Rocky Oregon Coast

Over General Conference Weekend the extended Idiart family took a get-away to the Oregon Coast. We rented a beach house together and had a great time! The kids REALLY enjoyed playing in the beach. In their coats. It was warm, but not TOO warm. As you can see, the sand is gritty and grey, but the kids had fun digging and dumping.

When the tide went out in front of our house, we took our clammin'/crabbin' tools and tried to find something to eat.

We found some teeny-tiny crabs and some starfish. We had fun looking, but found no dinner.

Some of us had fun climbing the slippery seaweed strewn rocks while our mothers looked on in horror. No one was injured during the taking of these pictures. Except Sarah's feet and Christine's pride. Actually, her pride wasn't hurt until I published this photo. It was just her feet, initially. Let me explain:

When the tide was out it uncovered some caves that normally were submerged. We had to hike a little ways to get to them. The sand in front of our house didn't hurt our feet, so we were barefoot. When we hiked to the caves, the sand turned into rocks. Jagged, painful rocks that hurt to walk on. The hike back was quite excruciating and Sarah whined more than anyone thought humanly possible. Christine finally crawled home.

This adorable boy is my nephew, Noah. Judging from the size of his coat, you'd think he was playing on the beach in Valdez, Alaska! This beach did actually remind me of home, I have to say. All kinds of mussel shells all over and fine gravel instead of sand. You can't build a decent sand castle with the stuff!

And this darling girl is my neice, Elise. She always has a thin trail of drool hanging from her chin. Can you see that fine string dangling? I love the way she scrunches up her nose. She also keeps her binkey handle snuggly pushing into her nostrils. I don't know why. If I flip it down, she looks at me like I'm a baby hater and flips it back up. I love teasing the poor kid.

How I love this boy. He is so funny and cute.

And quite the poser. Check out his ballet leg impression.

Just one more shot of Benny and his Bum.

Damian took all the little cousins on a hike up a rock. Emma went too, in case her muscles were needed. Marcus, in the blue coat, is the big brother of Elise, the nasal binky girl. Mary is the big sister of Noah, the oversized coat boy.

Cute Katrina, posing for Mom.

We Idiarts really had so much fun sharing a house together. We loved making bonfires on the beach at night, we loved playing games, watching movies, and eating great food together. It was a really fun trip and we can't wait to go again!