From Coast to Coast

Having just recently left the Atlantic coast we had to visit the Pacific coast or we wouldn't feel complete. So instead of spending Black Friday bargain shopping we went to the beach. It was cold, but we all found something to do.

Adam brought his metal detector and each of the kids took a turn searching for treasure. Lauren was the only one who actually found anything. I believe her final tally was 2 pennies, 4 soda can pull tabs, and a rusty screw.

Kate spent the first half of the trip running around, but she was tired, cold and not her best self.

Her sweet cousin Daniel wrapped her up in his jacket and carried her around until she fell asleep and then held her while she napped. He's going to make a great dad someday.

I love that my kids are each others best friends. If nothing else traveling has really cemented their relationships.
Rusty reading poetry...

Ben didn't have much luck with the metal detector but he did discover the tentacle of a giant sea monster- Eww!

The kids spent a good deal of their time exploring caves, tide pools and collecting interesting rocks and crabs. Here is Lauren showing off a pretty cool sea star.

Mike is a talented architect-to-be so it shouldn't be surprising that he spent his time creating a sand castle masterpiece. His work on a computer design program inspired Lauren and he sent her home with a program to begin experimenting.