Home again Home again...

Since we had a few more days left in the week that Tyler had taken off we used that time to visit some parks where the boys practiced playing golf.

Quincy loved hitting the ball off an actual tee.

Braxton thought that was pretty funny.

Braxton swings the golf club AT the bal like he's trying to kill it, so Dad showed him how to hit the golf ball the proper way.

A hole in one! :)

'How does he do that?'

Such determination from both my boys to master this ridiculous game!

Dad giving a little advice. Quincy, clearly taking notes.

My free spirited baby. :)

Who knows whether one day these boys will still want to play golf with their dad, but for now they really enjoy it! :)

Final Stop: Sand Castle Building.

We couldn't leave the coast without building a sand castle. Even though BOTH our boys fell asleep on the way back to Beverly Beach we woke them up for some more fun.

While Quincy worked hard on BUILDING sand castles, Braxton worked hard on DESTROYING them. It was funny to watch, but frustrating for Quincy...

Of course, as they say "all good things must come to an end" and ours did. We had to strip and wash the boys off before they could get in the car, as they were bathed in sand.

This last picture of Braxton pretty much sums up how we all felt... tired, dirty, and well... just TIRED.

So we packed up and headed home, but not before one last stop (which I don't have pictures from) in Lincoln City where we had lunch at a local place called Jay's Fish and Chips. Tyler enjoyed it and I couldn't wait to just sleep in the car.

We all slept, except for Tyler of course, for the 2 hour car ride home. I would say our camping beach trip was an overall success!

Fourth Stop: OSU Marine Science Center

After our breakfast, even though the boys were a little tired... we couldn't leave without seeing some real sea life. Fortunate for us the OSU Marine Science Center is "free" (donations only).

The boys really liked looking at all the different sea life and they even have touch pools for the kids to feel differnet sea life.

Braxton, loved these... as you can see from the picture above where he's trying to JUMP IN!

He got to touch sea anenomes, sea urchins, and star fish.

They were so colorful!

Although Braxton was practically swimming with the sea life, Quincy refused to put his hands in and was content to observe.

He did enjoy the fish in the tank above, who rather resmebled some celebrity fish named Nemo and Dory. :) After we had soaked in enough sea life... we headed out for our next stop.

The morning after....

The morning after our awful night of "sleep" we 'woke up' at 7:45AM... did we ever really sleep?? I dunno. However, we weren't going to let a little thing like lack of sleep stop us from having fun! No sir.

So we headed on a walk out to the beach. The Beverly Beach State park is on the east side of 101 and you walk under this bridge to get out to the beach. It was so pretty that morning.

Aren't those 3 boys cute?

Quincy was really insistent that he find some sea shells... so he looked hard. Unfortunately at almost 8:00AM all the good ones are usually gone. He did find a few good ones though.

Hunting for more sea shells.

Okay, let me preface the picture below by saying that BEFORE we even left for the beach that Quincy REALLY wanted to find a start fish. We kindly reminded him that he MIGHT not be able to find one, especially a whole one, but he remained optimistic. While we walked along the beach that morning and found sea glass, cool colored rocks, little sea shells, or pieces of cool ones and we resigned that he might not get that star fish he was hoping for. However, after walking about 1/4 mile and just as we were about to turn back Tyler spotted one! A whole starfish. Quincy was so exited. I was not excited that it was still moving (barely). We stuck him in the bucket and headed back.

After washing the shells, getting dressed, and packing up our campsite we headed out to eat breakfast in Newport at a breakfast place called Pig N Pancake. I don't know if it was the lack of sleep,or that I didn't have to make it, or the fact that I had been cold for so long, but THAT breakfast was the best I've had in SUCH a long time.

And I must say, the boys had fun coloring on their menus and the table (Braxton), the waitress was great, the food was delivered promptly, and most importantly tasted delicious!

I got waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, and a side of bacon and eggs.

Tyler, who was feeling adventurous since we were at the coast, got a crab omlette, hashbrowns, and sour dough toast. I acutally had some... and it was quite tasty!

And the fun didn't stop there...

Night time...

After we were full from dinner we came back to our campsite to get cozy in our jammies...

The boys were anxious to help their dad make a fire so we could toast marshmallows.

Braxton was thoroughly involved in helping with the kindling and wood chips.

A few pictures of the woods by our campsite... really pretty area.

Me and my Quincy bear.

Tyler trying to keep Braxton away from the fire.

The boys really did love their camping chair... which even came equipped with two cup holders.

Our cozy warm fire... too bad it couldn't go all night to keep us warm.

The boys got glow sticks at night and LOVED playing with them. We dubbed their glow stick dance party the 'campsite rave'.

For some reason this picture below is Tyler's favorite picture of these two. I suppose it's because it captures their trouble personalities... and fortells what we'd be in for later that night. Hmmmm ....

There's still more...