Seabrook

We just got back from our vacation at Seabrook.  Since I'm very pregnant I decided it would be best if we stayed a little closer to home and had a slightly less adventurous vacation.  I've had to explain to Linus multiple times that we don't get to go to Hawaii or San Diego every year.  Luckily, the kids had such a good time they are already asking to go back to Seabrook next year.

It was an unexpectedly long trip to Seabrook.  The 3 hour drive took us about 7.5 hours.  This included decided to skip the horrible traffic along the I-5 corridor all the way to Olympia by taking the Bremerton ferry.  This added time but reduced the sitting in traffic aspect of the trip.  We stopped for ice cream in Belfair and then stopped again in Shelton for Linus to puke along the side of the road.   There was dinner and grocery shopping in Aberdeen.  It was such a relief to get to our beach house.

The weather for the first half of our vacation was about 15-20 degrees cooler than Seattle.  Great for the pregnant lady, not so great for a sunny beach vacation.  We took a walk along the trail to the beach to visit the Gnome Village.

Evil gnome

Can you see the ocean?  Isn't it beautiful and majestic?  Our attempt at kite flying was a failure.

Our favorite activities were swimming at the indoor pool, playing at the beach, and riding bikes.  We bought Eileen a little floaty and she was in heaven.  I had no idea how good a swimmer Linus is as long as he has a snorkel.  He could swim the length of the pool!  The pool is pretty sweet.  Indoors, relatively warm, and towels provided.

Our neighborhood is not ideal for riding bikes.  It was wonderful having so much space for the kids to safely ride.  Linus refused to try the bike with training wheels, but Eileen was more than happy to give it a whirl.

Eventually, the sun did come out and we could see the ocean.  Linus loved having free reign to dig holes.  The ocean misted over the sand.

Dave managed to eventually get a kite in the air for a moment.

Peaceful sand castle or the gates of Mordor?

After our first day at the beach, I found that my body couldn't handle the walk plus all the stairs.  Dave was kind enough to take the kids each afternoon while I laid on the couch and read books.

We spent one morning in Ocean Shores.  As a kid, I always pictured Oceans Shores to be this magical place.  In reality, it looks more like a slightly depressed beach town.  We had a great time though at the Pacific Paradise Family Fun Center. 

Linus channeled Happy Gilmore and took more of a hockey approach to golf.

Eileen "won" every hole by dropping the ball in.  Dave got lots of holes in one by banking the ball off Linus' shoe and letting him kick the ball in the hole.

Eileen loved mini golf.

We spent lots of quality time in the beach house.

playing games

hiding in secret forts

Beading.  Eileen became a pretty good little beader at family camp.

 The kids didn't take a bath until our last night--they had the ocean and swimming to get them clean.

beauty after bath

It was really great to get away for a little bit.  The house came with the most amazing couch.  Dave and I fell in love with it.  I don't know if we could make it work in our living room, but oh my God that couch was wonderful--could easily fit all four of us, two people could lie down, deep cushions, super comfy.  The drive home was significantly faster.  Linus puked again.  We were ready and he had a bucket.  We are now working under the theory that his body can no longer handle the combination of dairy and riding in cars.  He had several other puking incidents the other weekend with Dave, driving to and from their camping trip.  Now that vacation is over, it's time to look ahead to getting the kids ready for the school year to start and really getting ready for the baby to come.