Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon

Oh my goodness! I have been waiting and waiting for this day since before we moved! It finally happened so I now I can cross it off my imaginary bucket list - WE WENT TO THE OCEAN! There had been plans of going earlier this year, but Perry decided he wanted our first time going to the ocean to be nicer out so our March plans got kaboshed.

It was presumably supposed to be a hot hot hot day at home reaching about 90* and my weather app said it was supposed to have a high of 76* in Astoria, so we made an impromptu road trip last Saturday and headed west. We all planned for warmer weather and didn't think twice about re-checking the forecast before leaving or evening bringing a jacket. It's no surprise that when we were pulling into town, our hopes of a nice warm day on the beach began to diminish as the car thermostat kept dropping and dropped all the way to the 50s. I was not impressed as I had worn shorts and a tank top. Did I mention it was pretty breezy? Do you know how much I don't like wind of any speed?

When we made a quick stop for the bathroom because someone just couldn't hold it any longer...*cough cough Perry* the kids were in awe of all the sea lions and the big ship in the harbor. It didn't take HD long to start honking with the sea lions... Once we packed back in the car, we drove around Astoria for a little bit, trying to figure out where the best place to go would be to see the ocean. We ended up driving past Warrenton to Fort Stevens State Park. It was perfect!

We practically had the entire beach to ourselves. We figured it would be a little busy with it being Memorial Day weekend, but I guess everyone went camping instead. I wasn't going to complain! It was so so peaceful!

 The first beach we stopped at was like a graveyard for crabs. HD probably loved searching for shells and crab legs more than actually playing in the sand, but hey. Fun is fun!

 I have so many pictures of this little cutie because I just couldn't put my camera down. She's just adorable!

 She was so excited to run down to the waves...

...but every time the waves started coming back to shore, she'd run away screaming. It was annoyingly cute to watch. She refused to get her feet wet.

 The boys had no problem with wet feet wet though! I only wished it could have been just a little warmer so they could have gotten wet playing in the sand.

 They spent a lot of time racing to dig holes before the waves would cover them up.

Before we ventured on to the next spot, we had the boys gather up their collection of shells for a picture. HD was so proud of his treasures! I cannot get enough of that smile from HD. I love the squinty eyes! It gets me every time! That's his "I'm really happy" face!

 At the second beach we stopped at, just a few miles down the road, Ms. Gail was a little more adventurous with the water. There wasn't much in the way of waves so that seemed to help. She had so much fun making sand angels. Montana girl at heart!

 By the end of the afternoon, she was exhausted!

Perry and I spent a lot of time snuggling up with our blankets and towels trying to keep warm. We're babies! I was content just sitting and watching the kids play. HD and JP were fun to watch trying to jump over the little waves that did hit the shore.

The trip home seemed to go along faster than the trip going there. Coming from Montana where we're used to driving two hours to get somewhere, the trip to the coast was a breeze! The kids particularly liked driving over the bridges along the way. We're anxious to head back to the coast really soon!