Father's Day: Ruby Beach

E loves haystacks, so I chose Ruby beach for Father's Day.  It was a quick and easy drive from the rainforest shrouded lake and our morning moss hike.  We picnicked in the car and arrived excited.  The weather was lovely, warming while we were there, and the tide cooperated with our crossing... mostly ;)

The child ran his way down the trail.

A sizable river ran into the ocean.  

P clambered out into the river/pond... only to realize that jumping back (from big to little rather than little to big) wasn't favorable;)

So he worked a solution (the logs wouldn't hold E or I without rolling.)

There was climbing...

And then, a crossing.  The river that ran into the ocean separated us from the sandy beach, which P prefers over the rocky one...  Fortunately, a timber mini-damn provided me with a rickety crossing... only to fall apart as E stepped onto it!  So, following life's flow, P decided to aid its dismantling...

The tide: a boy's best playmate.

Lots to climb!

E and P played games with the tide for forever.  Oh happy days:)

And raced...

Warm and digging.

When it was time to go, we all realized we needed to get back across the river.  The boys had long ago lost their shoes, but I was so very uninterested in bending over to unlace my hiking boots only to replace them on the rocky shore moments later :)  So I walked along the river, looking for something shallow enough to just walk across, or even another log damn... In comes heroic hubby and swept me off my feet and carried me across.  The child, always watching, despite seeming to be very, very busy filling his shirt with sand, finished his collecting and wandered over mid-river and gave Ethan the most dashing smile he could afford.

Of course, E carried him across too :) 

Rock skipping with a hundred pound collecting bag, while walking barefoot on the rocks.  Now that's dedication :)