#CrozierAloneCannonBeachTime

(Trip #hashtag by Isla)

Last month we took our VERY FIRST solo trip as a family of 5. It also happens to be our first solo family trip since 2010. That's five years, folks! I had a hard time believing that could possibly be true but as we recounted our various and even numerous travels, we realized we have not taken a trip, just for us, not to see anyone or meet up with someone or attend someone's event in over 5 years. We were certainly long overdue! Because we "blew the wad" with our recent home remodel, we opted to make this the summer of Reliving our Childhoods and each selected a location in driving distance that we went to as kids (Graham sort of got to double dip with camping at Lake Chelan back in June as well as Cannon Beach). The kids were SO EXCITED and have been asking if it was time to go to Cannon Beach all summer and I think it's safe to say that had an absolute blast. 

 You may have already noticed that I have referred to this time away as a trip and not a vacation. To say it was a totally relaxing, walk in the park would be an understatement. I have long since known that traveling with children, even if for fun, is tons of work. Exhausting work. But it is a totally separate thing to translate this head knowledge into actual application. Both Graham and I struggled a little with our expectations of the trip as it wasn't a lay-on-the-beach-reading-and-sun-bathing sort of undertaking. But the trip WAS an amazing opportunity, if taken, to pour into and build memories with these 3 little humans who sometimes, admittedly suck the living life out of us. It's funny to say this, given all the travel that we've done, but we are new to this whole solo family trip thing so I think it's important for us to recognize that we are still working out the kinks and we still have a ways to go in making travel the best possible adventure for all of us. So read between the lines here as you will. ;) All in all, memories were made, the kids had an absolute BLAST and their parents now have a better understanding of appropriate expectations for future trips. :) 

With that said, let's hit the beach! (which we literally did pretty much the second after arriving). The kids were both thrilled and amazed by the softness of the sand and many hours were passed walking barefoot on the fine stuff. 

Even Jack, who usually hates sand, was willing to take his shoes off.

It took no time at all for the kids to find a hole to jump in and a passerby thought it would make a great family photo opp.

We stayed at The McBee Cottages which were a block and a half from the beach, right near Haystack Rock. They were quaint and cozy and provide us a good home base for our stay. 

After exploring the beach on night one, we returned to our home sweet home where Graham whipped up a delicious pasta with homemade tomato sauce and garden vegetables that we enjoyed outside in the community grassy area. This concluded day 1. Well. If we don't mention the 2 hours of trying to get the kids to all fall asleep in the same room, that is.

Wilson Family Camping Vacation

Back in the day, we used to vacation together in Mexico but times have changed a smidge (read: there are a LOT more of us) and so now our trips have morphed into extended camping adventures, which is practically the same thing. ;) This year was our second annual 5 night camping trip with my family (though I've somehow managed to never make it to the full 5 nights but that's beside the point...) and, after a last minute change of location due to a fires burning our original plan (literally), we settled on Twin Harbors State Park. Oh my word I'd nearly forgotten how much I love the coast! This beach in particular is awesome with soft, fine sand and the tall grass is to die for. I mean, when you closed your eyes and imagined yourself 20 degrees warmer, it was exactly like Mexico, minus the vendors selling jewelry.

 In all seriousness though, I LOVED IT HERE. The park is just a short drive away from the fishing town of Westport, where we ventured on a couple of occasions for fishing and crabbing and ice cream eating.

 Dad caught a crab, but not in the most traditional fashion... 

 It just so happened that our trip fell over my 30th birthday so I requested breakfast out to celebrate and then we dinked around some more in Westport.

 My sister and I called each other and bore these 5 cousins, one each year, over the span of 5 years and 49 days to be exact. We successfully prevented my parents from taking their long-desired late-summer Italy trip for 4 straight years... They finally got smart and requested NO BABIES IN SEPTEMBER OF 2013!! We obliged and Jack was born on October 13th, 2013. :)

 My kids know how to kick it on the beach... 

 Though a lot of these pictures capture our in-town adventures (when I opted to pack my camera), we spent a good chunk of time on the beach (where I chose not to pack my camera).

 Seriously awesome!

  Most unfortunately, I was ill the entire trip. What started as a bad sore throat soon morphed into a full-fledged awful head cold that made for many joyous nights and lots of naps during the days. I felt extra old as I rang in my 30th year with pounding sinus'. Graham says I get another birthday when I'm feeling better... 

 My birthday dinner request was for fresh crab and Michael pulled through and caught enough to feed us all! None of us brought crab cracking tools so the boys used "natural" things like sticks and rocks.

 It may feel as though this post is ending rather abruptly and that's probably because our trip did too. The forecast for our last day and night was for rain and thunder showers and some of us weren't too excited about sitting under tarps all day and re-setting up wet tents when we arrived home. When the thunder started booming during breakfast on day 5, we scrambled to pack up our tents and made it just before the sky started dumping. We may seem like fair-weather fans and maybe we are, but I was sick and exhausted and though it was a real bummer to cut our vacation short, I was ready to get home and rest. And it's a good thing we did too because our eldest up and puked on the drive home. I was SO GLAD to be home with a clean, dry, non-puke-filled tent!!!!

 

The end.

Pre-Easter!

On Saturday, we hosted (read: crammed) my family, minus Ben, in our little townhouse for a Pre-Easter party. Our track record for hosting them when it is raining is 100% which means we basically sat on top of one another for five hours, minus a brief race outside for a traditional Peep Picture. But we had fun nonetheless.

 Graham ordered me to keep the menu simple. But we feasted all the same, with Roast Chicken (thanks Costco!) that we dressed up with Pistachio Salsa, Peppers and Corn and my family contributed rolls and roasted sweet potatoes and wine.

 My pictures of the whole family didn't turn out very well but I'm posting them just the same. We got smart this time and fed the kids first (then put on a movie!!) as fitting 12 around our table ain't gonna happen. This genius plan resulted in quiet kiddos and a quiet meal for the adults.

 And of course I made dessert...look for a recipe post soon!

 Lani provided a nutritious egg hunt for the kids (pretzels, raisins and crackers - love her!) and they had a blast searching our living room.

The kids and their Easter Backpacks. Or something.

Easter 2012

I'm still figuring out what I want Easter to look like for our little family. I wrestled a bit this year, attempting to reconcile the secular (bunnies and eggs and hunts and candy) with the scriptural, Jesus' resurrection, the true reason we celebrate Easter. How we as a culture became so obsessed with all the sugary fluff is beyond me. I mean, why can't everyone do egg hunts and stuff their faces with chocolate on May Day or something? Why Easter? I long to show my girls the real reason we celebrate this day without letting it become watered down by how the world celebrates. Of course, I have no idea how to do this really and so I sort of pressed "pause" on the thought, and decided my girls were still young enough this year to not know the difference. And so now I've bought myself one more year to make a decision. :)

Does anyone else feel this same disparity? Of course, I don't want to be bah humbug about all the fun activities that kids so look forward to although I will admit I threatened to fill the eggs with "only things that bunnies eat" (i.e. lettuce and carrots) this year. But I didn't. I splurged and told my mom we could do raisins and Cheerios and goldfish crackers. :)  Anyway, if you have any brilliant suggestions on how to celebrate, I'm open to hearing them!

All this being said, we had a wonderful day together this year with family, basking in the sun and celebrating together. I'll let the pictures tell the rest!