THE BEACH!

On the 5th day of our family reunion we headed to the Oregon Coast. This was the day before the 4th of July and what is normally an hour drive took us about 2 1/2 hours because of traffic. We also had three extra cousins in the car with us, which made Baby Dragon very happy. We did have to listen to lots of kids' music to keep everyone happy for the longer than anticipated drive. We changed beach locations because of weather. The forecast was terribly off. It was supposed to be in the 80's and sunny at the Pacific City beach that we ended up at and instead it was about 65 and cloudy. We were sheltered from the wind and it was fairly pleasant, but RIDICULOUSLY crowded. The beach and a summer holiday don't really mix. However, we still really enjoyed it! I followed Sweetie around and took an exorbitant amount of pictures. I didn't feel like I was able to get great shots because of my big pregnant belly, but it could have a lot to do with me being a novice...

Sweetie was fearless and loved to walk into the waves.

Baby Dragon was much more cautious. I love this action shot:

Sweetie always sticks out her tongue when she's concentrating.

Baby Dragon is getting long and lanky.

Sweetie wasn't super excited about snuggling to get warm. She just wanted to go, go go!

Baby Dragon spent the majority of the day in this pit that was dug by her cousins.

I love this shot of my nephew digging in the sand:

At one point there was a marathon of children running to catch ocean water to dump into their big pit.

Sweetie wanted to get in on the action. I think it's hilarious that Baby Dragon grabbed the smallest bucket, but Sweetie grabbed one that was so big!

Sweetie had fun climbing out and sliding back into the pit. She got used to me following her around and would often say, "Come on, Mom!"

Handsome Husband built this really cool sand castle.

Sweetie made a tower with her mini oreo cookies.

Baby Dragon started getting cold and hungry, so she snuggled in her towel for a bit. Papa brought pizza and Baby Dragon perked up considerably.

Here's Sweetie in the pit after they made a tunnel leading to a second pit.

Handsome Husband took the camera for a bit to document my presence.

Buried feet!

At the end of the day I had to pee SOOOO badly (I'd been putting off the trek to the bathrooms) that I left Handsome Husband to clean the sand off of three kidlets before they hopped in the car. I came back to find Sweetie tethered to the car to keep her from running away!!! She was pulling as hard as she could and saying to passersby "I stuck!"

All the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home, although Sweetie was the last one to nod off.

Oh! The best beach tip I've ever come across is to use baby powder to get the sand off. I read about it in a magazine and now we never go to the beach without a huge thing of baby powder. It dries you instantly and the sand just knocks right off without feeling like sandpaper!