Busy Day...

We began today with a morning stroll on the beach--searching for treasures while the tide was out. Again, we saw amazing sea creatures among the rocks--HUGE mussells, HUGE starfish, and lots of snails, sea urchins and crabs. A great lesson in science! Unfortunately, no sea shells to collect, the Oregon coast beaches are among the cleanest I've ever seen.
































After our beachcoming excursion, we packed up and headed back down to Newport to see the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. It was very cool, but REALLY windy and too long a wait just to climb the 110 stairs to the top. The kids were disappointed, but after waiting nearly 1/2 an hour in line, Mike decided to call it quits. Plus, we weren't allowed to carry Josie to the top, so we were waiting in the bitter cold wind at the bottom. The view from the bottom of the lighthouse was excellent and the day was beautiful and clear, so well worth the trip to see it even if we didn't get to climb to the top.




After the lighthouse, we stopped for lunch and a few shops and then back to the hotel for some family beach pictures. The best one we are saving for our Christmas card this year, so here are a few of the other ones for you to enjoy...







The Guys

















The Girls













The Fam













We head back home tomorrow, but not before we check out the Tillamook Cheese Factory and a possible stroll at Cannon Beach before ending our trip to the coast. Boy, it went fast!

Lazy day...

We had a lazy day today—we woke up to the sounds of the ocean and a beautiful day. Mike & the kids went down to play in the game room and then later, Vanessa and I combed the beach for treasures and built a sand castle. While Jack & Josie napped, Mike took Vanessa out to fly her kite on the beach.






























Josie wore a supercute outfit I had bought for her a long time ago when April Cornell had their going-out-of-business sale.


















Did you know they sold baby gouchos at Old Navy Outlet??? Can you stand it?


















Here’s the sun set from the view from our window.

Jack-golf, deals, sea life and more...

So we had some trouble updating our blog last night…we have FREE wireless internet at the Inn at Spanish Head, but although we show we were connected, we couldn’t access the internet—MADDENING!!!!

We ended our stay at the Salishan with a round of mini-golf just before check-out. This was no putt-putt course where you have to put through windmills or clowns, this was first class--it was truly a “mini” 18-hole golf course on a hill just below the main lodge of the resort. It was a challenging course for even the most seasoned putter. Vanessa, as always, was up for the challenge—counting her swings (and swings and swings).

Jack, took part in his own version of golf, you should try it. Here’s how you play: first, begin by putting down the “fairway”. Once the ball is rolling, run down the “fairway” in a “Phoebe” (episode from “Friends”) kid run, chasing the ball. Once you catch up to the ball, squat down, use your hand and roll the ball into the hole using a scooting hand motion. Voila! Jack-golf! For added fun, when the next putter’s ball comes down the “fairway”, use your scooting-motion, hand-roll to help them out and roll the ball into the hole. Voila—hole-in-one! Good times for all.

I, on the other hand, took part in a round of “baby golf” using Josie as an added challenge to increase my game skills. With Josie in one hand (wow, she’s heavy), I use my free hand to putt. Oddly enough, my accuracy with Josie on my hip was much better than when I was putting using both hands. Mike, of course, was in heaven watching his children play his favorite game, thinking: "Tiger is 1/2 Filippino, my kids are 1/2 Filippino...hmmm...$$$".

Other than the course “hazzards” (water or mud on the greens, Jack, hills, etc.), we had a nice time. We even had a water hazzard on the 10th hole—in the hole—a water hazzard awaited. Jack enjoyed using the pin to splash the water as an added water feature.

After we finished up golfing, we headed towards Lincoln City for lunch. Once our bellies were full, we hit the outlets and got some really good buys! I got a nice black, Columbia Sportswear lightweight winter coat for $54!!!! Cha-ching! Love getting those deals!!!

After we sufficiently exhausted ourselves at the outlets, we checked in to the Inn at Spanish Head and were delighted with the incredible view from our room and the wonderful beach just steps outside the hotel. While beachcoming, we found a mound of mussells with mussells about 4-6 inches big!!!! Wow!!! Curled up into the mound were about a dozen live starfish as well—what a wonderful site to see sealife in it’s natural habitat instead of in an aquarium setting or zoo! Amazing.

We had a nice dip in the hotel jacuzzi and then off to bed to the sounds of the ocean—no “sound machine” necessary at this hotel!

Gleneden Beach--beachcombing

We ended our day with a brisk hike from our room at the resort to the beach. It's about a 15 minute walk down the hill past the golf course. It was great for beachcombing and finding treasures on the beach. It wasn't as windy or cold as it was down in Newport.

Sweet mother...it's cold on the beach here!!!!

