You know what sucks about beaches? Sand. That stuff gets everywhere, in every crevice, every nook, every cranny. Days after going to the beach there was still sand... on things that didn't even come to the beach with us! That stuff gets everywhere. But it is truly amazing stuff. If you think about it one handful of sand contains pieces of thousands of different rocks, shells, fossils, plants, bacteria. That handful could contain a tiny fragment of a volcano that erupted thousands of years ago, or a piece of bone from some megolithic being that no one will ever even know about.
Sand is magical stuff. It acts like a solid when it is wet and like a liquid when it is dry. You can build castles and sculptures with it just to turn it into a pile a nothing second afterwards. With Soren, I'm seeing sand through new eyes. He is amazed by the way it sticks to his hands, how he can grab it and have a hold of a chunk then watch is dissolve as it falls from his hand.
This was Soren's first time on the ocean. On Thursday night we headed out to the coast for our second camping trip as a family of three. We had been planning to go to Central Oregon this weekend for a lakeside weekend but the wildfires caused us to cancel our reservations. With all the smoke that has been lingering around the Pacific Northwest we decided to head to the one place that seems to have clean air still- the coast. There were no reservations anywhere so we drove up Thursday night hoping that our early entry into the area would prove to be helpful in finding a first come first serve spot. The first place we went we had no such luck. But the campground was horrible so we weren't upset about it. We backtracked and headed up an old DNR (Department of Natural Resources) road. After 4 miles the road was no longer maintained, but it wasn't too bad, thankfully it was still paved! The road kept going and going and we started to get a little worried that we were in the middle of nowhere and that we would be completely alone out there. But we finally arrived at the campground and (hallelujah) there were other campers there!
We drove around the site twice (there were only 11 sites) and chose a site that had a path right down the river. We parked and immediately checked out the digs. The river was slow moving and beautiful. The riverside was rocky, clean and lovely. When I'm camping I have to have noise. We once camped at this site that was completely silent and it totally freaked me out, I woke up in the middle of the night and I swear I could have heard a pin drop! The site we stayed at here had a nice little background noise from the river, but we also brought Soren's sound machine JUST in case!
The first night Indy, our dog, was EXTREMELY anxious. There were other dogs in the area who were unleashed, so we let Indy be off leash too. But the other dogs kept barking at every car and every noise which made Indy super on edge. He spent part of the night shaking in the tent, afraid of every little sound. He is a great dog, super sweet, protective when he needs to be and listens so well, but he is also a little bit of an anxiety case. He doesn't like sounds that he doesn't know, he doesn't like things in his path (sticks, colverts, snakes, rocks) and he does not like when people show up that he wasn't expecting. He barked at a lot of campers walking down the road to the bathroom... But the second night he calmed down a bit, he adjusted to the surroundings and the day we had running around definitely helped!
On Friday we headed to Kalaloch Beach. A favorite spot of our's. We were planning on having our wedding celebration at the campground there but the sites booked up before we had a chance to even look. The campground, cabins, and lodge are beautiful and a wonderful place to go on the coast if you are looking for adventure. It is very close to Lake Quinault (which we visited as well) and quite a few backwoods trails, fishing and camping.
It was cold when we got there so we were not planning on getting anywhere near the water, expecting frigid toes, hands and noses. But we quickly found that we would not be able to visit the tide pools unless we crosses a river that we would definitely get wet on. So after about 20 minutes of scouring the beach looking for a shallow path we took of our shoes and braved the cold ocean water, which actually wasn't that cold. We kept our shoes off any walked around in the tide pools, touching, glimpsing and seeing the wonder that the ocean usually hides.
Soren got to see his first anemones and touches his first starfish which was a pretty exciting moment. I was too busy taking pictures of anemones to even see the starfish hanging out on a rock behind me. Jacob pointed it out and Soren was immediately enthralled. He reached out for it and ever so gently touched it's strange flesh. He loves all beings, its really amazing to see the joy and love in his eyes when he sees an animal, no matter how big or small. Soren is in love with nature, which is such a wonderful thing for us to see. We definitely try to nurture his love for nature but it is something that cannot be forced. I think most kids have an innate interest but can be deterred by negative experiences or their parents not wanting them to get dirty or too cold or get hurt. Soren is not fragile, his life is very important to us and we want to keep him safe but we also want him to learn about his world on his own terms, so we let him explore and get dirty. I know I've talked about this before but we are definitely the opposite of helicopter parents.
After the tide pools we followed Indy to the water. He was having the time of his life chasing big huge swaths of seagulls all around the beach. That dog can run, and run and run and run, he would go all day. But then he would sleep for two days, which is nice! It took him a full day to recover from our morning at the beach.
The ocean wasn't that cold and by the time we made it to the water the fog was starting to clear and the sun was poking through the clouds. We put Soren's feet in the wet sand to feel the liquefaction and the water coming in. He loved the oncoming waves, he watched them and made car noises to mimic their crashing sounds. When the waves hit his he feet he stomped and laughed. He loves the water, something that I have worked very hard at. When I first brought him into a pool with me he cried and clung to me. We have a manmade stream near the children's museum in our town that I have taken him to many many times. I've let him explore the water, play with toys and get him toes in. Every time we went I put him in deeper and deeper until he decided to get further in by himself. When we go now he crawls into the deepest parts of the stream and traverses the entirety of the man made water feature by crawling.
Although the sand was in everything our beach day was a major success. We can't wait to take Soren again and maybe this time camp a little closer. Even though our beaches in the PNW aren't filled with white sand or warm water, they are special to us. For some reason we keep venturing back to their grey, cold sandy shores in hopes of a little break in the clouds and weather warm enough to maybe get knee deep in the water. The day I found out I was pregnant we were heading to the coast, in December of all times. I have wanted to bring Soren here since before he was born and I am thrilled at his reaction to it's wonder. Seeing the world through his eyes makes everything new again. It makes me wanna explore more, see more, show him all there is to be seen. With Summer coming to an end soon I see our weekends taking a slower turn and that is okay too. The world slows down in the Fall and Winter, which I am totally okay with. But this Summer has been one to remember already, and we're not done yet!
After Kalaloch we headed to Lake Quinault where we decided to put the camera away and just be. Of course I had my iphone so I took some pictures with that but it was more a time to just chill and not worry about documenting everything. Our second night at camp came with a rain shower at 2AM and Jacob getting up to get everything put into the car. It was the first rain in weeks and it was wonderful, we just wish we hadn't had all our stuff out in it!
The next morning we made a slow journey home in order to get everything ready for Soren's first birthday party next weekend! I'm doing all the cooking, baking his cake from scratch and DIY-ing the party decor. I think I may lose my mind... But it will be worth it! He's probably not gonna remember it but I will, and it's important to me. Its crazy how 1-year has gone by both so slowly and so quickly. It feels like Soren has been here forever, but really it's only been 12 months, we have so much more time together! Does anyone else think about time like that? I just can't wait to see where time will take us next!
If you want to see more from our camping trip, be sure to check out my vlogging channel,
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSB9vuJcCNGY3hiCHpChyrA?&ab_channel=KaitlynTexley I'll have all of our footage up there in the next couple days!
