Bartle Family Beach Weekend

My brother (Uncle Greg) and his wife (Auntie Shaina) came to visit over the long weekend. We were eagerly anticipating their arrival since we hadn’t seen them since their wedding almost two years ago.  I was worried the weekend would go too fast, and it certainly did. It was a whirlwind of fun and good family times. In order to squeeze in as much family time as possible, my parents decided to treat us all to a weekend at the beach. If we were all together in the same house, we wouldn’t need to leave at the kids’ bed time. While it made for some pretty tired adults, their genius plan worked and the eight adults got to laugh into the wee hours of the night playing games and more while the kiddos slumbered below.

Getting to the beach was tricky. While we have 100% consumer satisfaction with our van, it is not really a snow vehicle. We had to chain up on the Hwy 6 pass.

We were annoyed at the need for chains, but at least the view was beautiful.

We made it to Rockaway Beach and the boys instantly got in on the family fun. Neither of them had ever played pool or foosball.

Friday night we just hung out around the house. Saturday morning we drove in to Cannon Beach because Uncle Greg wanted Auntie Shaina to see Haystack Rock. We brought some sand toys, kites, and the winter coats. It would be a cold time to play on the beach! Despite the cold, it was a beautiful day and much fun was had. We played with the stomp rocket that Uncle Greg and Auntie Shaina got Simon for Christmas. That was a huge hit!

The cousins played in the sand.

Even though there was not suitable wind for kite flying, Simon really wanted to make it work. Auntie Shaina helped him get it in the air.

Caleb took to the sand like a pro just like he did last summer.

Elias tried to scale this large sand wall just like his Uncles were doing. He eventually made it up and was very proud of himself.

We managed to get a selfie of all twelve of us with Haystack Rock in the background. Good thing Uncle Greg has long arms!

After the beach we headed back to the house where Auntie Kristy and Baba cooked us a delicious turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, stuffing, and all the fixin’s.

In the evening we went to the beach just outside the house and had more stomp rocket fun. I caught this picture of the sun near dusk.

Sunday morning we headed out to the beach one more time. It was absolutely freezing, but again, just so beautiful. It was nice for the boys to get so much cousin time!

Caleb and James really hit it off. They played together a lot. Now that Caleb is walking a whole new world of play has opened up to him. He and James were mirroring each other’s movements and Auntie Kristy reported that the two even played hide and seek together.

On the way back to Portland we stopped (of course) at Tillamook for some ice cream and fudge. Can you believe in all our visits we’ve never actually sat in the bus? This was a first.

We were sad to see our weekend end so quickly, but are so thankful for the time we had together.