beach, by this time Cooper and Payton were running to the water. It really was beautiful, calming and just what we needed. It was a bit chilly and I was worried Laney wasn't dressed warm enough so I snuggled her in my sweat shirt. She didn't even make a peep. What a good baby! Cooper & Payton played in the "freezing cold" water. It didn't even phase them! We had a great night. Dad hit the hay at about 7pm as he hadn't slept yet from working Sunday night, but the kids and I stayed up till 11pm. They were too excited to sleep. We had so many fun adventures. I will chronicle them by days in posts to come.... stay tuned, cuz we drove on the beach, saw a bear on the side of the road and we even went to the Animal Park! 

View of the back of the house. I never did take a picture of the front or the horse facilities.

We just finished packing and this is were we found the kids.

The water is on the other side of the horizon.
This is the view from the bluff looking back at the house. Pete zoomed in the picture.
This is the house with-out the zoom-in.

This is the view from the bluff to the water.
Say "cheese"! Payton is almost to the water.
I thought this was a cool peice of wood.