White Rock Resort - OR/CA Coast

I'm no expert a this blogging yet, but I have realized that each time that I add a photo to a post it is added to the beginning not the end, so I must post my pictures in reverse order, those that I want to appear last must be posted first, and so on. So, if I have missed a photo that I want you all to see, it seems that I cannot add it into the middle of my post, but only at the beginning. So due to that, you must see these two photos first then move on to the rest of the story ;-)

This picture was definitely too cool to be missed!

My 30th birthday is coming up on Sunday, and for my birthday we made reservations to stay in a cabin at White Rock Resort in Smith River, California. Saturday morning we dropped our dog Soda off at the in-laws, picked up Slurpee's for the trip, turned on the kids' charged up portable DVD players and hit the road. Below is our cabin, #7.

Upon entering our cabin, I said, "I love it already!". Walking through the front door, you could see directly out the back door, onto our deck which overlooked the ocean and beach below. The door was open for us, and the fresh ocean air blew in. We were in the "lighthouse" cabin, and the decor matched accordingly. Our girls stayed upstairs in the loft, which had a very low ceiling and had an attic sort of feel to it. A perfect place for little girls. They enjoyed having their own space. I had only hesitated for a moment before inviting them along, imagining a quiet weekend, just Cory and I at the beach, but am glad that I chose to have it be a family trip. Don't get me wrong, quiet weekends are wonderful too, but there's nothing like experiencing the beach through a child's eyes.

Below is a view of our cabin from the beach below. After arriving, Cory met up with his friend Jerry (who lives in Brookings), for an easy road ride while the girls and I got settled in.

Here is a shot of Cory and Melania "sharing" one of the couches. Melania is saying, "Move your feet daddy!" thinking he is taking up too much room.

Here are some pretty flowers that we saw while going on a walk around the cabins one morning.

This is the private path between cabins #3 and #4 that leads down to the beach. It was GREAT to be so close to the beach. It made it much easier for me to allow the girls to get all sandy, wet, and filthy, not having to the put them back into the car and drive them to a motel to get cleaned up. We just walked back up the steps, hosed their little legs off out front of the cabin, then stripped them down in the bath tub.

I took this photo just a few minutes after arriving down at the beach for the first time. Melania is saying, "I love the ocean!" What a cutie.

To a child who loves her sandbox, can you imagine what must have come over her? She has been to the beach before, but this is her fist time that she has been able to run on the beach, play in the sand, and express her words to us.

My girls posing for their momma.

For a girl that really doesn't like to be dirty, Melania did quite well getting into the idea of being sandy and wet. The weather was incredible, perfect beach temperature and very little wind.

As I recently said, it's a good thing that I have long arms, or I would be in none of our vacation photos. So if you've noticed that you normally only see me from my shoulders up, this is why. The trick is to make it look like I'm not the one taking the picture, that it's really just a very friendly photographer that likes to take my picture up close. Ha!

Julietta is not always quite as willing to slow down enough for a posed picture, but once in awhile I am able to grab her. ;-)

These girls played and played in the water and the sand. If only I weren't so freaked out about them getting swept away to sea, I could have easily relaxed and read a book while sitting on my beach blanket. Oh well, there are other times for reading I suppose.

Have I mentioned before that little Melania is not so fond of holding or being incredibly close to bugs, worms, starfish, crabs, or really any other creature? Cory was trying to get her to hold this starfish for a photo, but she was not into it. The look on her face says it all!

Here is Mr. Starfish back in the water.

Mr. Crabs.

Truth be told, I'm not so fond of holding little crabs either. The starfish I can do, but crabs are a little creepy. ;-) I guess that Miss Melania didn't only get my blond hair now, did she?

Here is Julietta being brave for her daddy. She liked it. She can be quite the little daredevil - when she wants to. Did you know that I once ate a worm and jumped off a 30 foot cliff into the Rogue River to impress that boy? A very, very long time ago...

More sea creatures.

Here Julietta and Melania were exploring a beach hut that someone else had made. Melania didn't last long. "I wanna get out!" She said not long after getting in.

Kisses and cuddles from my little one.

Monday morning, before we left, we took one last walk on the beach, looking for sea glass. Julietta found one piece, and Cory and I both spotted another at the same time. Somehow one of them got lost in the midst of the unpacking, but the others (we had found two the day before) have been added to our little collection. I love sea glass.

Melania and her daddy.

I love this picture below. I miss my little kids already, and they haven't even grown up yet. I'm a sentimental fool, that's why I enjoy taking pictures of my family so much. I love them so much, it hurts.

So, that is our 2009 trip to the ocean. Other then Julietta's little tumble in the surf, and Melania tumbling down the stairs once at the cabin, the trip really couldn't have gone any better. We packed most of our food for the trip, so we didn't have to leave the cabin much. Sunday night we ate out in Brookings, and went tide pooling off Harris Beach. Afterwards we got Blizzards from DQ, (except for Melania, who had a strawberry milkshake). Back at the cabin, we all got into the hot tub on the deck several times, put together a couple of small puzzles, the kids colored with their "Color Wonder" pens, and we relaxed. We walked on the beach, played in the sand, and believe it or not, there wasn't even enough wind to fly a kite. Unheard of here at the coast. I think that the perfect weather was ordered in just for us.

I hope you're enjoying your days as much as we are.

God Bless,

Tammie