Family Trip to the Beach

So this post might be a long one but we had such a fun time on our family trip to the Oregon and we did so many fun things that I feel like I have a lot to write about. Our trip started out in Seattle we had a big retirement bash for my dad. We all got dolled up and celebrated this momentous occasion for him...Way to go Papa H. The next day we headed down to Manzanita, Oregon which is a small town on the Oregon coast. We went there several times growing up but it has been about 10 years since our last trip. I think we all forgot how much fun it really is there. We have several things that we do each time we go, one of which is riding these fun little bikes on the beach.

Notice how Ben started in the little carrier behind Carl but after Carl tried a stunt and knocked them both over we figured it would be better if the more tame drive (me) carted him around :)

Grandma Roma knows exactly what the little kids love so she came prepared with lots of bubbles and her big bubble wands. My dad is the king of the sandcastles. All the kids had their sand toys and my dad comes down to the beach with a big sized shovel and got down to business he worked on the sand castle even long after the kids were done with it.

One of our favorite things to do while down there is crabbing. We had two boats and between the us we caught 6 crabs. We had a crab eating party that night. It takes about as long to deshell those suckers as it does to catch them.

Besides those activites we flew kites, ate lots of good food, visited the tillamolk cheese factory, stayed up too late playing games and just enjoyed being together in such a beautiful place. When we got home last night, pulling into our driveway Ben said I want to go back to grandma's house. I told him we couldn't and then he said, "affa naps go back to grandma's house?" Anyways we had a geat time and it was so great to be together with everyone. Here's just a few more cute random pics.