Northwest Vacation 2 of 5-The Beach

We spent a great week in Oceanside, Oregon at a wonderful beach house right on the beach, as I said in the last post the weather wasn't as good as we would have liked, but at least the house had great views for storm watching and we were in the heart of the olympics, if you have to stay inside at least there is something good to watch. It was a busy week of playing on the beach, surfing, hiking, crabbing and playing ladder golf (flingy ball) as my brother calls it. Now that we are home, Caleb still talks about running from the water. The only planned thing we didn't get to do was take a charter fishing boat out due to a winter like storm with high wind and seas.

Grandpa with "sunshine and sparky" the first night

Caleb sabotaging the flingy ball game on the deck of the beach house

The vibrant sunset between the arch rocks from the deck our first night

Caleb and I walking on the beach our first morning, which was misty and cool

Grandma with Rachel

Auntie "Rin" and Caleb before he adjusted to the new environment

Erin , me, Caleb and Grandpa running from the waves, Doug is off surfing at this point, but I didn't get a photo

Monday evening, at low tide, Caleb showing grandpa the starfish he found, Caleb is now obsessed with starfish

Tuesday morning we did a 5 mile hike out to the tip of Cape Lookout, just before the big storm hit that cancelled our fishing trip

Doug with Rachel's head growing out of his chest

Grandpa and Caleb inside the trunk of a big tree on the trail

A stop along the trail for some snacks and photos

Our family photo at the end of the hike, Rachel is sleeping, Caleb is really dirty...pretty typical

Caleb with Grandma and Grandpa looking West back toward the beach

Doug and Joel (black spots) surfing out the storm on Wednesday. Happy 29th birthday Doug, perfect surfing conditions... Ha Ha Ha

Late afternoon Wednesday the storm broke and everyone in town ran out to the beach, Doug and Grandpa couldn't build castles fast enough for the "terror on two takedown"

A great action shot of Caleb running through the water

Video of Caleb running from the waves

A funny face contest with Great-Aunt Jeanna at the crabbing trip Thursday

Joel's girlfriend Christine showing Caleb a shore crab which he promptly started to ribbit at, thinking it was a frog...anyone could make that mistake

Now checking out the real crab that you eat, Great-Uncle Mike keeping those pinchers shut tight, we had a great crabbing day with about 30 people and over 100 crab caught and eaten.

Crabbing isn't quite Rachel's thing yet, but cuddling with Grandpa and chewing on her fist is

Our last full day at the beach, and of course the nicest day. A view of the house we stayed in from the beach...The Anenome House

Doug, Caleb, Erin, Joel, Grandma and Grandpa soaking up the sun and playing in the sand

Doug posing with his NASCAR track

Caleb and Auntie Rin running from the waves

Grandpa holding Rachel for her first feet in the sand and water, she was fascinated by the sunlight glimmering on the water ripples

A perfect sunset to end a perfect last day at the beach