Monday, August 22, 2011

Oregon


Another wonderful week gone by, spent with friends on the Oregon coast. We truly love heading down to Oregon each year and doing wonderful family activities.
Friday July 29th we left work early and headed to the border- thank goodness for our Nexus pass, as we were through the border in no time and on our way to Olympia. Denise and Ian were ahead of us and texting about how bad the Seattle traffic was- so we headed to the 401 and by passed the jam. We arrived in Olympia to the Phoenix Inn and suites and what a lovely hotel it was. We all walked down to the Mercato Italian Restaurant for dinner. They seemed to have a hard time seating 8- but we eventually got a seat in the back of the place. After a great feast it was back to the hotel and to bed after a long day.
Saturday was a gorgeous hot morning- we had the buffet breakfast and then headed towards Salem. We made a detour so Frank could buy a new bass and then headed to the Walmart in Salem. We stopped for subway and food supplies (boy is it cheap!) and then we were coast bound! We arrived in Neskowin at 2ish, go the key and headed up to the house.
Frank and Ian were headed to the the White Snake concert that night - so we made an early dinner and then Denise drove them to the Chinook Winds for their concert. We hit the sack early- all that fresh ocean air is tiring.
Sunday, Denise and I decided to hit the outlet mall for a few hours while the guys headed to the beach with the little people. We shopped for a few hours- got some awesome deals and then back to the house.
After all that shopping we were not in to making dinner so we headed to Pacific City and that wonderful dune. We climbed the dune and the kids ran ahead. The menfolk also ran to the top. On my way up I was greeted with Danica coming back down as she had sand in her contacts- poor thing. So she and I headed to the Pelican Pub to get the sand out and book a table for 8. The rest hung out at the dune and we turned back at one point to see a herd of horses at the top of the dune, poised to run down, and run down they did. The kids got to pet the horses at the bottom. Dune climbing is tiring work, so we eagerly sat down in the pub and ordered our fish and chips. What a great setting for a pub. After dinner we enjoyed the lovely sunset- after all that is what Oregon is about.
Monday we figured that it was time to get some food- so we all headed to the Safeway- the guys were going to drop us off and go to the Lincoln City beach for a while- as we go out of the car, I noticed that our tire was flat- flat- flat! So Frank and Ian installed the spare and went in search of a tire repair shop instead of the beach as planned. We headed in to Safeway to shop.
When we were done, there they were with the tire al fixed- thanks Les shwab! Denise and I went back to Neskowin with the little ones and Frank and Ian and the older 2 set out in search of an Internet cafe! We headed to the beach for an afternoon of kite flying,sand castle building and reading our books. The guys joined us much later. After dinner we were too tired for a campfire so we deferred in until the next night.
Tuesday we started off the day early and headed to Florence and the sand dunes. It was a long 2.5 hour drive but we arrived and headed to the dune site to book our sand rail experience. It was a long wait, which we filled with a picnic lunch and mini golf. But it was so worth it. We had Me, Frank, Dara, Delaney and Denise in one sand rail and Ian, Danica and Quinn in the other. It was crazy- we went up over 800 feet and felt like we were on a crazy roller coaster. The girls screamed and screamed but LOVED it. It was a 30 min thrill ride. What a great experience!! Then it was back home - stopping at the Fred Meyer in Newport for some Starbucks and supplies for the house. We picked up Papa Murphy's take and Bake pizza and headed home. No fire Tuesday either- we were pooped!
Wednesday Frank, Ian , Danica and Quinn, headed up to the Silitz river and rented a boat to go fishing, while we went to the outlet mall and shopped for back to school for the little ones. No fish were caught but lots of clothes were bought. Wednesday night we had a huge fire on the beach- it was awesome. There were marshmallows to be roasted and fun was had by all. Until we had to come home- then it was dark and we had to walk across Hawk Creek in that dark and cold! Then Denise fell on the stairs on the way up - it was not that much fun!
Thursday we had to take the older ones shopping for back to school- so to the outlet mall we went for a hours and then we headed to Foggerty Creek for a BBQ lunch and a few hours of agate hunting- a favourite pass time.
Before we knew it Friday was upon us!! We decided to spend the entire day at the beach. We headed down in the morning spent the day on the beach with a break for lunch and then we were there late into the afternoon until the tide was almost up to our towels. We headed back for dinner and then back to the beach for a bonfire!!
Saturday morning we cleaned up the house and headed for home-too short a trip!
We stopped at the Walmart in Salem for school supplies. Then it was straight up to Tullalip and some last minute deals there.
We reached the border at 9:30pm - exhausted from a day of travel- sailed through the border and homeward bound.
Another awesome trip under our belt and memories to last a life time.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Spring?


