Easter weekend

On Saturday we had a West Family Easter Egg hunt. The kids had so much fun, us moms mostly stood back and photographed!
Kids love the hunt, searching for eggs, the excitement is palpable. I LOVE that excitement, it probably is part of why I love holidays the way I do.

Sunday we all went to church and had a yummy meal. Easter yummy. With jello eggs (a tradition), ham and mashed potatoes, ceaser salad, rolls, fruit salad and yummy juice!

The Easter bunny brought our family a letter including the story of Jesus that we all read in the morning, the toys had to wait until evening.
I am SO grateful for my Savior and for the many blessings that we have been given as a family.

-Nice Easter photos  by Rebecca Barthlome

Saturday , the last day- Day 3

Saturday , the last day- Day 3

Saturday morning we had a breakfast almost identical to the day before but with some eggs and grapes. About half the group left on sat morning around or after breakfast. Grandma and grandpa stayed but went up to Astoria so we didn’t see them for most of the day. The weather was warm and sunny so it worked out nicely for us. After breakfast and some visiting we drove a few miles up the beach to a place that everyone knew had tide pools and plenty of crabs. We hung out there with everyone for a good long while before heading back to camp for lunch. It was so nice to sit around and talk to my aunt and uncles and cousins -The kids had the time of their lives with so many cousins to play with and look after them they played in sand and dirt from sunup to well after dark. It was amazing.

Later we went to surfer’s beach and looked for sea shells. It was breathtaking! Although a couple Mitch met had combed the beach for all the good sea shells to make necklaces with- ii would be happy for them but they took a huge bag and left NONE for us. So no pretty shells came home for us from this trip. We still had a great time looking for sand dollars though.

That evening was low key. We all ate up whatever leftovers we could and really tried to soak up the beach time.

That night everyone started to pack up the camp to prepare to head home.The sunset was pink and bright and beautiful- unfortunately I did not get any pictures of it but believe me it was lovely.

We had such a wonderful trip the beach was so perfect it was exactly what we needed. Another bonus was all the photography practice I got! Thank you Too my aunt and uncle & family who generously invited everyone and welcomed us to their property and graciously shared all of their food. Thank you to all the cousins who played with and watched our kids they had a great time!

Friday, the reunion- Day 2

Friday, the reunion- Day 2

Fridays plans for relay games at the beach fell apart when the weather was gloomy and cold. The day started with delicious pancakes, sausage and bacon for breakfast eaten in the WA fog.  Mitchell left tog o to my parents Hotel to have a skype interview- potentially more on that later- and everybody headed into town to see the lighthouse and explore along the pier .

Love. Lighthouses. So this was a special part of the trip, My sweet Mr. bought me a souvenir gift ornament of the lighthouse- the reason that is so special is because it is the same kind of ornament as a collection my grandmother had that my grandfather handed down to me. So it is really neat.

Everybody took pictures in front of the lighthouse for the reunion pictures.

After the lighthouse we all went to the pier to explore.

That was fun . We saw the pirates of the carrabien boat and tasted all sorts of goody’s, we climbed this lookout tower. The wind was so strong on the top of it that I thought my camera was going to blow away.

After all the fun times in town we all headed back to camp and the beach the weather was a bit nicer. Later all the adults went out to dinner at a local seafood place called Bennet’s- wowie expensive and nice. Loved it. My wonderful father paid for our table- thank  you dad- and we all enjoyed a pleasant long dinner. I got the biggest clam chowder bread bowl I’ve ever seen. It was and entire loaf of sourdough bread! And the side salad I got was the best ceaser salad I’ve had! Mmmmm Good.

Later after dinner Everyone went to the beach we had a fire with s’more and fireworks.

It was at this point that my camera died so no pictures L.

It was such a nice evening the dark sky and the frothy waves and everyone chatting and visiting around the fire….. perfect.

After all this fun we had to give the kids a shower and do a load of laundry before we headed to bed- it was so nice to have those amenities!