We started our day with our normally content and happy baby, Josie, screaming at the top of her pudgy lungs at 6:40 A.M. Apparently, she did not want to sleep anymore (nor did she wish for us to continue sleeping either.) So we got up and started to get ready for our day.

After a very nice in-room breakfast, we took the box lunches the hotel packed for us (included in our family package) and headed down to Newport to the Oregon Aquarium. Newport is about 20 min. South of Gleneden Beach, where our resort is located. Although the drive along HWY 101 is parallel to the coastline, we couldn't see a thing through the marine layer that was still enveloping the area.

And yes, Vanessa did ask the question: "Shouldn't we be at the Aquarium yet?" just about 5 minutes into the drive down. [Sigh...] In addition to our incessant daughter's inquiries, we had Jack repeating: "fog, fog, and more fog" over and over and over as we continued our drive down. Nothing like comments from the peanut gallery...

The Oregon Aquarium is spectacular and surprisingly big. The design is very unobtrusive and has many outdoor exhibits. There is a huge tank which you can walk in a tunnel under the water and view the marine life from below. There are 3 different tanks: fish, stingrays & sharks. It was REALLY cool. There were many photo ops and have posted some of the best pictures.





Vanessa & Jack by an aquarium--go figure!











Big UGLY crab.










Josie on the whale in the children's play area. Isn't she the cutest?

















All our babies on the whale!
















After the aquarium, we did a driving tour of Newport, a very quaint sea town. Then decided to venture out onto on of the beaches. WOW, IT IS COLD AND WINDY ON THE OREGON COAST!!!! Really, we KNEW that, but REALLY, it's bone chilling cold! The drop in tempature from the public parking lot to the beach is about 10-15 degrees and the wind felt like a tornado. Vanessa didn't mind--she got right down and started digging in the sand looking for treasures.

Despite Jack's chanting: "We're going to the beach! We're going to the beach!" over and over in the car on the way there, once he got on the beach, he said: "Beach, beach, beach! It's very, very cold. Jack all done!" He was a sport and did dig for a while, but really was not having a great time. But he put his feet in the sand!!! (Huge tactile achivement for him (autistic thing)).

We're back at the resort to rest before we explore the resort a bit more before dinner and hit the pool again. More pictures and adventures to come!

We ARE there yet!

So we're just hopped on SR14 and literally had been driving for a total of 10 minutes and Vanessa asks: "Are we almost there?" Mike and I start laughing and say, "No, sweetheart. We'll be driving for a couple of hours, so you need to be patient."

We decided to drive North on I-5 (yes, North) and turn West at/near Longview, WA so that we could drive the full length of the Oregon Coast. Did you know that tip of Oregon is actually North of Vancouver? Though we knew that Oregon had a "tip" that kind of wrapped around Washington, it just never occurred to us until we actually looked at the map. So for the time it took us to drive North to Longview, I couldn't help feeling like we were going the wrong way!

Do you know how many ways you can vary the question: "Are we there yet?" There's: "Are we almost there?" and "Are we close to there yet?" and in the imperative: "Tell me when we are getting close to there." Then as you drive a bit further, it becomes "We've been driving forever. Are we there yet?" then what feels like only 3 seconds, "You told me you would tell me when we were close." Then there's the roundabout: "Are all these cars going to the beach?" and then as we do actually get close and inform her of this, she returns to: "Tell me when we get close, close, close." (As opposed to just 'close'.) By this time, our responses are curt "no"s or just sighs of frustration, with our tongues bleeding from repeatedly biting them. We just keep reminding ourselves, "we're on vacation." :)

So we stopped in Astoria for a bit and gazed up at the "Goonies" house and the amazing bridge that connects Oregon to Washington. Then we decided to just drive from there all the way to the Salishan since we had gotten a late start. We took in the beautiful scenary and views and decided to postpone our trip to the Tillamook Factory for later in the week.

After finally arriving at the Salishan Lodge, we were delighted with the lush and beautiful grounds and our spacious room with a view. We cleaned up and headed to dinner. After a nice meal dinning on Tillamook mac & cheese, halibut fish and chips and spaghetti and meatballs, we ran back to the room to change for the pool. After a nice dip, we are settled in for bed. (Our room to the left. Mike, Vanessa & Jack on the couch.)



Our bathroom.










The view from our room.








We plan on going to the Aquarium tomorrow today and will have more adventures to post.

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3...

Here we are! Our first posting...we've just come off of a very busy week celebrating Teresa & Andy's wedding. While the week was filled with a whole lot of running around, it was also filled with fun, family and love.

On August 2nd, we celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary--"how?" you say? CAMPING!!! No, really, we're leaving for the Oregon coast in 2 days to celebrate this momentous occassion--kids and all. Photos soon to come...

August 2, 1996, Missoula, Montana