Oregon Coast-Yachats-Part 3

Told you this was a dream vacation. I feel so happy and so blessed. I only wished I learned to be this happy when fall comes around too. I love fall but I HATE rain since we get so much of it in this area. I never hated rain until I came here. I am convinced it's the rain and the cloudy days that make me depressed. I am also convinced I am getting medical help this time around. Also I am thinking on buying one of those lights.

But back to the dream...

After I got back from DC on Wednesday night (July 20th) I thought I had a day to do laundry and pack some more. Well... Wrong. Shane surprised me with a hotel in Portaland and we left early on Thursday. We packed real quick and left and got there in plenty time for swimming at the hotel and just relaxing and having dinner. 

This made our trip the next day to the coast a lot shorter. This way we were able to stop along the way a little and see the beautiful ocean. 

Our destination was Yachats in Central Oregon Coast. It was cheaper to vacation there. Shane's brother Mike and his family came too. They were celebrating their 15th anniversary and it so happened that the house we rented was next door to their hotel they stayed at so many years ago. 

Our house was nice, full of the most unmatching knick knacks I have even seen but it had everything we needed for cooking anything we wanted, and it had tons of beds, futons that even more families could have stayed there. 

So aside from the family reunion this was really Shane's vacation too. It was fun to have all of us there and Mike and Noel. 

We explored lots of tide pools, lots of beaches, sand dunes, ate at Mo's, danced and did Karaoke and just plain had a lot of fun. It was relaxing. Just what I needed after a big tour of DC. The kids were happy playing on the beach and being chased by waves. The water was frigid so I wished a little we were in SoCal but oh well, one can't have it all. 

We flew kites and jumped and got a thousand pictures and even saw a whale on our last day there. 

How I wish we stayed longer than 3 nights. 

After Oregon we had a family reunion/memorial for my step father in law's dad and went to Vancouver BC. That was also a lot of fun. We saw fireworks there for some contest,  They had different countries show their talents on different nights and we got lucky and saw China's fireworks. Probably the best I have even seen. also Vancouver, BC is just a beautiful city. This time I left my camera behind. I had had enough and I have no point and shoot. I work backwards I tell you. 

Also we want to go camping. My dad hasn't had any fun this summer. He babysat my kids when mom and I were in DC and Shane at work, took care of my dog and it's only fair to take him somewhere so we are planning a camping trip soon. Shane has to work so I guess I will have them all to myself. 

With all these trips none of my initial summer plans happened but I can't really say I regret it. No major cleaning has been done, no garage sale, no major dejunking. I always think I get to be a stay at home mom during the summer and experience what most moms get to do all year long but instead it's just a vacation, a little  longer than it is for most and for that I am so grateful and the reason why I love my job and don't see changing  it any time soon. 

And an amazing thing that can't be forgotten. My Lavinia is binkie free. Yeah, about time. She was so obsessed with that thing. She lost it in Canada while going on the dune buggy and that was the last I had. It was a tought adjustment. Actually she lost it right before the camping trip which  might explain why she was so whinny there. Either way, I am happy she's fine now and her teeth are even going back in like the dentist said they would. Phew, I am glad that's done. Now to potty training. It's such a pain. I thought I had the summer to do it but with being gone that was obviously not on my list. I hope to report with success in a few weeks. 

So that's it folks! I am happy! I love summer! Now I have to take my son school shopping. I have a little kindergartener here soon. Can't believe it but he's so READY!

 Isn't the coast so beautiful? I love the ocean wherever it is though.

 Noel took this picture and I love it.

 Mike, Noel, Alexis

 His kite is strong enough to pull him up in the air. Haha!

 Ariel is her middle name so she loved being a little mermaid.

 The octopus

Shane, the funny man 

 My beautiful niece, Alexis

 Alexis and I went on a walk and took pictures of each other. She took this one.

 She made me one too many cakes.

 M, N, A, L foot prints and more haha

 Our family. Look at how small my girl is. She is lighter than the youngest Sanders grandchild  and Zeke is a year and a half younger than her.

 Mike, Noel, Alexis, Logan

 Dacian

 Look at those waves- they were so big and strong

 Run for your life

 Dacian and Alexis were best buds and spent a lot of time together building castles

This was a very warm little river that was dumping into the ocean so the kids loved being there. 

 One of the tidepools

 Holding a star fish. There were hundreds there.

 Spouting horn-the water would go under the rock and go up a little tunnel and spout water up like a geizer. It was really tall and pretty cool.

 We found some coins in the sand.

 Me jumping at sunset

 Happy Anniversary Mike and Noel

 Alexis and I

 We went to a cool science center in Newport. The octopus was one of their bigger attractions.

 The house we stayed at had a nice sun room

Noel is the ghost of the lighthouse we visited. The haunted lighthouse.

 Not our castle but just pretending it's hours

 Family picture

And here's the whale. You could see if when I zoom in but I don't know how to save it all zoomed in so just trust me. See the water jet going up? 

I know this is a lot of pictures but this is nothing really compared to how many I took.