Christmas with the McKay Family

We met Derrick's family in Seaside, Oregon, for Christmas. We had beautiful weather and we were able to soak up lots of beach and pool time at the resort!

Alex, Dayton, Bill, and Derrick

Dayton and Daphne loved the beachThe kids carried sticks around for drawing
in the sand and poking at small washed-up jellyfish Daphne loved walking in the sand
and water with her shoes offDayton loved the game that Grandma made up while we walked back to the condo- she dragged a stick making a long curvy line behind her as she walked and Dayton followed the line.

Dare-Devils
Derrick and his siblings had the desire to do all sorts of crazy things while we were at the beach.

Here's Alex and Derrick jumping over a wide creek

Derrick, Alex, and Beth darted out to these rocks

that had water rolling and splashing over them

They climbed this boulder with the tide sweeping around it

Later Derrick, Will, Alex, and Beth decided to run
and jump into the ice-cold ocean, just for the thrill!

Christmas

We were all excited to meet baby Bridget on Christmas Eve (our first niece).

Daphne wanted to hold and kiss Bridget

The McKay girls: Beth, Kaili, Daphne, Michelle, and Bridget

The McKay siblings: Derrick, Alex, Will, and Beth

Christmas Eve we read the Christmas story with character puppets;

the kids were rowdy, so we only made it to the shepherds and the angel

Daphne enjoying her Christmas breakfast feast

Opening presents

Dayton's favorite was this voice-altering mega-phoneHe went to the balcony to shout down to people at the poolThe kids loved the balcony!

Enjoying some Christmas toys

Dayton reading/singing The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

Daphne dressed for Christmas dinner

At dinner, of course everyone ate from MOM'S plateDaphne helped herself to this chocolate cupcake

We quickly removed her sweater to prevent dark stains;
she continued eating the frosting and making a mess.

Derrick's siblings also enjoy making this absurd face for pictures

(made by exhaling and blubbering their lips).
I had to post Derrick's attractive photo!

Reading new books with Grandma

Dayton being silly with GrandmaDayton is proud that he can wink!

Swimming
My kids loved the pool. They swam as much and as long as they could. It was cool at night when they swam, but the pool was warm.

Dayton had a blast swimming with Uncle Alex;

We can't believe he's leaving for his mission next month!!!A video of the kids playing in the pool

Shopping
Seaside has some great factory outlet stores, so we stopped by on our way out of town. We all got GREAT deals on Nike shoes, and we picked up some cheap clothes for the kids at Osh Kosh.

Here's Beth keeping the boys happy while we shopped at Nike