Arch Cape vacation

Will, Grace, Nate, Catie, Chris, Ella, Caroline---all of the cousins!

We just returned from our annual vacation at Arch Cape with my brother Mark, and his family, and my sister Susan, and her family. Throw in a grandma and grandpa, and you've got a full house...but we loved it! How do you share a fun week with 19 photos?

I'll attempt. Take a peek at our week.

On Tuesday evening we went down to the beach to make a bonfire and roast marshmallows. The tide was especially high that evening and after a while the waves were coming within a foot of our fire. It was so exciting to try to run and escape the sneaker waves! Chaos ensued.
The Slaters. This was Will's first time to go to the beach and he LOVED it! He ate so much sand and was as happy as a clam crawling around taking in the sights and sounds. This was our 4th year at the same beach house. We are definitely making some good memories for all to remember.

Everyone loved to play down-set-steal on the beach. We also took the boys bikes so they could ride. But their favorite thing to do was just to dig in the sand and get their feet in the waves with their cousins. We also saw a pod of whales swim by about 500 feet off shore....it was amazing!
Family picture at the beach. We really lucked out with the weather. We had sunshine everyday, while Portland and Seattle had their fair share of rain.

Oh, Will! Everyone just loved this little boy on this trip. He's such a trooper. Quite the sand monster! "No eat sand!" he heard about 243 times.
Will getting tossed. Such a fun picture!
Aunt Susie with the boys. She is always lots of fun and brought so many fun snacks!
A shot taken from the backyard of the beach house looking down to our hang-out spot. This year there was no trail down to the beach due to all of the rocks that washed ashore this past winter.
All the girls. Grace took her friend Allie. The kids did a great job of getting along and just loved being together from sun up to sun down.

Our motley crew---except for Will because he was napping.
On one of our morning walks we found this little bird struggling in the sand and tides that would wash over him. One minute he was just sitting there, and then suddenly there wasn't any movement from him. We had one of life's hardest lessons on the beach that morning.
Golf lessons! Dan bought Nate and Chris their own golf clubs to practice in the sand. Lessons first though, in the yard.
It wouldn't be a beach trip without a little bit of drama. (Susan, I am so glad that you took this picture....I love it!) We really wanted to go to our favorite area where the tide pools are amazing. However, this year the tide schedule was a bit different. We thought we would try to head out there during a time in the afternoon that looked o.k., but things got a bit dicey. The boys were scared and crying. Maybe they get it from their overly safe mother, but a rather large tide came in as Dan and the boys were attempting to cross and it freaked them out---freaked me out a bit, too! I called off the whole mission and we went and tossed rocks in the creek instead. The ocean always wins.
Sisters in green. No, we didn't plan it.

Chris and Nate doing some golf strokes on the beach. Nate was really good!
Ella, Carrie, and Grace doing some boogie boarding.
Remember the old hug picture by the fence that was used for our Christmas card 2 years ago? Here's a re-enactment. Same spot, bigger boys.
Aunt Susie and her awesome girls.
G'ma and G'pa enjoying watching the sunset and hanging out in the backyard. They came over for 2 nights and stayed in Cannon Beach. They got some good quality time in with all of their grand kids. We had a very relaxing vacation and can't wait to do it again next year. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.