Oregon Coast trip - part 5.

Thursday morning, the boys and Angie went out clamming for the 2nd day in a row.  Clara, Janet and I decided to zip down to the beach to check out tide pools (since I missed it earlier in the week due to sickness).  Clara just had to bring her Teddy Grahams.  I meant to write earlier in the week, that when we first arrived and walked down to the beach for the first time, Clara said, "This sand is so soft like snow".  She said that every time she walked on the beaches, that the sand felt like snow.  I don't want to forget that little Clara-ism.

When the tide went out, the rocks fell into place like this.  I thought it was so beautiful.  This beach was so quiet, that you could walk down the beach any time of day and find perfect, gorgeous shells just waiting to be picked up.  I loved that about Bandon.

There were some huge rocks just a little way down the beach from Steve and Mary's.  It was easy to find all sorts of life among the rocks there!

This rock is called face rock.

I love the purple color!

I spotted this cute little guy among the mussels!

Clara loved to walk backwards in the wet sand and dragging her toes to make a road.

Baby legs are just irresistible, right?

Clara is sometimes a little pokey on walks, and she was especially slow this morning!  Little stinker had to gather all sorts of flowers on the way home!  Didn't she know Janet and I had to pee?

This was the view from the top of the hill on our way down to the beach.  It was so private and quaint.

Later that morning, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to a little inlet called Sunset Beach.  It was so calm and quiet, you'd never know it was on the Oregon coast.  It was H-O-T there, which was so different for us since we'd been bundling up everyday since arriving at the coast.

I think Clara's idea of a perfect day would be to dig in sand all day long.  She just loves it!

 Little cutie!

We had a great time too.  Angie brought some gin and lemonade for us, and we all enjoyed a good dose of vitamin D.  I even got a little burned!

At the beach, a few funny things happened!  First, Clara peed right on the beach.  She told me she had to go, but I put it off and all of a sudden, there was a wet spot on the sand.  She is so ready to be potty trained!!!  I need to get my act together!

But toward the end of our afternoon at the beach, a few little kids came and befriended Clara.  They were older, I think 6 and 8.  But they were so kind to her and played so well with her!  Clara was not intimidated by them at all!  I've loved watching her personality develop.  It has been entertaining, and it's given me so much insight regarding the students I teach.  I just marvel that kids are who they are at 2!  Maybe even earlier!!!  Anyway, Clara was playing with these kids and said two of the funniest things!  Angie and I were working hard to eavesdrop!  But we didn't hear everything!  At one point, Clara said, "Is that your favorite green bucket?  You share with me?"  Her favorite color seems to be green right now!  She wants everything green!  Then later, we didn't hear anything preceding this statement, but Angie heard Clara say to this little 6-year-old boy, "Say you're sorry!".  Oh boy, bossing the older kids around already!  It was pretty funny though!  And like I said, those older kids were absolute gems and were so nice to little Clara!

After the beach, we headed to town, picked up a few provisions, and headed to Steve and Mary's to fix some clam chowder.  The crew had caught quite a few nice sized clams that morning, so it was chowder night!

After dinner, we had the nightly dance party.  And then before bed, of course, we flipped on the outside lights to see what creatures were awaiting us!  But there was nothing outside on Thursday.  Kurtis and I got ready for bed, and then went back out to check again.  We couldn't believe that there weren't any creatures paying a visit that night.  But it was the only night where we didn't see a thing!

Stay tuned for part 6 of our trip to the coast!