I should be working right now; I really should, but this is way more fun and almost makes me feel like it's spring break all over again, so...
While my children sleep peacefully and the sun pours through the window behind me, I think I'll just reminisce about some fun family memories instead.
We snuck away (or sneaked as Madi would say) to the coast for three days over spring break and we were lucky enough to have the sun shine every time we headed down to the beach. Once again, we benefitted from my parents Worldmark and landed ourselves a sweet deal with an ocean view and a two bedroom condo in Depot Bay that we swore was bigger than our house. Maybe it was just the lack of toys, but either way we were all loving the space. It's always a good thing when you have no expectations for the Oregon coast and then end up with sunshine. That's a win-win in my book.
We spent one morning visiting the old lighthouse outside of Newport and petting **cough, cough** squishing **cough, cough** caterpillars. Our kids are so fun, and so very different. Madelyn wanted to rescue every last fuzzy creature she saw and Emmitt was definitely the enemy. Although he may appear kind and gentle {at times} the evil laugh in the third picture was definitely the result of his little finger going right through the middle of a caterpillar.
It's a good thing the insect world had Madelyn that day...
People tell me it's just "boys", but I'm skeptical. This kid never ceases to disgust me. He'll literally squeezed a worm into two pieces. He's been caught smashing dog poop (and his own fecal matter, for that matter) between his hands and he REGULARLY eats handfuls of dirt. I swear I feed him (and a LOT). So. Gross.
I guess it's a good thing he's so cute...
We spied lots of seal pups swimming pretty close to the shore!
The inside of the lighthouse was closed, but it was fun to walk around it and talk about it with Madi. She was pretty much obsessed with lighthouses the entire trip and since just about every store in Lincoln City uses a lighthouse in their logo, we heard all about them!
My favorite people.
Love this smile!
Revenge...
We did lots of relaxing and swimming in the (indoor) hotel pool. I read a book (say, what?) and the kids took long naps and slept incredibly well each night. We stood by the windows at night and watched the waves crash during the somewhat stormy evenings. It was perfectly low key and we all enjoyed every second of our getaway.
Our kids love the beach. We only go a couple of times a year, but every time we break our feet out of our shoes and squish our toes between the sand we get the same reaction. They both squeal with delight and run like crazy-people... until they each completely crash.
And if you're Emmitt, you add throwing giant handfuls of sand to that and he's pretty much died and gone to heaven.
Eventually Emmitt discovered what he thought was a giant bathtub and started screaming "wa-wa" and running toward the ocean with every muscle in his body. Pure heaven.
Love me some nice smoochy cheeks...
He totally mastered throwing handfuls of sand and jumping at the same time, FYI...
...because that's a skill most people are looking for.
*sigh*
And no beach trip is complete without a nice double-chin selfie, right?!?
Humor me...
And he crashed folks...
We're some pretty blessed peeps; that's for sure!
