{Catch Up} - Beach Edition

Every year we try to make it to the beach just once.  Yes, we only live an hour and a half away from it, but time is precious, and there are only a few weekends we have free. 

We hit up a new beach this summer with a couple of our favorite families. It was fun to see their traditions and what they did at the beach.

We stopped at DQ (which was totes ghetto... but the girls loved it!).

Built a sand turtle. Waaaaay cooler than a sand castle. :)

Austin and Ava build magnificent turtles!

But one of the things I absolutely loved most about this beach was YOU COULD DRIVE ON IT!!

Beach bums say whaaaaa?

As a mother of 3 children (and Nate wasn't able to make it this beach trip...)

driving onto the beach was a dream come true. I didn't have to haul our towels and extra clothes and sunscreen and my camera and my kids and our food and our chairs and our blankets and anything else that might be looming in our beach bag to the beach! I just drove onto the beach, opened my trunk, and was ready to go in 10 minutes.

This may be my new fave beach.

It was a beautiful day! The water was a little chilly (it is the Oregon coast after all...)

but I simply cannot resist taking a picture of the ocean.

It's like my drug.

I love watching my girls romp around in the sand.

There is something so liberating about watching them roam free... 

not a care in the world. No messes to worry about. No Netflix playing in the background.

Our girls adore the beach...

and watching Halle jump around was a pure delight for me.

I think these 2 pictures say it all!

           

And of course, it was Colbie's first time at the beach. I'm sad Nate missed it, but so thankful for a trusty camera that could capture it!

The girls had fun playing with their "cousin" Greyson. 

I love this pic. It says it all. Ava is telling a story (as always), Greyson is listening (as always) and Halle just has her hair to the wind (as always).

I cannot wait to go back next year! And hopefully it'll be more than once!