Trip to Lincoln City

In what's turning out to be our annual tradition, a couple of weekends ago, Elvin took a couple of days off and we drove out to Lincoln City.  We used Saturday to pack all of our stuff.  It's amazing how much stuff we took for just a 3-day trip.  Emily wrote up a packing list.  So the girls got a packing list as well.

On the girls' packing list: CAT (her stuffed animal cat), BOOKS, BLANKETS (especially Karina's little security Taggies blanket that she sleeps with), TOILETRIES, and last but not least, SLEEPING BAG.  As you can see, their list was illustrated with pictures so Karina could read it too.

And then, off we went on Sunday morning.  Both girls were excited about going.  Here's Karina all ready...

We left early enough so that we would have time to do stuff by the time we got there but late enough so that Gabriel would take his nap during the 2-hour drive to the coast.

We got to Lincoln City around noon and had lunch.  Our hotel room wasn't ready for check-in yet, but no worries...after a quick change in the van, off to the beach we went.

Wading in the water was fun, but the girls wanted to check out the waves.

The water was absolutely FREEZING!  The kind of freezing that made your feet feel like popsicles.  Did the girls care?  Nope.  They eventually were waist deep into the water.

They thought it was especially fun standing in the water as the wave went out.  Eliana commented that if you looked down only at the water, it made it seem like you were moving instead of the water.

Gabriel had fun too...

He had his favorite spatula with him and enjoyed digging around in the sand.

Eventually he ventured into the water too.  He was also impervious to the cold.  If it bothered him, he didn't show it.

The kids also enjoyed building sand castles.

After a while we went back to the hotel and cleaned up.  After dinner, we got into the heated indoor pool at the hotel.  The girls enjoyed playing in the water.  Gabriel, on the other hand, wanted to climb out of our arms if we were holding him in the pool.  I guess he thought he could just walk around like normal...  Needless to say, it was frustrating to him that he couldn't have more freedom and tiring for whoever was holding him.

As a special treat, the girls got ice cream at the local DQ.  Karina picked a "pin-t popsidol" (pink popsicle--she still can't say the "k" sound) and consumed it in about 4 minutes.

We had been to this hotel before and went back because it has a 2nd bedroom connected to the main bedroom.  Also, the main bedroom has a kitchenette with a microwave, fridge, sink, stove, and cutlery/dishes.  So we ate meals in the hotel instead of trying to brave restaurants.

The hotel also had the locks that you open with a plastic credit card-looking card.  This was a novelty for the girls and they fought over who got to stick the card into the slot.

The next day, we were back at it.  Karina pretty much just played in the sand.  Eliana played a little bit there, but also went back into the water.

Gabriel was content digging and scooping.

We eventually got a bunch of sand castles made.  The girls didn't realize that you need wet sand to build castles with so Elvin showed them how.

We attempted to take a picture with all the kids together.  This was the best picture we got.

After going to the beach, all three kids shared the bathtub.  Although they had the whole tub to spread out in, more often than not, they were scrunched up in one end, almost on top of each other.

Overall, the kids slept pretty well even though it was an unfamiliar environment.  Having the 2nd bedroom really helped.  Gabriel is our early riser compared to the girls.  Because he wakes up around 6am and makes lots of noise, Elvin bundled him up and took him out for a walk on both mornings.  It was nippy but beautiful walking along the coastline.

On our last day, we went to gift shops to let the girls pick out souvenirs.  Karina got a little "bag of rocks."  Because she is a considerate little person, she picked out only green rocks because "Daddy's favorite color is gheen [green]!"  

Eliana, on the other hand, wanted to buy a necklace.  There were two kinds that she was vacillating between and took about 15 minutes to decide.  She finally settled on the necklace with a butterfly that also came in a butterfly-shaped case.  The case was almost (or more?) important to her as the necklace itself.

And the true measure of how good a vacation is can probably be measured by how exhausted the kids are at the end.  On the drive home, all three kids fell asleep...