Lincoln City Family Vacation

My parents are great and brave and decided that our whole family should drive down to Lincoln City and spend an entire week in one house by the beach. I say great because they love us and want to spend time with us and brave because that is a lot of people and personality in one place for a fairly long stretch of time. But we were all up for it and packed our cars to the rim and took off the last week of August.

After an 8 hour drive (which was only supposed to be 6 but we decided to caravan - why?!) we were anxious to get out of our overstuffed cars and settled in at the house. All three cars pull off the main road, onto the drive and as we approach the AMAZING beach house we saw cars in the driveway. Hmmm...wait a second...we were all following each other yet there are cars parked where ours should be... Come to find out my sweet mother made a mistake. We were supposed to check in the following day... So what do a group of tired, cranky travelers do out of shear desperation? We check into a seedy hotel for the night.

The beach house...

Our scary hotel.

The rooms were a little creepy and I didn't want to walk around without my shoes on but it wasn't too bad... It could have been worse. It did have a pool...that was freezing cold. :)

Lydia and I were the only ones brave enough to go all the way in. It looks like we are smiling but it was through clenched chattering teeth. :)
The boys only put their feet in but tried their best to splash us :)

After one night in at the hotel we were ready to check in to the house. If anyone is interested in going to Lincoln City with a group - I would definitely recommend this place!!! It was roomy and gorgeous and had a huge playroom for the kids to go wild (which they did). There was a third floor which was perfect for when the kids went to sleep - we could play games and be as loud as our hearts desired.

No trip to Oregon is complete without a trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory (especially on a rainy day when you can't go to the beach...)

Terah, Mac and my mom - Mac looks like he's in heaven.
My pretty pretty princess Lydia.

After one day of rain we were so excited to wake up to sunshine and headed straight for the beach. The kids were pumped and the parents were armed with cameras, sand toys and towels. Glad we had those towels because within ten minutes of wading in the waves both Kade and Mac fell in. After making sure they were okay I couldn't resist taking this pic of Kade.
Don't let these tears fool you. He was fine a moment later and enjoyed the rest of the day playing in the sand and water with his cousins. Here are some of my favorite beach pics.

Sarah and Mac
My mom was soooo proud of her sand castle. This is her posing by her masterpiece moments before the kids destroyed it. :)

This is a pic of my parents, sisters and the kiddos at Devil's Punch Bowl outside our favorite clam chowder place. It isn't that great of a picture but it was the only we took with all of us in it.

One afternoon my dad and Logan took the boys to the Air Museum so we could do a little shopping. They had a great time.
A couple minutes drive away was this huge playground. I don't know who was more excited - the kids or the adults. We didn't want to leave.
This is the lake right next to the park.
The weather was gorgeous, the house was amazing and we all survived the week together under one roof without killing each other. It was a fantastic vacation and I can't wait to go again! :)