birthday at the beach

We have been wanting to get over the beach all summer...actually let me rephrase that the girls and I have been wanting to go to the beach, Jamie is not a big fan of the sand. He is a good sport though and although he won't admit it he has fun when he is there. So for our nephew Jake's ninth birthday we went over the house that Jamie's parents have in Pacific City. It was beautiful blue sky but ridiculously windy so it made it a little colder than we would have liked. I'm not sure at what age temperature starts affecting your decision process when it comes to water...but I can tell you that it is not 9 or under! Jake, Ellie and Lily had so much fun running around in the waves, doing cartwheels and handstands and throwing sand in the air. Jalen was a little overwhelmed by the wind so he spent most of the day with his hood up and his head on my shoulder...do I need to remind you how hard it is to walk in the sand, let alone carrying an extra 23 pounds?! He finally warmed up to the idea of the sand in his feet toward the end when we found a log that somewhat sheltered him from the wind. He kept bending over and picking up the sand to watch it fall back through his fingers...until he got a little too top heavy one time and fell flat on his face right into the sand and came up with it in his mouth, nose and eyes...he was done with the sand after that! Pacific City has this huge hill you can climb up to see the most spectacular view, and this time I remembered my camera! When I say huge I mean gigantic, it takes a good 15 minutes to get up it with a few breathers along the way. But it is SO worth it once you get to the top. Nana waited with Jalen and Lily while the rest of us made the hike. Ellie was bear crawling toward the end and then her and Jake had fun running and rolling back down. Despite the weather we had a fun day and finished it off with cake and a birthday song!!