Beach Day (Spring Break edition)

For the final day of Spring Break, we headed out to Lincoln City for a family beach day. We played on 3 different beaches, Maeby went through 4 different outfits, and we had - ion the whole - a spectacular time.

Below, I've posted dozens of pictures. Enjoy.

Outfit 1, at the beach right by the Lincoln City Mo's (no, we didn't get any clam chowder this time - we stuck to peanut butter sandwiches from home)

Ah, the boots.

Mama and Maeby both wore their boots, and this seagull here needed to check them out

THAT'S my daughter! "Bird! Bird" she squeals every time she sees one (that's a female seagull there in the water, a little out of focus), and Papa's heart just bursts.

And here you'll see the wettening of outfit 1. She kept lying down in the water, only to stand up and scream in shock and outrage "mya all wet!" or "mya cold!" ("mya" - pronounced "my-uh" - is her way of speaking in the first person)

Outfit # 2, at the beautiful State Park in Northern Lincoln City. This is my favorite beach in the area.

She's very into rocks right now - picking them up and turning them over and over (and sometimes tasting them.) On this trip, she learned that one can throw the rocks into the ocean, and then have them brought back to oneself by the tide. This was repeated ad nauseum.

Just some folk enjoying the sand on their toes.

Most of our time at this beach was spent taking turns chasing her as she ran the 50 yards from our spot to the water's edge, trying to dissuade her from jumping in, and then carrying or walking her back, only for her to break away again after a minute or two. This went on for hours, but it never stopped being fun.

This picture just about makes my year.

While we were having fun and laughing here, I was also sprinting in a genuine effort to keep her dry, just as she was sprinting in an effort to thwart my plan to keep her dry.

Mama's turn.

Lying in the hole we dug for her.

After finally getting her way and soaking her pants in the surf, she went diaper-commando for the rest of the afternoon (don't worry - it was actually quite warm in the sun.)

Give her a little time and any bucket you can find, and she'll put it on her head.

Outfit 3: at the Tide Pool beach in central Lincoln City (I forget the actual names of these places.) Here, I was doing a longer exposure to try and accentuate the blowing sand-streams, and while this turned out a little blurry, I'm actually quite fond of it aesthetically.

Outfit 4: after sitting down in a tide pool. I LOVE these shots of her relaxing in the (parked) car with her mama.

Sometimes, parents pose their kids in pictures like this to make it look like the wee one put themselves in that position as if they knew what they were doing. This is not such a photo. She totally put herself in the driver's seat, grabbed the wheel, and pretended to drive.

And thus ended our day at the beach. It was, in all sincerity, one of the best days of my life. Hopefully, Maeby will remember it that way too.