Well, the one advantage to this rainy Spring we are having is that I have been able to catch up on my scrapbooking. I am perpetually 6 months behind. But with rainy days and some spare time I am closing that gap. I have also been able to catch up on lots of reading as the girls have started Spring swimming-which amounts to 10 hours a week that I am at the pool. So reading and scrapbooking have been at the top of my things to do.
We had a great Spring break getaway in Hawaii- but that tan has faded fast. 1300 photos or so were taken in those 2 weeks away- thank goodness for mac books otherwise those photos might never have seen the light of day!
It has been a pretty busy year so far- so there have been lots of photos taken and so I do hope to get on top of all that. There are so many other projects around the house I wish I had time to do too. I have managed to paint the bathroom, but still have the master bedroom and all the windowsills in the house to paint. Not to mention the yard work. The flowers are late to bloom this year due to the continuous rain, but the weeds don't mind they come up no matter what.

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Where is summer?



As the days start to get longer again, I am so looking forward to summer. It seems the cold is very much in my bones and I long for some sun on my face. Spring break cannot come soon enough for a get away, but oh summer where are you?
This last summer we seemed to cram so much in and yet still never got to do the things I really wanted to- like hang out at the lake more often, go swimming (other than swim club) and more long bike rides. We did actually manage to get down to Stanley Park once- which was awesome. But this summer I hope we can get some more canoeing, bike riding, hiking in. It is going to be a challenge- especially now that I am working 5 days a week- but here's to hoping.

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Chucks


Oh my word- my girls love their chucks. I could not believe the state of Danica's when I had a close look at them! I had the hardest time convincing her that they needed to be chucked away! She claimed "they are soooooo comfy"- but I do believe she was walking on pavement through the heels!! So we threw them away and got her her 4th or 5th pair- she seems to need a new pair every 6 months or so. I know how hard it is to find a GOOD pair of shoes so I am glad that she has found that in her chucks.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Vegas Baby



May 2010 Linda, Denise, Nat and I headed out to Vegas for 4 days. Linda and I flew out of Vancouver at some ungodly hour on the Thursday. Nat and Denise dropped the kids at school and then made a run for the border to Bellingham. As luck would have it we all landed at the same time. We were in Vegas baby!! We caught a cab to the Planet Hollywood Hotel, checked in and we were rearing to go. Wow, is all I can say. I have not been to LV since 1998 and it has changed so much.


The hotels, if possible, are bigger than ever, and the glitter and bling is incredible. Needless to say we shopped and shopped and saw so much (and that was just the first day). While we were there we saw the Cirque show Zumanity- amazing, rode the roller coaster at NY, NY, ventured up the Eiffle Tower, floated down the lagoons on a Gondolla and then shopped some more. After 4 amazing days in Vegas we were ready to come home. We were exhausted. We had so much fun though it was well worth the exhaustion. Denise is the only one who won 'big", we mostly just sat at the slots to get the free drinks! It was a great trip and we hope to do it again soon- thanks ladies for a blast.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

It's been a year!!!


Really, it has been a year since I posted a thing- that is pretty sad ;(
I have been busy scrapbooking this last year- I still seem to be a year behind, but managed a year in review collage. I really like this idea as I can get a lot of info into one page.
2010 was a great year - we had some fantastic family holidays, we did a lot of fun stuff and spent some wonderful family time together. The girls had a most amazing summer- with one camp and the next. Winter brought a tiny bit of snow- but this winter has yet to bring a huge snow dump as was promised. The Christmas holidays were a whirl as always, but a great time none the less. I will try and post more in 2011, really I will.