Shane and I aren’t the spontaneous type.  Never have been, really, and since we had Juliette, we’re even less likely to leave Seattle without at least ten days of careful planning.  But when Jason and Nancy asked us on Friday night if we wanted to head to the coast with them the next day for an overnight trip, we threw caution to the wind and said YES!  Somehow, in the 11 years we’ve lived here, we’ve never seen Washington’s view of the Pacific Ocean.  We rolled into Westport shortly after noon and spread out our blanket on the sand at Half Moon Bay.
Jason recently took up kite boarding and was eager to capitalize on the wind (I was thrilled just to feel the warm, soft sand between my toes).
As we watched Jason zig-zag across the bay, Shane asked Nance, “Did you see that thing splash in the water out there?”.
Indeed, there was some sort of water-borne creature circling the bay. Â Something with a big flat fin and a long gray body. Â Â After conferring with Google and some nearby beach-combers, we were pretty sure we were seeing a gray whale! Â Wild.
See that splash? Â See Jason obliviously galavanting about the water? Â This was the moment when Nance started yelling and waving her arms, motioning him to please come back to the safety of dry land!
He came in for a bit, but was back at it once the waters had quieted…
Isaiah scampered around the driftwood fort…
And these two settled in for a snuggle. Â Juliette has fallen into the role of Gryff’s sometimes-sweet, sometimes-completely-annoying kid sister. Â She hardly let this guy out of her site throughout the entire weekend. Â Whenever Gryff would try to break away for a moment of peace, Juliette would beg, “Gryff! Â Hold my hand!”, at which point he would just sigh and say, “Oh, Ju-Ju…” and let her tag along. Â He’s a softie, that kid.
Ahhhh, ocean! Â We’ve missed you!
I see you, Bups!
We checked into our condo late in the afternoon and scoped out the view from the living room and deck.
There was a beautiful ocean-front paved path just steps from our condo, so I took Jules out for a walk in the stroller, hoping she’d grab a much-needed cat nap.
She did!
We spent the evening at the condo’s pool, swimming and jumping and hot-tubbing.
We ate burgers on the deck and promptly sent the kiddos to bed – they were tuckered out.
While Shane patted Jules to sleep, I snuck away for a sunset walk.
That PNW beach wind makes for some awfully lovely terrain.
I mean, seriously!
Goodnight, sun.
Jules was up a little earlier than usual, which meant I woke up earlier than usual and needed coffee, stat. Â Juliette and I walked over to Tinderbox for a tall latte and a short milk.
And then it was off to the pool to soak up that warm morning sun.
Juliette became bolder and bolder with each passing minute, eventually jumping off the edge for a full “dunker”, gasping but smiling when her head popped up out of the water.
We eventually hung up our wet swimsuits and took one last stroll on the beach.
And then we headed back inside, packed it up, grabbed a fish n’ chips lunch, and hit the road. Â It was a pretty grand 24 hours – we really should fly by the seat of our pants more often!
