Beach + Family = Joy

We are home after 3 days at the coast with our 3 adult children, 2 DILs and 6 grandkids.  We're tired and bit sun-kissed and we all had a good time.  We stayed in the Looking Glass Inn in the little town of Taft which is part of Lincoln City which is in the north central area of the Oregon Coast on the Pacific Ocean.  It's a perfect place for kids, as there is a pretty protected bay which the Siletz River feeds and it flows right into the Pacific Ocean so you get to enjoy the sea while watching the children play in the safe bay waters.  The 5 youngest grands.

Our young grandsons, Caleb and Hayden, sitting on the edge of the sidewalk and Jenna is running to see them for the first time in 2 years.  

The beach here is littered with driftwood, our 6 grandkids climbed upon this old tree that washed ashore years ago. :-)  On top is Gabriel, then Hayden, to the left is Michael, then Caleb, Jenna then Paige.  

Buddy loves the water. 

The hotel had a big pile of loaner beach toys for kids to use.. our kids got great use out of them.  The pier runs out from the sidewalk next to Mo's Chowder restaurant. 

The kids.  See the big bird?  It was a bald eagle!  We saw it dive, catch a fish and fly over to the beach to eat it.  That was cool! 

Off to the right is the ocean and seals gather here to rest after catching fish and eating them. 

Looking back at Mo's which is right across from the hotel.. we had dinner there on Sunday night and lunch there on Monday. It's famous for it's clam chowder.  3 of the kids on the right.

Here is DIL Beth with the kids and they're burying Gabe in the sand.  :-) 

On the beach were many beach plants - the color of this Sweet Pea was beautiful! 

Our son Shawn and his family only stayed one night as they had to work.  This is lunch after they left.. do you think Caleb adores his girl cousins? :-) 

Hayden came around the table to get in the photo. 

One of my favorite things in the world is seeing the sun sparkling off water.  So pretty. 

I love this image of the seals in the sun with the 2 kids and the sparkles on the water. 

Our youngest, Travis, drove his classic 1966 Mustang GT fastback down to the beach.  He gets lots of looks when he drives this car.  See the car behind?  That's me waving! After we said goodbye to our older son's family, we drove down to Depoe Bay to get the kids some saltwater taffy and do a bit of souvenir shopping.  Then we headed north to a Japanese restaurant for dinner.  It was good! 

Last night I snapped this photo of the full moon from inside of our hotel room!!   

This morning was spent packing up the cars and then we headed north and had lunch before saying goodbye to the ocean and heading home.  We're just relaxing now and catching up on the local and world news.  Congratulations to England for the birth of it's newest Royal baby!  I'm thrilled for Will and Kate!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)