Trip to Oregon Part 3: The Beach House

We had a wonderful on Saturday June 13th witnessing my nephews baptism. Katie is blessed to have a lot of family close by. Her in-laws are very friendly and easy to talk to and get along with. Parker was great getting baptized, he was fearless. As soon as the prayer was over he threw his head back and went under without even plugging his nose. It was so great to be there to witness this event in his life.
So after a couple days at my sisters house we headed off to a beach house she had rented for the whole family to stay in. We arrived in the evening on the Sunday, June 14th and the view from our room was GORGEOUS!! I so love the beach. My parents were very excited they had a bunch of thing planned for the grandkids to do while at the beach, starting Sunday night. After we settled in, the first of the activities got underway. Grandpa disappeared for a second and when he returned he had turned into a Pirate. He then introduced to us the name of our new Pirate Crew. "Pirates of the UnBeTaFo" This is the first two letter of all our last names put together, not necessarily in order: Unsworth, Bethel, Tatton, and Fox. Oh, we can't forget to mention that Grandma had made all the grandkids matching shorts. Audrey and the only other girl cousin there, Jolie also got a matching shirt. Audrey was very excited to be twins with Jolie you can tell from her picture below.
Our first activity was to decorate the flag. On one side of the flag were pictures of all the grandkids and on the other side everyone got to decorate on a piece of paper with special iron on crayons, then we transferred it onto the flag so everyone got to have their own decorations on the flag. After that we painted and decorated our own personal sailboat and mast. My kids love to paint and they really enjoyed this doing this. Later we put the kids to bed and all the adults got into the hot tub. It was fun talking to my parents and siblings without the kids interrupting us. It was a good way to end the day.
The next morning we headed down to the beach and after a little while of just casually playing, we later realized that Grandpa was setting things up, we started the next activity. Grandma and Grandpa had planned for us a Treasure Hunt. Grandpa started off with the clue, and at each different clue stop there was an activity for the kids to do. The first one was "Pin the Eyepatch on the Pirate", then we moved on the "Walking the Plank," and "Knock Down the Sailboat." I think there might have been one more but I don't remember. Anyway, we did all this before finally finding the"X" that marked where the treasure was buried. And believe me, it was buried, buried good. We actually couldn't find it for a minute and I could see my Dad getting confused and a little worried. But eventually we found it, it was so much fun seeing the kids digging with their hands and finally seeing the tip of red that was the lid and the kids frantically trying to get it out. The treasure was a plastic box, filled with toys and treats. All the grandkids just tore into it. Kind of like when someone finally cracks open a pinata. It was a fantastic way to start the morning. A little later we grabbed the boats we painted the night before and sailed them in a small tide pool. Jack had a really good time with that. Chris went a little overboard, as he always does, and decided he needed to sail his boat in the ocean. So even though, it was freezing water, Chris got in up to his waist and sailed the ocean blue. He had a lot of fun, and brought Jack into the cold, cold water with him as well.
We went back to the house for lunch and naps for the babies. Jack would not stop bugging me to let him into the hot tub. So it was the grandkids turn to get in. They of course had a good time. Then after a good rest we headed back down to the beach again. We planned to roast hot dogs on the beach. It was really cold when we went back the second time, and Audrey was miserable. I put her in sweats and after holding her for awhile she was OK to play in the warm sand right by me. But there was no way she was going near the water. Right near where we were sitting was a big hole, that somebody had dug to create a fire pit. So there were already logs and stuff in there. It was quite handy, so we used it ourselves for the fire for dinner. The kids got a little careless around the fire, so they all got banished. Everyone eventually ate dinner, but we gave the majority of our bread to the seagulls flying right above us. You could throw some bread in the air and they would catch it. It was quite fun, and kept everyone entertained.
We spent the rest of the evening talking and made it back to the beach house. We had to leave the next morning so we started getting everything ready to go, packing and such.
We got on the road the next morning and planned to go all the way home. 14 hrs, without stops. Chris drove for about 4 hours, then got tired and I took us another 7 hours. At about 10:00 PM, I started to get really tired, we swapped and Chris took a turn, but only made it to Tremonton. We were so tired, that we decided to pull off and get a hotel. Alright, so it is a Wednesday, the middle of the week, with no holiday in the previous, or next few days. ALL of the hotels (about 4 of them) were booked. No Rooms Available. We felt absolutely spent! But, I wanted to get home. So I said, let me get some munchies to keep me awake at the gas station, and we will get home. So I drove home from Tremonton arriving at 3:00 AM. Boy, was I tired.
It was a fantastic trip, everyday was a good one. I enjoyed being with my family I enjoyed getting away and travelling. Chris and I decided that because we enjoy the beach so much, we need to make an annual trip to the ocean every year. Just to play and lounge on the beach .
And that was it! Thanks for reading, I have to put in a lot of details, because it is fun to read 10 years from now.


Had to put this picture in. This is Jonas, who was so content playing in the dirt all day. He loved it.
We had this little visitor that kept coming back for more food. Everyone was throwing leftovers out to it. Soon another one showed up and they started fighting over the food. That is when we called it a night, and eventually he went away.
The kids were getting to close to the fire so we had to banish all of them. Just the adults roasted our hot dogs for the night, and here is Chris taking control.
As soon as we pulled out our dinner to roast over the fire, the seagulls came. Of course we encourage them, by actually throwing food up to them. We would throw it up in the air and they would catch it.
Jack just playing.
Look at her sitting there with her legs and arms crossed. She can be so dainty when she chooses.
That is Chris in the water up to his waist, sailing his ship "The Flying British Dragon"
Jack showing off his ship.
Audrey was very cranky a lot of the time, she was just tired. So she spent most of the day curled up with her blanket and bear, yes, in the sand.
The older kids in the hot tub. Jack absolutely insisted on going in.
Discovering the Treasure.
The treasure chest.
Arrrgh Matey! Time to walk the plank!!
The kids climbing up to where the clue led us next. That is Jack behind the blue and white towel. Audrey is up front.
Audrey's turn "Pin the eyepatch on the pirate"
Jack's turn on "Pin the eyepatch on the pirate"
We were all stood in a group on our treasure hunt, I had my back to these guys, but my sisters saw them and pointed them out to me. I already had my camera on, and when I saw what they were pointing at I zoomed right up and took this picture. We thought we were being so silly, and just laughed our guts out.
Jonas is so stinking cute. I think he ate his body weight in sand.
Jolie and Jack diggin' in the sand.
Audrey teams up with Sam a lot. They play real well together. Here they are in a small tide pool near the place we hung out for the day.
Audrey requested this picture. She had to have the bandanna in her hair to look exactly like Jolie. Then as soon as the picture was done, she ripped it out. Twin Cousins!!

Grandpa as he called the crew together to introduce "The Pirates of UnBeTaFo"