Beach Vacation

Luke is always begging to go somewhere or stay the night somewhere else. We have only done a handful of overnight things with Luke and Nate and haven't gone anywhere overnight with Bradley so we decided to do something fun this summer. I booked us a condo that was right on the beach in Westport, WA and it was SO MUCH FUN!! I couldn't believe how much work and packing was involved for a two night getaway with three kids but it was all so worth it. We even decided to stay a third night. Can you believe it? How spontaneous of us! :) We told them about a week before we left and Luke especially was soooo excited. I was surprised he was as patient as he was leading up to it. He talked about it all the time, but he was really good about not whining about wanting to go... right up until we got in the van to drive to the beach. The patience went out the window and he could NOT wait to get there. Nate and Bradley did pretty good with the drive, but Luke was definitely getting on my nerves. I think he just has too much energy for a 3 hour car ride.

Our condo wasn't ready to check into when we got there so we went right to the beach. The boys loved it. Even Bradley was so happy! He loved walking around and digging in the sand with shovels. It was so cute. He was getting so much sand in his face and his mouth, but it didn't really bother him.

Luke tried out the kite the first day, though the boys kind of lost interested in it after that. They were too busy playing in the sand and the ocean.

It didn't take Luke long to start testing out the water. Each boy always kept busy doing something!

At first Nate was afraid to walk on the beach because Chance mentioned that we should have them keep their sandals on so they wouldn't get cut by any seashells. Nate heard that and thought it was going to happen. Way to go Chance! I finally convinced him that it was fine and he wouldn't get cut. Then he even warmed up to the waves!

The weather was beautiful, but the it was low 60's and the wind was cold! We wore sweatshirts most of the time (with the exception of Luke - don't know how he doesn't freeze to death sometimes). Nate started getting cold, so we buried his legs in the sand. He enjoyed playing like that for awhile.

Up towards the dunes the sand was nice and warm and soft so the boys liked warming up over there and rolling around in it.

We finally left the beach and checked in to our condo. It was really nice. It had a jetted tub so the boys enjoyed bubble baths every time we got back from the beach.


I wasn't sure I wanted to splurge for the ocean view, but I'm glad I did. When we weren't at the beach we were in the condo and it was really fun to feel like we never left the ocean. Check out the view from the living room!

The boys slept on the hide-a-bed in the living room. It was really bright in the living room at bedtime, so we had them fall asleep in the bedroom once Bradley was asleep in the crib and then would move them out when Chance and I were ready to go to bed. They did really good sleeping, the first night I slept with Nate because he woke up at night, but overall they did great. Bradley woke up a lot because he had a bit of a cough. But we had low expectations for the sleeping so it really didn't bother us that much. I thought Nate might get a homesick, but he actually did great and seemed to be fine with staying a third night too!

Bradley loved the sand, when it was getting close to nap time he started assuming the position right on the sand!

Nate was so tired from all the playing (and waking up early) that one time after playing in the water he sat on my lap to warm up and fell asleep. I think I held him for a good hour on the beach while he slept!

While I was holding Nate I had to laugh because Bradley just laid on the sand in front of me grinning ear to ear.

Luke even took a few momentary breaks.

Pure joy! When kids are happy, Mom is happy. :)

 It was so fun to spoil the boys. We got some new books for the car ride, special snacks for them, dessert after dinner, and movies for them to watch when we were at the condo. Yes, it was a lot of work, but it really did feel like a vacation to me, because the boys were having so much fun. It doesn't get much better than that!


We stopped for one last picture before we left. It's been a long time since I have been sad to leave some place to return home. I usually can't wait to get back to the routine, but the boys were so happy there. I can't WAIT for our next vacation!