A Day (or three) at the Beach

Just over a week ago we were fortunate to get to spend a wonderful weekend on the coast with David's parents and our old friends Jeff & Karey (and their posse:). Jeff and Karey are our close friends from way back in our college days where we spent many an evening playing cards, watching movies, talking and laughing until our sides hurt. Only once in the last four years have we been all four together, but it was a day at the zoo where we spent most of our time  trying to wrestle our children rather than visiting. This trip it was really important to us to spend time altogether. Jeff and Karey live several hours from my in-laws house, and since I love the coast (really who doesn't?), we decided to meet closer to the middle and get a beach house in Arch Cape. When we all arrived the weather was terrible, pouring rain, so we were very happy to find ample space in the rental we acquired for cheap (to check it out for yourself click here). Even better than the large running space for our 5 children (total) was the fact that they immediately acted as if they had been playing together for years and there was hardly a conflict between them, aside from some "pecking order" issues from our youngest boys which was much more comical then it was stressful. We woke up Saturday morning to partly cloudy skies that gave way to brilliant sunshine and we were all able to get out and enjoy the beach. It was a wonderful weekend, long active days with the kids, cards games and laughter at night. After we parted company Sunday, David, myself, our boys and his parents finished the weekend out with a lovely afternoon in Seaside. Natalie, Jeff and Karey's oldest, summed it up right when she said it was a "perfect weekend". Here's a picture story of our weekend :)

We watched AFV while the rain poured outside our, thankfully, big beach house...

We played in the sand...

We spent time with the Eastburns...

We fed seagulls...

We saw sea life...

And more sea life

We posed all together for a new family picture...

We hung out with Papa John.. 

We made new good friends

We saw strange sea life...

We took group pictures on the beach...

We tried to take group pictures of the kids...

And one more of us.

We fed seals...

And got soaked!

We held starfish...

And rode carousels before driving home! What a great weekend!