Seaside, OR with the Friberg's

We got home from our 2nd Annual (fingers crossed) Seaside, OR trip to the beach with Kevin, Leah, Tuesday and Nova. We stayed Sunday through Thursday which seemed to be fabulous--kind of like a reverse commute, we leave just as the weekenders arrive.

We had beautiful weather and spent a lot of time walking on the beach and playing in the sand.

By daylight:

By sunset: Even Fin got into the fun. She had some trepidations to begin with but those quickly gave way to her love of sand.

The kids have all grown so much from last year and the Friberg's have added little sister Nova to their family. She turned 4 weeks while we were at the beach.

Overall the girls got along well. Here Tuesday and Maya are "waiting for the bus". I'm not sure where they were going...but hey, it kept them out of trouble.

It took a full day for them to get a feel for each other and there was quite a bit of drama involved in that process. Then they were best friends in the 3 year old sort of way.

We had a fair amount of drama with Maya and naps. In fact, on Monday she nearly went home with Danny as a consequence. Yes, we were willing to drive for 3 hours back home and 3 hours back to the coast to make a point. Thankfully after the bags were loaded and she was getting taken out to the car she asked for one last chance and she instantly fell asleep. It was an exhausting experience. I think we may be done with nap, which is fine except we will really have to adjust our evening schedule to accommodate the "Manic Mindy" mode and earlier bedtime. But enough with that drama...more pictures!

Seaside has a great 1.5 mile Promenade along the beach front that we walked on nearly daily. Downtown is a bustling busy mecca of tourism--including a carousel. We took Fin on for the first time.

At first it seemed that she was really enjoying herself. Then, we got several of these looks accompanied by the "help" sign. Maya went on for a 2nd ride and Fin sat on the sidelines. She got really excited--like she wanted to get on again. I think she is a bit of a thrill-seeker like her big sis.
There were glamorous walks to the beach. This one seemed reminiscent of "Summer Rental".

Pink, pink everywhere--if they could have made a pink sandcastle I think they would have! (Yes, Maya is wearing a tutu.)

We checked on the goats multiple times every day. I remember thinking they were cool last year--this year however, Maya really got into them. They "move" various times throughout the day into different little vignettes. We were lucky enough to meet their "owners" and she invited us in to meet the goats and have pictures with them. Maya had a great time coming up with stories about their adventures as well as imagining how they move. She was convinced they move around at night while we are asleep, of course. She was even lucky enough to help "move, arrange and decide the story" on one occasion. Fin did a great job. I forget what an awkward time being 1 is. There was a lot of "no, this" and "no, that" but we worked hard to find things to say yes to as well. We decided to rent a family bike. We had a coupon from the rental agency--buy one hour and get the second one free! $28 + 2 hours = 8 sore legs! We had a great time but the adults were exhausted from all the pedaling! We laughed and sang and tootled around the town. Fin relaxed so much that she fell asleep. She was moby'd on to Danny but she was getting too jostled by all the pedaling so we decided to "tie" her to the seat--which worked marvelously! Here are a few more random yet fun shots. Girls on the beach: Maya "walking the line": Fin stealing Dad's hat: Mom looking on from the sidelines: Maya rocking the fashion scene: There were some tears and some really, really tough times.
But mostly I like to remember it like this.


And finally, a little dance party exit music.