Cannon Beach

Cannon Beach is an all-time favorite of John's.  That is where his family went on vacations each year growing up-lots of sentimental value.  When we found out some months ago that my sister Bonnie and her family would be here in August, we knew Cannon Beach would be a great weekend get-away for the entire family.  We got it planned and finally the sunshine and big weekend were here!  We headed down last Friday and came back Sunday.  The weather was wonderful and although it turned out to be a long drive with all the traffic (6 hours), I think everyone thought it was worth it.  We sure did anyway.  It is hard to pick only a few pictures when there were about 150 taken.  I did my best to only pick my favorites, but that still turned out to be a lot.  I also had them all in order and then they got mixed up once I uploaded them.  The new formatting in blogger makes it such a pain to move around pictures (in my opinion), so here is our weekend in random order.

Once we got checked in to "The Sand Trap Inn" we packed up the beach gear and headed to the beach.  Blake and Tate were so excited to be out of the car and in the sunshine, they took off running down the road.  Blake thinks he can run, but it is more of a quick walk.  He kept losing a crock, but that didn't seem to slow him down.

 Blake LOVED the seagulls!  He kept trying to copy the sound they made by yelling loudly.

 We got up early on Saturday to get a good spot on the beach and it was windy and a bit cold.  I'm a bad mom and forgot sweatshirts for my kiddos, luckily Auntie Karrie had a sweatshirt on and was willing to give it up to Blake so he didn't freeze.  We tucked it in the best we could, but it didn't stay on with all his chasing the birds.

 The water was cold.  I couldn't do more then just get my toes wet before I wanted out!  Tate was a little more brave and had a great time chasing grandma and Auntie Bonnie.

 Cousins enjoying the sand!

Karrie and Tate found this starfish on the beach.   That seemed to full fill his sea-creature need, because we never made it out to Haystack Rock where there are tons of starfish all over the rocks.  He got too busy dancing around in his underwear in the water!

Getting ready to head out to the beach Saturday morning. 

Starfish over by Haystack Rock.

Walking to Haystack Rock from where we were on the beach was about 30 minutes.  Probably would have been less if we weren't walking at 19 month old pace.  I knew Blake wouldn't make it and he didn't.  We got down to the Rock minus John and Tate (who got distracted in the water) and then we had to take turns carrying Blake back.  He is an extra 28 pounds I wasn't excited about having to lug on my own.  Good things we never go far without Auntie Karrie.  They were super cute!

The wash-off station before we went inside.  Tate's favorite part. 

Even Tate's buddy "Puddy" made the trip and enjoyed the beach.

The morning we left . . . getting one last walk down the beach in before saying goodbye.

It was fun having my parents come too.  Even though we didn't see much of my dad because he had a good book that kept him occupied.

The water that made Tate strip down.  These pools of water on the beach were warm-perfect for playing in.  Well, I hadn't put Tate's swimming suit on yet and he was adamant about not getting his clothes wet.  I guess John and Karrie had to persuade him that it wasn't appropriate or modest to take off our underwear too. 

Our last morning on the beach the tide was out pretty far and there were all these sea gulls on a sandy area.  Bonnie, Ben and Karrie all crossed the supposed shallow water to get out there.  Well, Blake loved the sea gulls so I wanted to go over.  John wasn't so interested in getting that wet.  It seemed like when they crossed it wasn't as deep???  Once I realized just how wet I was going to get, there was no turning back.  The water was so cold, but Tate braved it and just kept walking!  I felt a bit like the pioneers:)

Blake would have been happy playing in the sand all day long.  He also learned how to walk better on uneven ground.  The sand was really bumpy and he would go a few steps and then fall.  Get up, walk a few steps and fall.  It took a long time to go anywhere.

Running down to feel the water on our first day!

Fun with grandma in the sand.

Can't go to the beach without crazy hair!  (Darn the wind.)

Uncle Ben showing Tate some tough love.  Ben was building something that Tate kept knocking down, so Ben was going to dunk him in the ocean.  I told him if he ruined Tate for the day he was all his!  Ben thought that over and just stuck with the threat of being dunked.  Good call.

Tate "just watching" as the building continued.

Auntie Karrie and Tate trying to build a sandcastle.  They had a hard time getting the sand to compact just right.  They made a couple piles and then Tate knocked them over!

We made it into town for a stop at the candy/ice cream store.  Blake picked out the biggest lolli-pop he could find while we waited for our food.  There were way too many yummy things to stay in that place too long.

Ben, Paije, Bonnie, Me, Blake and John.  I wish we could have stayed longer and enjoyed the great company and weather longer, but we had to get back in time for the grown-ups to go to work Monday morning.