We finally did our Oregon Coast trip!!! We have been wanting to do this for at least 4-5 years and we finally decided to go for it! We always thought we would never really have the money or time to do it ... (kinda like having kids!!!...right!?), and while we certainly did not have the money this year, we just decided that there was no reason to keep putting it off! Oh, I am so glad we went! We made wonderful memories! We had the best time! We will definitely try to make this an annual trip for our family. There is something about being at the ocean that takes all of your worries away. It's wonderful!
We stayed in Cannon Beach. It was so beautiful there. We rented a quaint little beach house. It had a beautiful sunroom and all of the amenities you would need at your own house. It was perfect! There were two bedrooms, which worked well for us. Jax had his own room and Shawn and I had our own room (of course!). We made Layla sleep in the living room in her pack-n-play. The house was right on the beach (which was where we spent most of our time!).
We got in Tuesday evening and the first thing we did was unpack and settle in. Then we ran down to the local grocery store and stocked up on our food for the week. We made a big batch of cookies Tuesday night, played on the beach, and watched a movie. It was a perfect, relaxing evening after the traveling.
The rest of the week, we spent time exploring the area. We did waaay too much driving; the next time we go, we are going to try and stay within 30 miles of Cannon Beach because there is PLENTY to do between Cannon Beach and Astoria. By the end of the week, Jax would practically melt into a ball on the ground if he had to ride in the car, because he was SO sick of riding in the car.
Wednesday was our big driving day. We went to Tillamook factory. It was so fun to taste all of the yummy cheese. Jax loved watching the workers in the factory and seeing the big bricks of cheese. It was fun! We didn't get any ice cream, but we got lots of yummy fudge!
Getting his smashed penny with Daddy!
After the Tillamook factory, we drove down to Devil's Punch Bowl, but we didn't get out or take any pictures there. It was cold and windy and the kids were completely out, so we kept going another 40 miles or so to check out the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Had we known that there was an aquarium in Seaside (hours closer to where we stayed than the Oregon Coast Aquarium), we would've much preferred to go there. Oh well, our lack of planning this trip taught us some lessons for our next vacation there!
They had a super, super cool shark tunnel at this aquarium. The tunnel was about 75 feet. It was so neat to see the sharks swim over your head. The whole time we were in the tunnel, Jax kept saying: "No, the shark won't get-cha. It won't bite me?" ha! He was fascinated!
After all of the driving on Wednesday, we got back to the beach house and just hung out the rest of the evening. Shawn took Jax out to the beach for a couple hours and I did a little bit of laundry and snuggled Layla....and maybe had one or five cookies! :)
On Thursday, we drove out to Astoria. We drove down Pier 38 and saw some cool ships on the Columbia River. There also were a bunch of sealions on the dock. You could walk down to them, but a couple of experienced boaters warned us about getting to close to the sealions. They said that the sealions' hormones were raging this time of year and it makes them very, very aggressive...so we kept our distance! But they sure were fun to watch!
On the way back from the pier, we stopped in at a neat ship museum. We got to tour a real coast-guard ship and learned a lot of cool history about ships and how they are made.
Touring the ship!
We drove up the rode a little ways from the museum and got to see a real ship wreck on the beach.
To get to the ship wreck, we drove down on the beach - which was a really fun, cool experience to drive on the beach ... until we had to leave and we got stuck. I mean really stuck. We had to go up this steep hill (the one we easily came down). The wheels of our very nice Toyota Highlander were digging deeper into the wet sand as Shawn slowly pushed on the gas. Not good. So he backed up until we were almost in the ocean (YIKES!) and floored it. It didn't work. Shawn started to worry, so I started to panic. He tried the backing up and flooring the gas strategy a couple more times. Finally, on the third try, we caught air and went flying up the hill. I thought we were going to die. Seriously. I have never before been in a car that has landed so hard on the ground. Good thing we paid the extra $ to Dollar Rental for the insurance!! Geez! That was scary!!
Friday we pretty much chilled all day. Played on the beach and checked out a bunch of cute (expensive) little stores around Cannon Beach. Friday was our one night to eat out (because you have to do that a little while you are on vacation!). And, I am telling you, there are NO good restaraunts in Cannon Beach. None. We ended up spending $150.00 on 4 different dinners because they were all terrible. Boo! So dissapointing! We finally found a little crepe store in town that was pretty good - but seriously crepes for dinner just did not cut it!
So we went home and made some dinner with the groceries we had left. Thank goodness we had a nice stocked kitchen in that cute beach house!
Saturday morning we woke up EARLY to make it to the airport. Our beaach house was 1.5 hrs away from the Portland airport. Seriously one of the biggest workouts I've had in a long time is trying to get through security with little kids. I really do appreciate the efforts to make our traveling experiences safer. Really, I do. But, oh my gosh!! It truly is a pain with kids. So, we almost missed our flight back to Boise, which would've been a huge bummer because we had this big graduation party planned for Shawn Saturday afternoon. Luckily, we didn't miss our flight and got on with only seconds to spare!
The grad party was fun and we really appreciate all those who made an effort to come! It meant a lot to us! I am so proud of Shawn and all of his amazing hard work. It took him a little longer to get through school than most people, because he worked full time + while going to school to put me through grad school. How sweet is that!? So his graduation has been a long time coming! It called for a BIG celebration!
The invitations:
I made about 55 of these. They took FOREVER but turned out super cute! They were cuter in real life than this picture! I promise!
Congrats babe!
I didn't get any pictures of the decorations. I made about 50 tissue flowers and hung some around the back porch. It was super cute! I also made big centerpieces for the tables. And of course there were balloons everywhere! It turned out perfect!
