date: Sat 18 Jul 2026 10:02:39 PM PDT subj: 2nd day vacation two at the beach ----------------------------------------------------------- Another fun day of vacation with our babes. Today it was a beach day at Ocean Shores. Mom dressed our babes for the windstorm in the middle of winter. She packed up all our things into the small pack, and we carried our babes to the beach. Only a short walk out of the hotel down two flights of stairs down, around the back of the building, past the "use the trail" sign, then a turn west towards the ocean, through the three and a half foot tall grass which is an adventure in itself to little ones, then onto the sand. The ocean is probably a few foot ball fields west, a family south is building a shelter with a large shovel. A grandpa with his son, and grandson working hard taking turns digging down about five feet, pretty impressive. WE found a spot we liked but then decided to walk all the way to the water. When we got close the sea had washed up a lot of green mud, too much mud in the mind of a concerned parent who knows his kids are going to eat a fare amount of sand today. No need to include sledge from the sea. Looking at the sledge, I urged my wife to continue on towards the water in hopes we wouldn't encounter more, but we did, The ocean was foaming a bit with each wave rolling in. Our babes being carried the entire time, until we set them down near the water for a moment. Hands touch down, then hands go to face, then dad picks up babes. Mom says this is a great spot for a picture with the tripod. So I take our daughter, and while holding both babes wait for mom to setup the gear. The wait seems long after a short time due to my middle age arms wanting to swap for a rest. I guess I get to tell muscles fire away, more fibers, these arms need connections, don't throw them out! My body brain reluctantly listens and the burning subsides a bit, as my children decide to recline as far as possible distributing their weight in the least levered position available. Finally wife is ready to relieve my arm by taking our daughter, and standing beside our son and I. Photo shoot time. I smile as big as I can without showing my teeth because my face is so white with zinc my teeth look a bit like an old horse smiling. Nonetheless after five minutes or so we have a decent photo of our little family. So we walk back up the beach to a nice place to dig in the sand with the babes for the first time. Mom gets out their sand castle building tool set. Its a pop-out bucket with a starfish, a fish, and an octopus mold, shovel, and rake, perfect for fun. I start filling up the bucket with sand using the small yellow shovel. My son is interested so i hand him the shovel, and he starts filling up the bucket like a pitcher for the Mariners. Some sand gets in the bucket but a lot more of it flies past his sister sitting across from him. She is marveling at the sand in the bucket, she pulls out the sand inspects it carefully, wonders of the taste, tries some out when mom and dad least expect it, then continues pulling the sand out of the bucket as we fill it. Mom films the entire thing. I speed the filling process up, by using my hands to quickly fill the bucket and dump it over into the sand to make a miniature Drum Tower connected to a castle. My son and daughter instead see a lump of sand that needs thrashing. They thrash it and mash it then inspect their hands. I use the molds to put down octopuses and starfish on top. They only seem to see sand that needs a massage. My daughter sees a runner pass by in the distance. She watches him as the distance between her and the runner grows. She suddenly gets up and decides that is the same direction she wants to go. Off she goes walking tangent to the ocean. Not to far before she needs to stop to taste the sand. Mom yells out "No that's not for your mouth!" Too late, our daughter has a dark goatee under her bottom lip. WE all decide to head over to her location, and join in all the discoveries. Shells and rocks, and sticks. WE have a great time out there, until more and more sand in hands meet mouths, and eyes. Babes are ready for their first nap of the day. We walk back to the trail head, and inspect the process of the shelter the family is working on. They seem like they are done for a bit. The older man with white hair about four and a half feet tall wearing a Spartan shirt, has muscles I hope to obtain when I'm his age. They are all happy and share they are taking a break due to needing to retrieve the nearby water soaked logs for the top of the shelter. The wife of the older man suggest we get in the shelter and they'll take our picture. WE all stand under the shelter and smile for another family photo. Then share some kind words and make our way back to the room for some rest. ----------------------------------------- Babes nap for awhile mom and I relax for awhile vacation is nice, I'm not out doing chores. ----------------------------------------- Babes wake up and we got to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Dinner was nice the babes sat in highchairs and were part of the family for dinner. They threw some food on floor as usual. My son didn't like shrimp, or lettuce, some of the sauces he also didn't like but we expected as much. Our daughter did some of the same, but all in all it was a great meal. ----------------------------------------- Back at hotel room Grandma and Grandpa hang out with us and the babes play and laugh, Grandma and grandson play together, grandpa kisses his forehead while he is on the couch he smiles and laughs then falls backwards, then again grandma does a grandma attack on him kissing his forehead. Between cat naps Grandpa makes granddaughter smile with his funny faces. ----------------------------------------- We all enjoy each other's company until its time for grandpa and grandma to go back to their room to enjoy some peace and quite. Great day with the family.