Wedding, Horses and Sand...Oh My!

On September 1st, we were invited to the wedding of our oldest niece Katie. The ceremony was about 3 hours away, so we loaded up the car in the morning and set off.  The kids did soooo good in the car and we only had to stop once or twice for potty breaks.  The ceremony and reception were beautiful, Katie was gorgeous and she and our new nephew Jeff seem so happy together.  I took my camera, but didn't ever get it out of my purse...I was preoccupied making sure my babies were behaving well. :)

After the reception was over, we'd only been out of the car for as long as it took to drive there, so we knew we needed to find something for the kids to do before we left.  We asked our family memebers who live in town and they told us the best way to get to the beach (less than 5 minutes away!!!) and my in-laws had spent the previous night in a hotel and had discovered some fun things for our littlest nieces to do.  Off we went in search of adventure!

First we found a small area where you can ride horses for just a couple dollars.  We had to wait a bit for the horses to come back from a ride on the sand, but it was set up kind of like a little cowboy camp so the kids had some things to do while we waited.

They "started" their own fire.

The horses started coming back.  He was anxious to see which one he'd get to ride.

The girls were able to ride the horses earlier in the day, so they excitedly told Malachi which ones had been theirs and all the things they'd learned.

I tiny bit unsure, but so excited!

Since Sapphira is afraid of even little dogs, we wondered what she'd think of a big horse.  She got on with Daddy's help and didn't look back!

Off they go!  The trainers took the kids on a loop around the stables.  They were never far from us and we could hear giggles the entire time.

I don't know what this face is about but it sure is cute!

After having so much fun riding, we walked two blocks down the street to the beach.  What a great way to get out all the extra energy from riding in the car!

Funny story...after we'd finished eating at the reception, the 4 kids were playing off to the side of the room with some other kids.  We saw Addy and Malachi pair off like they normally do and start talking.  A bit later, they came up to our table holding hands and informed us that they had just gotten married, too.  I asked them what they did to get married and they said they'd held hands said "I'm married to you" and then Malachi kissed her on the cheek.  Ta-da!!!  Married!

I love living so close the the beach!  Our house is only about an hour away from the Oregon coast.  Our kids love it, too!

When the sun was nearly set, we walked back to Grandma and Papa's hotel and took baths to get the sand and dirt off and get jammied up.  Sapphira fell asleep about 45 minutes after we started heading home and Malachi stayed up for nearly 2 hours but was content to just lean against his pillow and watch the moon.  I'm thankful we have good travelers!  Congratulations to Katie and Jeff and here's to another good day for the memory books!