Spring Break 2013 - worth the effort

Now that kiddos are in school, vacations will need to be more centered around their school schedule (which, by the way, we realized last week that our kids have perfect attendance so far this year... knock on wood).

Jared left work early on Thursday and we packed everyone up for a trip to the coast.  We were amazed how much stuff was needed for just 1 night!  On the way, in the coast range, we went through sunny times and rainy times... and "Sunny Raining" times, as Liam called them (quite happily).

 

We took a walk through Seaside and found a carousel, which we all went on.  Babies didn't like it one bit!  Seaside was pretty happening since it was such a nice day and because it was the weekend, so it was fun to walk around and people-watch!

 

After dinner, we went to get some $1 Tillamook ice cream cones.  Jared couldn't decide which flavor of chocolate to get (Chocolate Peanut Butter or Tillamook Mudslide), so he got both :)

We hurried back to the hotel to get into the swimming pool.  It was COLD!  Kate really didn't want to get in.  Liam eventually decided it was pretty fun to get in.  For a while, he would just sit at the side and kick his feet.  Then, he would stand at the side, Jared would say, "one, two three" and Liam would go running off.  Eventually, Kate got in for a bit.  Claire and Jacob practiced their swimming a little bit, but the babies were needing full-time attention, so we didn't get to spend as much time with kiddos as we would've liked to have.

We really like the beach at Seaside.  Even though the beach was pretty busy on Friday, it didn't feel all that crowded because the beach is so big.

Kate and Liam loved to dig in the sand.

We stayed at the beach for about 2 hours.  It is still March, was in the low 60's and partly cloudy.  And our redheads still managed to get a bit pink on their cheeks!  We're going to need lots of sunscreen and hats this summer!  Check out how red their hair is!

Our night at the hotel was not pleasant.  Kate and Liam weren't wanting to fall asleep in their beds, and were too wiggly to fall asleep outside of their beds, and Claire was snoring SO loudly!  At one point, around 11:30, we contemplated packing everyone up and heading home.  It all added up to a very short night of sleep.  Dani also was coming down with strep throat, so she was pretty exhausted the next day when we went to the beach.

Jacob came over to keep Dani company.  Kate also spent time sitting and reading with Dani.

Meanwhile, Jared was busy at work with the sand castle.  He managed to keep it baby-proofed (the moat worked!) long enough to give it a little shape with the stairs.  He was most proud of his bridge over 2 tunnels!

Overall, it was probably worth the effort.  If nothing else, we have a good story and some fun pictures!