Oregon Coast

Near the end of our time in Portland, we went to Seaside and Cannon Beach for a day of kiting, building sandle castles, the acquarium, and . . . FREEZING. It was COLD. The kids had a great time while the rest of us froze, reminding ourselves. The grownups survived by telling ourselves over and over again that memories were being made here!
After grabbing some coffee and hot chocolate upon our arrival, we walked down the promenade to the Seaside Acquarium, a wonderful little place Ali and I remember from our youth. On our way to the Acquarium, we had to stop and let the kids check out the ocean.The acquarium has some pretty humorous residents. The sea lions performed tricks and would slap their fins against their bodies to get you to throw food to them; it was incredibly entertaining. Cannon Beach. Max, Bella, Connor and even Brighton really enjoyed flying the kite that Auntie Ali brought along. It provided a distraction from the cold for the adults as well, THANK YOU ALI!

My Maxer flying the kite.

Yes. The kids went swimming in the cold Pacific Ocean on this balmy July day. That studly adult male in the water with them is none other than Uncle Joe.

Connor and Brighton building sandcastles with Cannon Rock in the background.

Brrrrr. Daddies were cold.

Brighton is trying to catch that kite!

When we set out for our return trip to Montana on Friday, Gavin and I had a very interesting conversation with the kids. We had just crossed the Idaho border (to give you some idea as to the length of time we had been in the car that day), when we asked the kids to tell us which of our vacations was their favorite. We expected them to yell, "the cruise" or "Mexico." Instead, they all said that Portland was their favorite! This, despite the fact that we drove to Portland and flew to our other destinations, and despite the fact that we did not spend the week at beautiful beaches in exotic locales.

So, I suppose the lesson here is that our time together as a family is the thing that the kids both appreciate and will remember. They do not seem to care as much about the destination as the opportunity for us to spend some time together without the distractions of work and daily life. We feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to steal some time away in what has been a very busy summer and we feel so blessed to have such beautiful and happy children - life would not be complete without our three little buggies.