Spring Break at Seabrook

Our week of staycation turned into two little get aways and I actually loved it!  After a couple days at Great Wolf Lodge, we came home for a couple days and waited for Landon to return from Arizona and then we went to Seabrook.  I love that place more every time I go.  The miraculously amazing weather probably plays a large factor in that.  Seabrook was a very last-minute decision because I literally waited until the I could see what the forecast would be before I booked anything.  We had a to of sunshine and no rain.  We ended up staying in a small cottage next door to the Stacey's much larger beach house.  This was super convenient for splitting up meals and coordinating adventures.  

This little cottage was bigger than it appeared.  The basement had a bunk room and a big bedroom and the upstairs had a kitchen and family room.  It makes me think of downsizing and all the time I would save cleaning!

Henry showing off his bunk bed

I found so many sand dollars I forced myself to only collect a handful because I have too many.

My most favorite beach discovery--By-the-wind Sailor.  There were thousands of these dried up on the beach but I found a few fresh ones and they are so pretty.  They're a type of jellyfish and they literally have a blue sail that steers them across the water so they look like little sailboats.

Lots of kite flying on the beach

Pickle ball and wiffle ball were a lot of fun after the Stacey's joined us

We finally went clam digging and it's so fun!  There were so many people on the beach digging for clams.  you can see all their piles of wet sand.  

We caught a lot of shrimp and only one clam that I accidentally squished.

The heated pool is always a good time

Henry and Jack just barely learned how to ride their bikes so they biked everywhere and it was so awesome.  They could bike or walk everywhere and the convenience of it all makes me question my life choices of living in a neighborhood that isn't within walking distance to anything.  I guess city life wouldn't be that bad if it meant not having to drive everywhere, especially last-minute trips to the grocery store.

It feels like you're living on a movie set.

sunset pictures and football throwing

The Stacey kids too

Walking to the beach at sunset.  The Seabrook life is a good life!

The BYU Roommate Reunion 2025

Way back in December, Randy hosted his BYU roommates and their wives for a fun five-day vacation.  All but two of them grew up in Arizona together and currently five of the eight still live in Arizona.  This meant everyone was cold even though the weather was pretty great the entire five days.  We had sunshine every day, until we packed up to leave.  

We spent the first day showing everyone around Seattle on a boat cruise on Lake Union.  It's always fun taking people for the first time because they are always in awe of the beautiful mansions, sea planes coming and going, and the Seattle skyline.  We ate seafood at Ivar's and had a great time with no injuries, no car accidents/truck explosions, or mishaps.  Felt like a miracle.

Ivar's Seafood

Tour Guide Mel

After dinner at Din Tai Fung (if you know you know), we drove our three cars filled with people and beach gear, down to Seabrook.  I love Seabrook!  Randy rented a huge and beautiful vacation home with enough beds for everyone although some people had to share a room with bunk beds.  It was beautiful and overlooked pickle ball courts and the beach.  We hung out, walked to the bakery for the most delicious cinnamon rolls, worked out at the gym, explored the beach, sunk the Audi, went to the ice cream shop, ate lots of good food prepared by yours truly, and watched the BYU football game.  It was heaven!

This house was gorgeous!

We hogged the pickle ball courts and didn't feel bad about it

Randy and I had fun cruising around town like we live on a movie set

We took a million pictures but this is enough to give you an idea of the fun we had

The Olympic Peninsula Rain Forest

Now that I have two college boys of my own, I appreciate even more how awesome Randy's roommates are.  They have become great men/fathers/friends, and I wish my boys could have the same experience.  Maybe they will but it feels pretty rare.  It was fun reminiscing about college days too.  One of the things these guys did was applaud whenever someone walked into the apartment at the end of a long day.  Imagine coming home after working and studying all day and your roommates give you a round of applause and cheer for you like you just accomplished something great!  Wouldn't that make you feel like a million bucks? Everyone needs someone cheering them on.  No wonder these guys had so much fun and had so many girls hanging around them, me included.

The Great Sinking of the Audi

Randy's Audi sank in the ocean.  I kid you not.  You might be thinking to yourself Wait, didn't they have a truck blow up too?  Yes!  Yes, we did.  The horrible, bad luck we have with cars continues.  At this point I would say we are cursed.  In our defense, we weren't driving the Audi when it sank.  It was Randy's BYU roommate who gets the credit for this catastrophe.

We hosted Randy's BYU roommate reunion in September. We had a ton of fun but I'll share the details about that in a separate post.  Here's what you need to know...

We were staying in a huge beach house in Seabrook WA and we heard there was a nearby beach you can drive your cars on.  Randy and I took the Audi down to check it out and had a lot of fun driving through the wet sand and scattering seagulls.  It looked like a car commercial and we had a lot of fun.  

