We went to the beach on Saturday! It’s positively thrilling looking at the map and tracing the short line between Portland and the coast. Plus I’ve been inspired by articles about kids not getting outside enough. So alas for them, this weekend was a “we’re having a family adventure and you’re coming whether you like it or not” affair.

The kids did NOT want to “waste” their Saturday being outside (of all the rotten things, right?) so the 1.5 hour drive there was pretty grumpy. And they were pretty peeved about having to hike from the car to the beach. But once we forced them up to the trail head, they started to come around.

And once they started to glimpse the for reals ocean through the trees, they started muttering, “this is actually pretty cool…”

Those jump shots are harder than they look!

At first The Girl played it safe with activities:

But then she and I learned some important lessons about waves and how sometimes they are higher than you expect:

(We pretty much all managed to get ourselves soaked. Oh well.)

Had lunch in a cute little resort town (Cannon Beach) and did a bit more beaching. Then home through Astoria and a stop at a brewery for beer and cheese curds.

Then a long drive home and an 80s pop singalong (pretty sure my kids are the only teens who know the lyrics to Summer of 69 and Livin on a Prayer. Lucky ducks.) Both kids came home saying “that was the BEST day!” – success!