Have you ever looked back on a fully thrilling day – and wondered if you had started the day knowing where it would lead – that in the beginning – you’d have been more stressed and worn out or worried about the timing of it all?

We started out our Monday Morning enjoying some seat work time with Nathan – an online writing class he is taking – plans of cleaning the house and sorting out the classroom with a movie in the afternoon. When –

A friend called to say that they had their horses on the beach in Pacific City – about 15 –20 minutes north on hwy 101 – would our boys like to play with their boys while the teen girls and mom rode? Well, we quickly finished the online lesson – grabbed a bag of pretzels and some sand fun toys and our Oregon Parka’s (hoody sweatshirts) and zipped north.

Oh the joy of meeting with friends – picking up as if we had spoken every day – instead of the absence of presence for the past 6 months.  Encouragement and Joy and Sisterhood.  Rest and Peace. 🙂

The picnic was assembled, and the horses were tended, the boys ran off and were then found – and we all loaded up to go our different ways on the beach, 3 horses and riders to the south, 5 kids and a mom to the north.

Feeding the Baby Bunnies is my favorite way to start our time in Pacific City –
Then we ventured across the street to let the boys play on the sand dune hill by Cape Kawanda.

I thought I’d be content to sit with the other families at the bottom – but the vertical challenge pulled me up.

I’m not so sure that overweight almost 40 yr old moms should try to keep up with young teens and pre-teens . . . . But it was FUN!

The view was amazing. This is from the middle of the hill.

The views below are just below the tree line. I didn’t go up to the trees, I have my limits of climbing – but I loved the view from the “almost” top!

Nate spots the cave and asks if we can immediately go down there.  We did – but it was filled with water. No floats.

We watched three Dory Boats come in to the beach. So exciting to see them come so quickly onto the sand. This red Dory was a real beauty!

This is the last uphill climb before getting to the “edge”.

From this view, it looks like they are on the edge, but it goes back about 30-40 feet flat til the drop off into the Pacific Ocean. I heard 3-4 worried remarks from families standing behind me about Those Little Boys who were going to “fall off”.  This ledge is not so tall, and flat spots around that you couldn’t see from this angle.

The view North towards Cape Mears and Netarts is Breathtaking!

The older boys on the “edge”.

This was my most nervous moment of the day. Yikes. My heart rate is increasing just looking at the photo! They are laughing because Nate’s friend realized they are about the same height. 🙂

Panorama of the Town, the Surfers at Cape Kawanda ad the Horses meeting us –
They called on the cell phone and we waved from the cliff.

A little bon fire matches fun. The hill in the background was our “second” hike – we went to the farthest west point.

At the end of the day the beach quieted down – the footprints on the hill were beautiful,
the fog lifted for a gorgeous evening sky, and the boy fell asleep with his head on a branch.  🙂

If you recognize the faces of our visiting family and
would like the link to the entire album of about 70 photos,
send a comment/email or FB Msg and I’ll send you the link.

Please respect their privacy and not comment with their names. 🙂