Trip to Vancouver, Day 5

Friday morning we made egg, sausage, cheese, english muffin sandwiches for breakfast. Mom and Dad showed up to visit and eat a little, as well as John and Katie. Then, Mom and Dad drove back home where Mom slept 16 hours straight after such a busy couple of days. We were happy she had the energy to spend that much time with us!As soon as Mom and Dad left, the Kimballs showed up to go on a 5 mile hike within the state park boundaries, that overlooks the ocean. We had originally wanted to go on the hike with them, but after our little beach walk the night before, we didn't feel like we had anything to prove. We let them go without us! We packed up and went down to the beach and waited for them to meet us there later.I spent a good amount of time with the kids just letting the water roll over my feet and up to my knees. It's mesmerizing! The water was cold, but at least it wasn't as cold as the winter time! It felt good. The Oregon beach is a lot more unpredictable and wild than the California beach, so the kids could only go up to their knees at the most. No swimming here.

We made our "home base" up near the rocks, but by the end of the day when the tide was in, the waves were hitting our blanket right next to the umbrella. I had a killer sunburn on my shins and feet, and Zoe had a really bad burn on her back. The rest of the bodies were covered well enough with sunscreen to avoid the burns.

John hiked his pants up as far possible to keep them dry, but thanks to our recent explanation of what "plum smuggling" is, the girls found his look to be pretty funny. What fun is the beach unless you have sand in every crevice?

After the beach, John and Landon made dutch oven chicken and potatoes for dinner for everyone. Sara had brought over a watermelon, carved into a basket, filled with fruit salad to go with dinner (who does that??), and then the kids made some Jiffy Pop for fun. And then somehow we ended up with all the kids while David and Sara went back to their house to prepare for the Sampson invasion. With John and Katie, we drove everyone back to Tillamook to get an ice cream cone, where we met Heidi, Jason, Chloe and Lindsey at the cheese factory. Then we hit the long road to the beach mansion. As soon as we walked into the house, we were blown away by the huge array of treats Sara had just "whipped up" while we were gone. Holy crap...caprese salad, cheese and crackers, homemade guacamole, salsa, cake, brownies, candy, fruit, etc. We ate, played Taboo, ping-pong, cards, watched TV, and did laundry. The LeFevres and younger Kimballs (John and Katie) hit the road back to Cape Lookout at around 11:30. It was super fun. We missed Kristen and Shannon, but with six siblings, you've got to party when you can.