Over Memorial Day weekend we made our third annual trip down to Florence, Oregon for some family fun. The four hour drive (which is more like 5 with small children) seems like a lot just to go to the beach, but once we are there we always find it is worth it. My parents found the Driftwood Shores about 4 years ago and thought it would be a fun place to take the kids. The hotel is right on the beach, and they have a great kid-friendly indoor swimming pool for a more realistic swimming option. The weather was ok – cloudy and low 60’s, but the ocean feels frigid!
We arrived pretty late Friday night and the boys were pretty wound up so we let them stay up for a bit before trying to put them to bed. It’s vacation after all – they could sleep in, right? Let’s just say they chose not to sleep in. We woke up bright and early on Saturday and started out at the swimming pool. During Caleb’s nap in the afternoon, we took the older boys out to the beach. We weren’t planning on them getting in the water, but I guess it was irresistible.
At one point during their fun, Simon tripped and fell face first in the surf. I thought he’d just get right back up, but a combination of waves came, and he just couldn’t. His giggles quickly turned to terrified screams as the freezing waves kept crashing over him. I ran in a pulled him up on his feet…and even got the whole thing on video…complete with my evil mom giggle at the end. I felt bad laughing at him when he was dripping and scared, but I just found the situation funny for some reason.
He was a good sport, though, and happily played more in the surf after that even though he was dripping wet and sandy.
After cleaning up with their second bath of the day, we drove into Florence where the boys got a treat and a new sweatshirt from my mom since their fleeces were sopping wet and sandy. Caleb got to try his first fudge:
Saturday night we just hung out together until bed time. After the boys were in bed, the grown ups played pinochle.
For those of you who don’t play pinochle, that was a run and 1000 aces…something many people probably never see in their lifetime. Nathan was quite pleased with himself.
On Sunday we just took it easy. We started the day with swimming again, and then went to play on the beach in the afternoon. This time we took Caleb, and we had all of the boys in swim trunks just in case they got wet. They enjoyed digging holes and burying themselves in the sand.
On the way home on Monday, we stopped at the sea lion caves. In my opinion, it was a bit spendy for what it was, but it was worth doing once. The boys were excited to really be underground. They also enjoyed climbing on the sea lion statues.
Thanks, Ama and Baba for another great weekend!