A Brand New Year

 Happy 2019!!!
We started off the new year with a surprise for the kids. We gathered them in the living room and told them we had a surprise for them. Before we could even say what it was they all yelled out their guess, "A baby!" They had such bright eyes and big smiles with their guess, but we told them that, "No", that was not their surprise. It did make my heart smile though that that would be their first guess and how excited they all were with that guess. Rhaevyn even assured me I really wasn't too old.
No, our surprise was a day and night at the coast. They were pretty excited about that!!
We left Tuesday morning for Lincoln City. When we made it out to the coast we actually did have a bit of sunshine for a while. We checked into our room, bundled up, and headed out to the sand and waves.
 

 

 Meg and I had fun picking up these black round rocks and rolling them like a bowling ball along the sand. They come from a beach to the south of Lincoln City near Newport.

 It was low tide when we got there. We had fun searching the tide pools.

 The kids all enjoyed searching and finding sea glass and all sorts of seashells.

 

 

 Elsa made a heart with a smiley face.

 

 

 

 

 After a nice stroll on the beach we were ready to head back to the hotel to get warm and eat.

 After we had dinner Chris took the kids swimming and Rhaevyn talked me into a stroll down along the shore in the dark. I'm not a fan of the dark. Also, while I love watching the waves and listening to the sound of the ocean I have a fear of it. So, this was a big thing for me to do with her. I'm sure I had a death grip on her arm as we let the tide come up and roll over our boots. I even at one point used Rhaevyn's full name when I thought she was getting too close as the water was approaching her.

 

 We weren't down on the shore for too long. Then we came up to watch the littles in the pool.

 The next morning the tide was high.

Myles and Rhaevyn observing the tide before breakfast.

 

After breakfast Chris went for a stroll with Rhaevyn, Elsa, and Myles along the beach.

It was time to check out and make the trek home. We stopped at the Prehistoric shop for Myles. We also hit the Goodwill in town.  There are some pretty good finds since the Outlets are right across the  street from Goodwill. We then drove up to Tillamook where we had lunch and then ice cream at the newly remolded Tillamook Cheese Factory.

 

 The kids wanted to stop at one more beach. It was pretty stormy. The plan was to stop at Haystack Rock, but I somehow missed the exit. So just before it got dark we made it to Seaside. I let Chris and four of the kids out. Luckily there was one parking spot right at the beach, so Meg and I parked and waited in the warm car. I gave them 20 minutes to enjoy the windy beach. 
 

 We made it home by 7pm, and we were pretty wiped out. We had such a great time. There was lots of laughter, smiles, singing together in the car, and wonderful  memories made.

Friday morning Chris took Rhaevyn, Myles, and Aeva to the temple. Time well spent 💗

Friday afternoon and evening was busy. The girls had a few more things they wanted to do before they went back to Utah. There was laundry and packing to do too. The tears started, for me, Friday night. It was so good to have everyone under one roof for two weeks.

Aeva saying goodbye to Molly......

And just like that Christmas break was over and it was time for the girls to fly back to Utah. We decided to park at the airport and walk the girls in as far as we could.

We left once they got through the TSA line and we couldn't see them anymore. Yep, I cried again. I got in the car and texted them to make sure they had found their gate.  Sigh..........

On a side note,  I got my new glasses. I'm not sure I totally love them yet, but I do really love the color.

Here we are...a new month, and a new year, and so many wonderful possibilities and adventures ahead of us!