The Wilkinson Family Blog: Early summer fun

Just a quick post to share some photos of some of the fun activities we've been enjoying around here, now that the weather is starting to turn nice.

Since Matt and I returned from our trip to Dundee, I've been having a bit of wanderlust. So the kids and I have taken a few Friday day trips to the coast. The first trip was to Seaside. Seaside is a fun town for kids - it is very walkable, there is a small aquarium, an amusement center, and even a swing set right on the beach. I may have jumped the gun a bit on this trip though. It was cold. Can you tell?

I timed the trip poorly too - leaving too early for Clara to nap in the car. The result was a few all-out tantrums (Clara hanging upside down out of the baby carrier type tantrums). But she cheered right up when she got to steer the car at the little amusement center - British style.

We enjoyed lunch at a pancake house, during which Grady said, and I quote, "Here's the deal. We're going to finish our lunch, then we're going to walk to the car and drive home, and I'm going to show you how big the sunflowers have gotten." 3 hours of driving for 2 hours at the beach, but it was still worth it to catch a glimpse of the ocean.

We tried again on Friday, and it went smoother. It helped that it was much warmer, and that I timed it this time so Clara slept on the way out. This time we went to Cannon Beach. Matt and I have been there before, but the kids have not. It's a beautiful town, great for kids and grown ups. The beach was gorgeous and not at all crowded. The kids had lots of fun playing in the sand, eating pizza and ice cream, and exploring the town. If we hadn't gotten stuck in traffic on the way home, we would have even been at the beach longer than it took for us to get there and back!

Iconic haystack rock in the background

Stop at Dairy Queen to break up the traffic

Still likes her ice cream, that one. Could take or leave the cone.

Clara especially loved getting a chance to practice her new walking skills out on the beach. This girl can now move, and she has pretty much given up on crawling in favor of her speed walking.

With the early warm weather, we also have been treated to strawberry season a few weeks early. We've already made two trips. The first one just me and the kids, and today with Matt as well. We picked enough for a large batch of jam and maybe 10 pounds of strawberries for the freezer. Grady loves it, and would go back again tomorrow. I, however, am seeing strawberries being de-stemmed and sliced in my dreams, so I need a bit of a break!

Grady carefully picked each strawberry and had me inspect each one

Clara did not

different outfit, same story

You can actually see the mulch going into her mouth in this one

Daddy and Grady strategizing

Found one!

The whole crew

Where's Grady?

My birthday was last weekend. It started out great - I mean, how can you complain about this?

I'm not quite ready to talk yet about how quickly and horribly it spiraled downhill, but suffice it to say that we spent a good part of it driving around trying to get the kids to fall asleep. We did succeed about 30 miles into the state of Washington. Upon waking up when we got home, Grady immediately started crying: "But we didn't GO anywhere!" Good point. I do very much appreciate all the thoughtful notes and gifts from you all. I felt very loved, despite the ill-tempered kiddos.