Fall Kite Festival - Lincoln City, Oregon

The Goal: An extended weekend camping trip at Devil's Lake State Park in Lincoln City, where the Fall Kite Festival is taking place and graciously organized by our good friends the Sheahans. We would get off from work early Friday and hit the road, setting up camp in time for a fun BBQ dinner and family time around a warm campfire.

The REALITY:
-off work early (at 3pm) with plans to get on the road at a decent enough time where we'd reach the campground early enough to NOT be setting up our tent in the dark;
-hit three different groceries picking up food/drink (actual eta at home - 4pm);
-arrive home to semi chaos and a million things that still need to be done before we can even think about hitting the road, as per usual;
-Brian and I get frustrated, Brian calls the trip off three or four different times during the process of packing up the car;
-his frustration, and mine, is mainly caused by a daughter who threw no less than three or four epic fits during the same packing process;
-car finally is packed, to the brim, for a weekend trip mind you - but we have to stop first to drop off a car seat  I'd promised to return to cousins who had originally loaned it to us;
-arrive at car seat drop-off destination: obligatory visit to Papa Honey just to say HI (and whose dinner we interrupted) and then across the street to return the seat (interrupting ANOTHER family dinner), family graciously feeds us and talks us down from our madness;
-we rethink our approach, decide NOT to drive down to the coast at 7pm at night, instead detour to Grandpa Bryan's house and camp over night in the trailer;
-get minimal/zero sleep Friday night in the trailer for a number of reasons;
-minimal/zero sleep causes us to wake later than desired Saturday morning = getting on the road later than desired;
-at this point we are too tired to continue to be stressed out regarding more failures in "our plan," fatigue has overtaken the frustration - we unpack a few muffins and bananas for a snack, hug Grandpa Bryan and set out;
-first real bright spot in the trip is the Otis Cafe at 9am Saturday morning. Good food always lifts our mood. With full tummies and our destination literally minutes away, we start to smile.

And here's what you see in pictures:

 Otis Cafe - add it to your "must eat here" list!

 Saying HI to the horsey before heading to meet up with the rest of the group.

 Finally made it! We were all so happy!

 A big change from last time we were at the coast when she didn't even want to touch the sand!

 First time flying a kite - with her buddy Bram!

Not too sure about momma holding baby Atley.

 Setting up camp!

 Double trouble - cupcakes before dinner?!

 Playing with baby Atley, giving him lots of loves!

 I did it Momma!

 Confused about her two sets of ears!

 

 No nap and tons of fun in the water, sand and sun - 

this little one put herself to bed at 8pm!

Day 2

Another gorgeous day at the coast!

 And a picnic in the parking lot before we packed up and headed home!

Thanks for an awesome weekend everyone

and a big THANK YOU to the Sheahans for organizing!