Manzanita

Three weeks ago we took a couple of day off from work and went to the Oregon coast. We rented two houses with our friends Tim & Lynn & three other couples and spent the weekend walking on the beach, playing soccer, having good food and drinking great wine.

Happy to relax in the carrier.

The weather was fantastic, and it was just nice to get away from the routine and enjoy the little break.

Hanging out with the girls

This is the second year that we do this weekend trip with Tim & Lynn & their girls and I find it nice to keep finding little treats like this that we add to our repertoire of family traditions. This year there were two other boys in the group, but they were older (twelve, maybe?) and they kept to themselves, so - just like last year - Nico got to spend the weekend playing with and being pampered by a group of girls (five of them, ages 6 through 10) that loved having him around.

Enjoying the delicious sun.

During the trip I had one of those vivid realizations of the difference between the first and second child (one of many!). We took a similar trip to the coast with friends when Nico was about the same age as Sofi (2ish months), and we brought so much stuff: his sleeping tent, and multiple outfits, and playing mat, and a bunch of toys... Not only did I not bring any toys for Sofi on this trip, but we actually forgot her sleeper "box"... Oh well, obviously she survived.

Boys enjoying the beach.

The one low of the weekend was me breaking one, maybe two, toes in the most ridiculous way. I was running barefoot on the beach, and at the very end of my loop I went by the area where some of the kids and guys were playing soccer. Matt thought it would be funny to "race me" so he started running behind me and when I started to get away he grabbed me and I tripped on his shoe-clad foot. It hurt like hell, but I didn't think much of it, until an hour later when I had two swollen and very bruised toes. I haven't gone to see a doctor and get x-rays because from everything I've read there's not much they can do, so I've been hobbling around for three of the four to six weeks it's supposed to take to heal.

Despite the injury it was a great weekend and another highlight was Nico getting to enjoy his "balance bike" - this is a big boy bike that he got last Christmas and we took out the pedals and cranks so he could use it as a balance bike. Unfortunately because it is meant for bigger kids it was to heavy for him to actually use until recently, but now that it fits him right he absolutely loves it and getting to use it on the beach was a real treat.

Manzanita weekend 2014!

Maybe we'll do it again next year!