Little Bubbas: Rockaway Day 1

Dear Bubbas,
We just had the best vacation ever! We went to Rockaway Beach in Oregon with Grandma Karen, Papa Jerry, and Aunt Chelsea as a celebration for Daddy's graduation. We had four of the best days that we've had in a long, long time. We started out early Thursday morning. Everyone was excited, you three especially. For the first ten minutes Kaylee just squealed this loud scream. It was almost a laugh, almost a scream. Obnoxious yet adorable all in one. We had to stop several times on the way up for bathroom breaks, but it wasn't too bad. Especially since it was a little over a 5 hour drive. You even slept for awhile on the way up!

When we got to Tillamook, which we found out later was only about 30 minutes away from the house, we stopped for lunch at Burger King. You all got excited about the Burger King hats and wore them during lunch. Hunter ate a ton of lunch, I was very surprised!

Tillamook smells like cow manure. When we were leaving the restaurant Papa Jerry and I noticed that Hunter had his hand over his nose while he was walking to the car. We both giggled about that. Then in the car Hunter said he was ready to go home because he was scared the waves would get him. I told him we were just about there and reassured him that the waves would not get him. Then about two minutes after walking into the house, Hunter started to throw up! Luckily, we got him to the sink first. Apparently, his excitement and nerves, his big lunch, the smell of cow manure, and the wavy roads to the house were too much for that little tummy.

When we got to Rockaway we went straight to the beach house that we rented. It was very cute. Connor and Hunter were the most excited about the bunk beds up stairs. Connor said he was going to sleep on top, and Hunter said he was going to sleep on the bottom. It made me a little sad that we didn't buy bunk beds for their birthday. Then Sunday rolled around and neither boy had slept on the top bunk, they just cuddled up together on the bottom, so I felt better. While we were unpacking the car Connor asked Aunt Chelsea and Papa Jerry, "Are you staying here too?" When they told him yes he yelled out," That is so AWESOME!"

When we told you it was time to go down to the beach Hunter started panicking. He thought the house was what he'd gotten so excited about over the last week and was perfectly happy. He even tried to convince us to stay at the house by saying that was the only thing that would keep him from throwing up again. Little did he know it would only get better!

When we got down to the beach Hunter just started running! He loved running on the wide opened beach. Nothing to stop him, the wind in his hair! Connor was enamored with the sand. He kept picking up handfuls of it and running his fingers through it. Kaylee wasn't sure what to think. Especially when we set her down on the sand for the first time. She started crying and saying "Ouch!" She wanted the sand off of her toes. She adjusted pretty quickly and then she realized that the beach was pretty fun!

The boys loved to run up to the water and then try to outrun the tide that was washing in slowly. They did that continuously, giggling the entire time. Kaylee liked to stand in the tide and watch it. She thought it felt cool when it reached her legs, but she would get dizzy watching it and then fall over into the water, so we had to hold her up the entire time! She was getting so cold that I made her come up out of the water. She got about halfway to papa and then broke free of my hand and started running back for the water. She didn't care how cold it was! I finally did get her up to Papa and he snuggled her in a beach towel on his lap. He looked like one happy Grandpa sitting on the beach, holding a grand baby!

The boys built a sandcastle with Daddy. That was pretty exciting because the tide kept getting closer and closer to the castle. It became apparent that you would have to build a moat! You had a great time doing that with Daddy.

We buried Connor in the sand and he loved it. We were all laughing and having a good time, and then Hunter ran off towards the water and we slowly dispersed. About two minutes later I said, "Where's Connor?" We all looked back and there he was still buried in the sand, still loving it. It was the funniest thing! We ran over and apologized for leaving him buried, but he didn't care an ounce!

It was cold the first day. The wind was pretty strong, so we only stayed until we noticed Kaylee's feet turning purple. They turn purple pretty frequently and easy so it wasn't a big deal, but we also knew that was our cue.

We went back to the beach house for dinner and all three kids were thrilled to play on the stairs, and dance in the kitchen.

Grandma Karen suggested that Daddy and I go down to the beach for a date night and she offered to put you three to bed. You were pretty thrilled to be staying up with Grandma. She was able to get you to all fall asleep but she said you all fought pretty hard, especially Hunter who was worried he would wake up and it would all have been a dream!

We slept hard that first night, even though I ended up on the bottom bunk because all three kids were snuggled in with Daddy on the Master bed.

We had such a great first day of vacation! Thanks for being such good travelers.
I love you!
Mommy