The next day I got up around 8:30-9ish and started getting ready. We had a bowl of cereal and waited for mom, dad and Grandma Karen to arrive to come get us in mom's Expedition since it holds more people than the Escape. We took three cars, the Expedition, Doug's car and Erika's car. Mom didn't want dogs in her car which I don't blame her. We left around 10:30ish and Erik and Doug eventually followed. Doug texted us as we got onto Hwy 8 near West Olympia saying that Jenn forgot her phone and they have to turn around to go get it. So they were going to be late. Erik and Zach had to stop to get some food so they were going to be a little bit behind us as well.
It didn't take us very long to get there. Surprisingly there wasn't very much traffic along the way. Dad wanted to stop at Bi-Mart and Harbor Guns but we weren't here for that and I told him if it was still open we would stop by Bi-Mart on the way home. He said okay. We drove through Hoquiam and was finally on the two-laned highway towards Ocean Shores.
I asked everyone, before we got there, where we wanted to go first. No one said anything so we were going to go to the beach near the center of town first...mostly because it has a public bathroom and I am sure Grandma Karen needs to use it. We called Doug and Erika to let them know we are going to the public beach near the McDonald's at the roundabout in the middle of town. They acknowledged and said we will see you when we get there. After the restroom, we drove down the road to the beach. We turned right and headed down that way because I saw an open spot along the shoreline that we could set up. I really didn't like to be near people.
We parked and got out and started getting our chairs and coolers out. Erika said she was close so we told her where on the beach we were so she could find us. They pulled in next to us a bit after we got there. Dad and I wandered around the beach for a while looking for random objects. I was looking for wood pieces, bits of rope and feathers for my sand castle I am going to build as soon as Doug and Jenn get here so we can have lunch. I found a few to use and put them in my bucket.
They soon arrived around 1:30 after a text message exchange of where they were and telling them where we were on the beach. They got their stuff out of the car and set it up near our chairs. We sat there and ate our lunch. I made Ben and I sandwiches and brought chips, fruit cups, fruit snacks, some cookies and drinks. We sat around hanging out for a bit. Erika, Doug and Zach got the frisbee our and threw that around for a while.
I talked everyone into coming and building a sandcastle with me. We grabbed all the buckets, the shovels and our "beach" container and headed towards the water. We picked a spot and soon we found out we chose poorly. We moved back a few yards and started again. The tide was definitely coming in. We had to hurry so we all started building the moat and packing the sand in the middle into a mound so we can start to sculpt it into a castle. Ben did not understand the way we made castles so he got frustrated and stopped helping. The way he wanted to do it took too long and we wouldn't get it done in time for when the tide engulfed it.
We spent a good hour building and trying to maintain the castle and the moats. Two kids about 8-10 years old wanted to help us with the castle and asked their mom and dad if he could. They said as long as it was okay with us and we didn't mind. This isn't the first time we were joined by kids over the years. We placed our little boats, the Orca whale and our "barfing" alligators in to our moat. I dressed the castle in scraps of rope, bits of wood and seagull feathers. It was a masterpiece. Now we wait and try our best to save it as the tide comes in. We lead a valiant effort but the tide eventually came in and ate our sandcastle. We took all of our toys, buckets and shovels and rinsed them off in the ocean.
We walked back to the vehicles and started taking down all of our stuff down to put back in our cars. Mom wanted to go to the Jetty which was south of Ocean Shores...about as south as you can get without driving into the ocean. We all started to head that way but stopped at the rest area again before we started driving to the Jetty. We arrived around 4:30, parked and explored. We spent most of our time exploring the giant boulders that are there to keep the integrity of the shoreline from eroding. On occasion you can find some really cool stuff lodged in between the rocks. One time, I found an intact buoy that I brought home with me. We didn't have any luck this time around.
We took some family photos and enjoyed the time we spent out at the beach. It was starting to get chilly so around 5ish that evening we got back in the cars and headed out of town towards Aberdeen.
Everyone asked if we wanted to have dinner and we said sure and where should we go? Dad wanted to go to Billy's, which was in downtown Aberdeen and several of us have been there before. We drove the 15 miles and parked in the lot next to the building. Erika and Doug would have to come out every once and a while to check on their dogs since they had to leave them in the car.
We went in and were seated right away. They accommodated us by letting us squish together tables in the corner so we all could sit together. There were nine of us after all. I ordered a French dip, fries and a Pepsi. It hit the spot after a long day in the sun. We goofed around while we ate and I'm sure mom and dad questioned why they bring us out in public sometimes. We all paid for our food and headed back towards home.
We were dropped off at our house and mom and dad took Grandma Karen home. Everyone had fun and we need to do this more often. I think mom had a plan for later on this summer to go hiking somewhere. We will have to see where she wants to go and when.
Next Adventure: Dirty Dash 2019
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