Manzanita

Last weekend we headed out to Manzanita for a few days at the beach with friends. One of our friends has a family beach house so we got to all stay in the same place. We had prepared for bad weather since its October but we were still super excited. Lucky for us, the weather turned out to be incredible!

So with 4 couples and 7 kiddos, it was totally a party. Its definitely a lot more work going out of town these days, but its always so worth it. We brought Lu's princess tent for her to sleep in so she would have her own space in our room. It worked great until I broke it. Daddy's fort building skills to the rescue.

We had so much fun enjoying the beach and just all hanging out together. All the kids were loving playing in the sand and chasing the waves.

After the littles went to bed we had a couple great nights. Night one, we played the nerdy awesomeness that is Settlers. Night two, we just ate snacks and chatted. Such good times.

One evening we made pizzas for dinner and a friend and her daughter had run down to the beach for a few minutes. She came back and told us that the sunset was amazing and we had to check it out. We all kind of looked at each other and then went for it. Pizzas staying warm in the oven while we ran out to catch a glimpse. The weather had been beyond beautiful all day. Warm and no wind at all. Seriously perfect. And the evening was the same. Here are some photos from our impromptu sunset photo session.

This trip and life lately has just reminded me how special and important it is to live in community. Not just for us, but for our kids. I want to give them the kind of relationships that feel like family. People who love them like we do. I think we are off to a good start.

Our last day at the beach we all headed out for one last beach hang. The wind had picked up, but it was still gorgeous. The dads spent a little quality time with the kiddos. Tell me this picture is not fantastic.

Such a great weekend. Hoping for many more just like it. Of course not always the beach part. But definitely the friends part.