A couple hours later Randy decided we should take all eight couples back to that beach so we loaded up in the truck and the Audi.  Randy and I were in the truck and our friends were following us in the Audi.  When we got to the beach we knew right away the tide was coming in because the beach was so much smaller with much less space to drive.  We couldn't even drive as far down the beach as we had earlier because what once had been a small stream had become a deep, wide creek filled from the tide.  We turned around and weren't too far from the beach entrance when we came across another wide stream.  We drove through it just fine in the truck but the water was definitely about 2-feet deep.  We quickly got through it and turned to watch the Audi behind us.  This is when things went bad.

I think Steve who was driving the Audi saw all the water spray around us as we drove the truck through and probably thought he'd go across where it was less deep.  I don't know.  It all happened really fast.  Anyway, Steve didn't follow us and went farther away from the shoreline, probably thinking the water wouldn't be as deep even though it was much, much wider to cross.  He hit the water going really fast, with the sun roof wide open and the Audi slammed into 3-4 feet of water and the engine cut off.  Water dumped in through the sunroof and one of the guys in back tried to open the door (dumb idea) and of course water started pouring in.  Then Steve kept trying to start the car again, further flooding the engine with more water.  

I tried not to die.  Randy calmly parked the truck (on dry sand) and waded out while I looked on in horror.  There was a ranger who pulled up and when I asked if he could help pull us out, he laughed and said the tide was coming in and he would get stuck if he tried to pull us out of the creek. (yes, it was an actual creek that had filled with the tide coming in, transforming it from a small stream beach goers could cross, to a large creek).  He told us to leave the Audi there over night and try to get it in the morning.  I died again.

Everyone climbed out of the Audi through the open sunroof and we miraculously got it out of Park and pushed it out of the water.  Everyone watching us was shocked we were able to do this because the creek kept getting deeper as we scratched our heads wondering what to do.  Water continued to pour out from under the Audi as we pushed it out of the creek and onto dry sand.  The ranger lent us his tow rope and towed the Audi off the beach and we took everyone home in the truck.

Long story a little bit shorter...The engine was hydro locked and because we lease the Audi, we knew we would have to replace it if it was totaled (for $44,000).  Steve covered the cost of the tow truck to the Audi dealership ($1,000) and we found out several days later that it was totaled.  Water was still dripping from it and mold had started growing inside because they never opened the windows.  Insurance doesn't typically cover stupidity but since that beach is considered a road way, our insurance covered the claim.  (miracle!)

Watch this video of the crash.  Steve's wife knows it's bad, meanwhile our friends in the back seat are just laughing.  

We are trying to get Steve's insurance to take the hit because he was the driver and has a great insurance record, unlike the Ball family.  But that is sounding too good to be true at this point so lets just assume we will be kicked off our auto insurance policy again.  For the third time.

One of our friends took this picture of us as we were trying to decide if we were financially ruined or not :)

Seabrook 2025

We went to Seabrook for a few days over spring break.  We've been there once before and didn't love it but this time was pure magic.  Now I know why people rave about this place and want to go back again and again.  Seabrook is the tiny little tourist town with quaint little beach houses that are mostly privately owned and rented out.  The whole place looks like you've stepped onto a movie set and feels surreal.  I found us a small AirBnB that wasn't crazy expensive and the weather was sunny, which made all the difference.  Randy was still recovering from the flu so he slept a lot while the boys and I played on the beach and swam in the new, heated pool.

This is just under three hours from our house.

I always get a laugh of the awkward photos Randy takes of Landon :)

Our place came with beach cruisers.  Parker and I had so much fun riding them around while Henry scootered.  We were right by the beach, the town center that had shops, restaurants, and an arcade so it was fun to just send the boy there when they wanted.  Last time we stayed farther away and had to drive every time we wanted to go do something. Location made a huge difference.

We struggled to get our kite in the air 

Randy didn't struggle.  I think the wind changed :)

We are really getting used to having three boys around.  I no longer feel like a traveling circus act.

Over priced ice cream at it's finest

You know you're the youngest/spoiled when your dad takes you to the arcade and actually pays so you can play the games.  I usually just make my kids watch.  The arcade is actually a genius idea for those rainy beach days.  But the sun was out for us so I was just annoyed Henry managed to get more screen time!

We slept in and they didn't. Notice the bag of chips in bed.

Our impressive sand dollar collection

The new pool and giant heated hot tub were so much fun.  There was also a gym and Landon showed me how to use all the machines.  We had fun working out together while everyone else was sleeping.