Family, Friends and Fireworks

We've just returned home from our trip to Rockaway Beach, Oregon for an old fashioned family 4th of July. That it was! Grandma Jan and Papa Ron invited us to stay at their beach house. Upon arrival, the boys decided that they would commandeer the downstairs bedroom and leave mom and dad to fend for ourselves on the futon. We caved...at least for one night! After that, even I didn't have enough natural 'padding' to make that comfortable!
They boys were off to the beach no less that 15 minutes after our arrival. No pics from that time (major regrets!) as I left the camera behind not knowing that Thursday would have our only hours of sun! We dug and carted and patted and toiled to make the perfect sand castles. Ian was enamored with the ocean and convinced daddy to take him in, Nate joined later. What started as looking at the water was then toes in, ankles in, run from waves, wade in waves, sit in waves, full on body surfing (with Dave holding on to them for dear life!) The 3 of them were drenched from head to toe and couldn't be happier!
The 4th brought us to the town parade. A half hour of cars and 'floats' made by the locals. Taffy and tootsies flew from the air. By the end of the parade, in true Oregon Coast fashion, were were soaked to the skin with drizzle. Nate didn't care though, he had a bucket load to take home.
The fun continued into the afternoon with town games. Nate decided to take on the pee wee crowd in the Money Pit. $30 of dimes, nickles and quarters were hidden in the sand in a 6 x 6 foot square. 10 minutes later, he had $.80 (don't tell him but some kids, mostly the girls, hauled out over $5.00 in coins.) After the kids were long gone, off doing races, we found an additional $2.70 in undiscovered coins.
We finished the day with a huge family bbq with the Westby's neighbors in their stunning beach front home. Nate and Ian, true Shuster boys, charmed the girls in the house. Nate attached himself to the 11 year old (you go Nate!) and Ian palled around with the 4 and 2 year olds. Running joke of the weekend, Ian was so happy to about his sleeping arrangements, he invited everyone he met to 'sleep with him'. Rockaway Beach had a fantastic fireworks show at 10pm to cap off the night. Both boys barely could keep their eyes open for it but they made it and had a great time.