It ‘s summer and the boys and I decided to take a last-minute trip to the beach and go camping.  We quickly realized we had no idea where our tent had gone and decided instead to find a cabin at the KOA.  We made the long but beautiful drive and were rewarded with sunny skies and warm sand when we arrived.  As we  drove along looking for a place to stop, we spotted Ona Beach and took a chance. It was quite beautiful and the beach itself was empty.  It was glorious to sit and relax and let Henry have the run of the place.  There was a makeshift arbor and aisle where someone had certainly gotten hitched recently.

After a nice afternoon we headed to the cabin at Walport. Since the trip was spontaneous, I went with easy, not a tent(ours was  missing), affordable, and close to the beach.  The cabin  was nice and the KOA had a playground which helped with the restless one and a half-year old.  Camping with a toddler is never what you think it will be, no relaxing fire and slow roasting smores while my husband plays the guitar.  Instead we were chasing.  Chasing him into the car, out of someone else’s tent or RV, and not really relaxing at all.  That didn’t matter when piled up against all the moments of him  discovering new things and climbing over driftwood and the endless exploration that reminds us that childhood itself is magical even when nothing is really happening.  We  did make the winding drive down to Cape Perpetua and climbed out and braved the rocks and wind to see the views.  I would highly recommend this stop next time you are headed south on the Oregon coast.

On the way home we stopped off at the YWAM base in Salem where my husband lived when he was a kid.  It was fun to see all the places he ran around and for him to see what had changed and what was still there.  I am so thankful for the full childhood that he experienced.