New Years at the Coast– Welcome, 2020!

After a very full Christmas season, we headed down to the cottage to welcome 2020! We love starting the new year on the coast. Last year we set our intention to experience more fulfillment in work and as a family. This year we hope to find CONTENTMENT in all aspects of our lives– no easy task, but so critical in living a joyful life.

Our littlest collector.
We love, love, love that Cole is showing such an interest in searching for treasures on our walks. Today he carried his own collection bag for the first time and couldn’t wait to fill it with rocks, bits of shell, and a crab claw or two— just like Isla when she was his age!

His biggest belly laughs happen when he is being mischievous! Cole has given us a run for our money since turning two, but goodness, we love him SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!

“I almost saw a sneaker wave.” Isla is writing up a storm these days, and she was very diligent about watching the ocean.

The cold, rainy weather provided lots of opportunities for creative pursuits indoors. I passed my easel down to Isla at Christmas and she had been asking to paint on it every day since. We brought it down to the cottage, along with a GIANT tub of craft supplies, to keep us entertained while the rain poured down outside. Our dining table proved the best space to create, and was constantly covered with all sorts of residual from our masterpieces. Paints, brushes, papers, scissors, bits of string, and glue bottles lay scattered across the tabletop— spare for one clean corner, which we huddled around during meal times. Our floors were dusted with glitter and paper scraps. Paint has ended up places it shouldn’t have, like when Cole dumped it on the rug and painted the cat! Amidst this artistic chaos, however, our hearts were content as we created together by the sea.

Buddy the Elf’s got nothing on us! I had so much fun making and hanging these snowflakes around our dining room.

How many other parents show their kids a New Year’s Eve countdown from an earlier time zone so they can get them to bed? We played a video of the countdown at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and welcomed the new year with their fabulous fireworks display! Kids were in bed before 9:00pm and the grown ups were in bed before 11:00pm. Ha!
This little strategy allowed us a full night’s sleep so we could head down to the beach bright and early before the rain returned. We were surprised to find the shoreline covered in giant mounds of sea foam. I managed to keep Cole out of it for 0.4 seconds. Then I just embraced the messiness and took photos!

For the fourth year in a row we spent the first morning of the new year sand sledding. Nothing better than welcoming a new decade with salt air, good friends, excitement, and lots of laughter!!!

Isla found her first agate of 2020 while we were sledding and it was enormous!

We spent one afternoon at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Our sincerest apologies to the individuals responsible for cleaning the glass…

The McD’s joined us for the last few days at the cottage. The stormy weather and high tides kept us in the cottage most of the time, but we made it down for one nice beach walk!