Oregon at Last

 So I know that it has been a while since we actually went to Oregon, but I have not blogged about it yet, and since I don't want it to get washed away in the upcoming holiday tides, here it is now.  Yay!  Because I love Oregon, and the Oregon Coast, and I am sad to see summer go.  Usually I am done with the hot weather by now, but this summer was so pleasant, and so short, and I wish it would last just a little bit longer.  It hasn't snowed in Logan yet, but set the snow line a couple hundred feet and it will soon.

The "Niagra of the West" Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho.  Definitely a cool place to check out!

But enough about cold, boring Logan.  Let's profile Pacific City, Oregon and our adventures there and back.  Traveling with two little ones is hard and long.  They are both great travelers, but let's face it: it's a long time in the car.  We split the drive into two days both ways, but I think we made the drive out too long.  We took long breaks thinking that it would be better, but really just made for a really long day.  But Theron was still nursing, and so we had to have stops anyway.  We stayed at my friend Gaylene's beautiful house in Pasco, Washington.  It was great!  She has twin boys the exact same age as Theron.  They are cute, tenacious little guys.  They were both smaller than Theron and already moving around.  Theron is such a gentle giant compared to most babies his age.  But it was lovely to see my friend that I hadn't seen in years, and to meet her kids.  

 

Multnomah Falls in the Columbia Gorge.  One of my favorite places ever.

 

We got Portland the next day and had a little family reunion with my dad's family.  We spent the night with my cousin Kate, which was so nice of her.  She and her partner Jason hosted us last summer too, and I'm surprised they were up for it again, seeing as how Eve terrorized their cat, Monster.  Monday we took a little detour to Corvallis before heading to the coast and visited my old work and ate at our favorite restaurant there.  Then, finally, we made it to the beach.  The Beach!

 

 

 Classic Eve.  Just enjoying the sun and the sand.

Now, I'm not complaining, because we had a wonderful time.  Our house fantastic and the weather great.  BUT.  I was not anticipating the amount of Work I had to do on my "vacation."  There was lots to do and see, but my kids ended up being so tired and thrown out of their schedule that by Wednesday, they both lost it.  I mean, complete and utter melt downs by both of them.  And of course it would be when Richie was golfing.  My mom and cousin were there, but you know, it's just different when one parent it missing.  It literally was the worst day I've had with both of them.  So many many tears.  My poor cousin just sort of looked at me and was like, "I don't think I'm ready for kids yet...(nervous laugh.)"  I can't blame her. 

 At the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport

Our beach house was not directly on the beach, so to get to it you had to walk about 15 minutes on a little path, then walk another ten minutes through sand to get to the water.  With a baby, a giant bag of blankets and towels, a diaper bag, various toys and snacks, and a toddler who thought it too hard to walk in sand (in her defense, it was really hard to shuffle through it, especially uphill), it made going to the beach quite the outing.  Not to mention that the previous 6 weeks had been filled with Eve's constant listing of every ocean creature she could think of and expecting to see them all at the beach.  Where are the whales, Eve?  They're in the deep water.  Where are the walruses?  Where are the fat,scary octopuses?  Sigh.  Good thing we went to the aquarium! 

 Cookie break at the beach

 Fish faces

But there were good things.  Shopping at the outlet malls.  Yummy crab dinners and Pie Soup.  Golfing, fishing, the beach, tide pools, game nights, waterfalls, desserts, family, book stores, and THE OCEAN.  It was grand.  I love going to the beach.  And I'm so glad that despite our distance from it, Eve loves it too.

 The famous 'Pie Soup."  If anyone has talked to Richie about the Oregon Coast, he will talk about pie soup.  He loves it.  We drove two hours for it.  We all dug in and devoured it.

 

On our last day I woke up Eve early to go to the tide pools and collect sand dollars in the low tide.  It was a lot of fun, and Eve loved the tide pools.  We found a lot of cool little creatures. And then we got a hot chocolate to share.  It was such a quiet, nice time to have with just Eve.  I will keep that for me for a long time.  Thank you Oregon.  I love you and miss you.