One Last Hurrah!

Blake and Julie Stock were so good to let us use their Beach House at Rockaway Beach in Oregon.   It was so nice and so close to the beach!!

After Talmage's Farewell, we had a big family luncheon at the church and then piled in the van for one last road trip all together.  We got to Stock's beach house after dark.  We had dinner, turned on the fire, and snuggled up to Talmage reading a few more chapters of "The Hobbit."

Everyone was eager to hit the beach first thing Monday morning. 

I have never been to the Oregon Coast when the weather was SO NICE.  Sunshine and no wind.  We couldn't even fly a kite.  It was amazing!

Talmage found some sort of egg stash.  As always, discovering nature's treasures.

Pretty soon he was down to his shorts and in the water--in February!!

Bryant also found treasures--a barnicle.

And Sariah was busy with her perfect YOGA poses.

There was a little bit of a drizzle on our walk, but it didn't bother us.

A re-enactment of the cutest picture ever.  Not quite the chubby cheeks like last time.
Monday at lunch I went to sit down by Talmage and all of a sudden he let out a blood-curdling yell.  It scared all of us and we had no idea what was happening.  Turns out the foot of my chair was on his bare foot but we were all terrified and my heart was racing so fast it took a minute to slow back down.

Monday afternoon we headed up to the Seaside Aquarium.  Hyrum is ready to feed the seals.

A little hands on aquarium.

The coolest part was when an octupus moved across the glass right in front of us.

Afterwards, we treated the kids to their first gelato.  Rex says, "Gelato is amazing."  Bryant passed on the communal gelato and instead figured out revolutions, lengths, and circumferences of a ceiling fan system on leather belts. We stayed up late and watched "John Carter" on Monday night after FHE.

Monday morning we slept a little late but the kids wanted to get back to the beach.  They were working hard on this sand creation.

Like Grandpa says, "There's nothing like the ocean."

After the beach we hit the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Pretty incredible set up.

After the cheese factory we went to a rocky beach to find agates.  The little boys really wanted to find agates!

It was pretty fun treasure hunting.  There were all kinds of beautiful rocks.

Bryant found a tiny crab in a stick.

God's handiwork in the sand.

And one final photo of the whole crew.

We almost lost one, but not quite.

Close-up of Hyrum's expression.

LOVE, LOVE this crew!

And... one more YOGA pose.

All of our treasures.

Did I say one more YOGA pose?

Got to get all angles of course.