Lake House Vacation Day 1

Earlier this year Josh's dad threw out the idea of us all going over to Siltcoos lake near Florence, OR and spending 3-4 days fishing and enjoying the beach in June. We loved that idea and booked a home we could all stay in on the lake with it's own dock, so that Mike could keep his boat right there in the backyard, on the water. We'd been anticipating the trip for a while and then Mike & Chris (Josh's parents) got the devastating news that Mike's cancer (stage 4 kidney) had developed a tumor in his lung that would need to be removed & he would need to go in for surgery right before the trip. :( We were so sad that he would be missing out because he loves fishing, and we had all been looking forward to that special time with him & Grandma Chris. But we were very thankful that one of the very best surgeons would be operating & that Grandpa Mike would once again be on the road to recovery.

His surgery went well & while we were on vacation missing their presence, he was recovering in the hospital like a champ, with Chris by his side, updating everyone on his daily progress. We're looking forward to planning another fishing trip and redeeming the time.

The beautiful view of the lake from the house's deck.

That first morning we thought it would be fun to just try and fish off the dock. We knew the odds of catching anything would be slim, but if anything we thought it would be fun for the kids to just practice casting and enjoy the scenery. :)

Cute little fishermen. :)

And fisherwoman. ;)

There were lots of little fish in the water. We wanted to see if they'd nibble our toes, but they didn't.

A lot of fun was had just playing in the shallow water along the edge of the lake.

We spent some time at the beach that afternoon. It was super windy at the south beach along the jetty so we just played on the tall hill of sand and then decided to head for a park on another little lake with a huge hill of sand that was more inland. The ocean was beautiful, though! But we spent two other days later in the week at the beach to make up for it.

The kids loved running down the hill.

Jude forgot to pack his sunglasses, but Selah had an extra pair that she so sweetly let Jude use. This 10 year old stud is secure in his manliness.

Here's the inland lake we went to that had a big sandy beach/hill. We really wanted to rent a sandboard to ride on (like a snowboard with a handle) but they weren't available that day.

Ben proudly showing me his sand angel.

Jude cracked us up.

And he had the most fun running down the hill straight into the water.

I can't help myself and I just take too many pictures when on vacation, so I'm almost embarrassed to say that all of these pics are just from the first day. Almost. ;)

Cell phone pic from our dinner that evening at Moe's.