Day 16, a.m.

BRRRRR! It is just a wee bit chilly here. While making hot chocolate for the kids, I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. I almost didn’t answer. SO glad I did! My sister Camille, her husband, and her 12- and 10-yo boys are here in Oregon too! Camille lives in the same city as Stephani, where we were staying, but her mother-in-law was visiting and things just didn’t work out for us to get together at all. But they’re here!

We got packed up and met them in Fort Stevens, and we all went to the beach. This was one of the most fun days we’ve had so far! Chandler and Draevin are well-mannered, sweet, just good kids, and my children were thrilled to see their cousins again. We spend two or three hours out at Shipwreck beach, digging in the sand, wading in the (freeeeeezing cold) water, collecting crab pincer claws from the Shells of Crab-mas Past, building sand castles, and looking for sand dollars. We collected probably forty or fifty pincer claws, all hollowed-out and dried, and they’ll make great necklaces or crafty things for the boys’ Scout troops at home. It was relaxing, gorgeous, and we had no time pressures whatsoever. It was really nice to not have to rush the kids anywhere, and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my sister and her family.

They headed home, and we ate a quick snack in the parking lot before heading south again. At this point, it’s rare for us to have more than one or two “real” meals a day. A sit-down restaurant takes us a minimum of 90 minutes, from getting out of the car to finishing eating, and after that we have to change a couple of diapers and send everyone to the restroom and get everyone settled again, which adds another 30 minutes. We had planned on making sandwiches or fixing our own meals for most stops, but the food is in the back of the van, blocked by the platform hitch that carries our tent, dishes, and sleeping bags, so we have to unpack and move all of that to get it. So we end up eating yogurts, Kashi granola bars, Zone bars, crackers, fruit, or snacks, making sure everyone gets enough to not be hungry for a couple of hours, and then we drive off again. Breakfast and a late dinner are about it for us.

We are coming up to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Yum yum yum! More soon.