We LOVE the beach!

I am terribly behind in picture posting! I promise I will come back to our Bend trip of a couple of weeks ago, but while I have my mother-in-law's camera from our beach trip, here are some real cuties of our fantastic trip to the coast (including even a whole family shot where everyone is looking and looking decent):

On the left: Meri, what does an elephant say? On the right: Jenelle taking matters into her own hands and having a blast despite the kite never making it off the ground.









And finally!! Meri smiling for the camera! That smile/laugh just melts me. In fact, the night we got there she did this the second I put her down and her feet touched the sand. She instantly burst out laughing at the pure joy of the experience. I love it!







We even had a campfire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows (which Jell wouldn't eat cause they were too, too sticky) for the first time. I was a little concerned with their interest in the fire. At this point, it was only coals, but still.





Then Grammy and Papa took us all to the "shark zoo," otherwise known as the Newport Aquarium. Thanks Grammy and Papa! We loved it! I wish I had video of how Meri would stand in front of the tanks just laughing and laughing as the fish swam around, or of how she just laid down in the middle of the shark tunnel and looked through the floor window, as people tried not to step on her. Oblivious, and totally in love with every living creature (on the beach we spent plenty of time comforting her when the seagulls flew away)!

A couple more rare family shots!









This is known as the "Meri shrug." It follows a question like, "Meri what is the birdie doing?"

And I can't resist adding a couple more cute ones of us digging in the sand after playing on the rocks looking for shells and "pokey thingies," usually known as sea anenomes, or "the places where Nemo lives."