YAY! It was a busy, fun weekend!
Lastly, i would just like to document that Jax is a waaay better Mom to Layla than I will ever be! :) Seriously!! He is so, so sweet to her! I didn't grow up with siblings, so I really didn't ever have a frame of reference of what to expect with Jax and Layla, but he is waaaaaay sweeter to her than I ever imagined he would be! It melts my heart to see him love her!
We got in Tuesday evening and the first thing we did was unpack and settle in. Then we ran down to the local grocery store and stocked up on our food for the week. We made a big batch of cookies Tuesday night, played on the beach, and watched a movie. It was a perfect, relaxing evening after the traveling.
The rest of the week, we spent time exploring the area. We did waaay too much driving; the next time we go, we are going to try and stay within 30 miles of Cannon Beach because there is PLENTY to do between Cannon Beach and Astoria. By the end of the week, Jax would practically melt into a ball on the ground if he had to ride in the car, because he was SO sick of riding in the car.
Wednesday was our big driving day. We went to Tillamook factory. It was so fun to taste all of the yummy cheese. Jax loved watching the workers in the factory and seeing the big bricks of cheese. It was fun! We didn't get any ice cream, but we got lots of yummy fudge!
Getting his smashed penny with Daddy!
After the Tillamook factory, we drove down to Devil's Punch Bowl, but we didn't get out or take any pictures there. It was cold and windy and the kids were completely out, so we kept going another 40 miles or so to check out the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Had we known that there was an aquarium in Seaside (hours closer to where we stayed than the Oregon Coast Aquarium), we would've much preferred to go there. Oh well, our lack of planning this trip taught us some lessons for our next vacation there!
They had a super, super cool shark tunnel at this aquarium. The tunnel was about 75 feet. It was so neat to see the sharks swim over your head. The whole time we were in the tunnel, Jax kept saying: "No, the shark won't get-cha. It won't bite me?" ha! He was fascinated!
After all of the driving on Wednesday, we got back to the beach house and just hung out the rest of the evening. Shawn took Jax out to the beach for a couple hours and I did a little bit of laundry and snuggled Layla....and maybe had one or five cookies! :)
On Thursday, we drove out to Astoria. We drove down Pier 38 and saw some cool ships on the Columbia River. There also were a bunch of sealions on the dock. You could walk down to them, but a couple of experienced boaters warned us about getting to close to the sealions. They said that the sealions' hormones were raging this time of year and it makes them very, very aggressive...so we kept our distance! But they sure were fun to watch!
On the way back from the pier, we stopped in at a neat ship museum. We got to tour a real coast-guard ship and learned a lot of cool history about ships and how they are made.
Touring the ship!
We drove up the rode a little ways from the museum and got to see a real ship wreck on the beach.
To get to the ship wreck, we drove down on the beach - which was a really fun, cool experience to drive on the beach ... until we had to leave and we got stuck. I mean really stuck. We had to go up this steep hill (the one we easily came down). The wheels of our very nice Toyota Highlander were digging deeper into the wet sand as Shawn slowly pushed on the gas. Not good. So he backed up until we were almost in the ocean (YIKES!) and floored it. It didn't work. Shawn started to worry, so I started to panic. He tried the backing up and flooring the gas strategy a couple more times. Finally, on the third try, we caught air and went flying up the hill. I thought we were going to die. Seriously. I have never before been in a car that has landed so hard on the ground. Good thing we paid the extra $ to Dollar Rental for the insurance!! Geez! That was scary!!
Friday we pretty much chilled all day. Played on the beach and checked out a bunch of cute (expensive) little stores around Cannon Beach. Friday was our one night to eat out (because you have to do that a little while you are on vacation!). And, I am telling you, there are NO good restaraunts in Cannon Beach. None. We ended up spending $150.00 on 4 different dinners because they were all terrible. Boo! So dissapointing! We finally found a little crepe store in town that was pretty good - but seriously crepes for dinner just did not cut it!
So we went home and made some dinner with the groceries we had left. Thank goodness we had a nice stocked kitchen in that cute beach house!
Saturday morning we woke up EARLY to make it to the airport. Our beaach house was 1.5 hrs away from the Portland airport. Seriously one of the biggest workouts I've had in a long time is trying to get through security with little kids. I really do appreciate the efforts to make our traveling experiences safer. Really, I do. But, oh my gosh!! It truly is a pain with kids. So, we almost missed our flight back to Boise, which would've been a huge bummer because we had this big graduation party planned for Shawn Saturday afternoon. Luckily, we didn't miss our flight and got on with only seconds to spare!
The grad party was fun and we really appreciate all those who made an effort to come! It meant a lot to us! I am so proud of Shawn and all of his amazing hard work. It took him a little longer to get through school than most people, because he worked full time + while going to school to put me through grad school. How sweet is that!? So his graduation has been a long time coming! It called for a BIG celebration!
The invitations:
I made about 55 of these. They took FOREVER but turned out super cute! They were cuter in real life than this picture! I promise!
Congrats babe!
I didn't get any pictures of the decorations. I made about 50 tissue flowers and hung some around the back porch. It was super cute! I also made big centerpieces for the tables. And of course there were balloons everywhere! It turned out perfect!
YAY! It was a busy, fun weekend!
Lastly, i would just like to document that Jax is a waaay better Mom to Layla than I will ever be! :) Seriously!! He is so, so sweet to her! I didn't grow up with siblings, so I really didn't ever have a frame of reference of what to expect with Jax and Layla, but he is waaaaaay sweeter to her than I ever imagined he would be! It melts my heart to see him love her!
