Family Vacation--Part 1

Our vacation was fabulous! I'm not sure I can summarize it all in one post, so it may take more than one. We left at 8 am Saturday (March 26th) and 13 hours later we arrived at the house on the coast. That's right--13 HOURS!!! The drive was long, but the kids did surprisingly well. We just had to take lots of stops to feed Owen and to let the kids stretch their legs. Our first stop was at a rest stop and it was pouring rain. Scott needed to get something out of the back of the suburban, and when he lifted the hatch, out fell a bag and our laptop. It's an old laptop. They were getting rid of it at Scott's office a few months ago because it was so old, and they told him he could have it. When it hit the ground, a few pieces broke off. I spent the next hour apologizing for not packing things better. (We had to wait till we got to the coast to discover that it no longer worked. I'll talk more about that later.) We did a major stop in Pendleton for lunch at McDonalds and another major stop for dinner in Salem at Denny's (on Saturdays kids eat free at Denny's!). And there were a few more little stops in there for baby feedings and bathroom breaks.

The house we stayed in was small, but worked just fine for all of us. It had a hot tub on the porch, and the kids LOVED swimming in it everyday. Rain or shine, the kids were in the hot tub. It was a full time job for me to keep up on the laundry just with the towels (I really missed my high capacity washer and dryer while we were there).


We weren't directly on the beach, but just a short walk to it. We had a view of the ocean, and I quite enjoyed watching the waves anytime I wanted.



We had rain almost every day we were there, but it didn't seem to deter us from doing everything we wanted.

Our first full day there was Sunday, so we just hung out at the house, swam in the hot tub, and took the kids down to the beach to play. It had rained all day, but in the late afternoon, it looked like it was clearing up, so we took a chance and went down to the ocean. It was wonderful--being together as a family, listening to the crashing waves, watching my little boys dig in the sand, watching the older three kids run out toward the ocean, then come running back trying to outrun each wave. I stood next to my husband and fought back tears of happiness. I thanked Scott once again for planning this trip for us. Then I just sat and watched my beautiful family play, while feeling overwhelmingly happy. And then....it started to rain again. I suggested we head back to the house. We started to round up the kids and the rain started coming down harder. And then...the rain turned to hail. Big, hard, pelting hail. It hurt. We all screamed and started running. The poor little boys were crying because it hurt. Scott scooped up Nate and carried him. I had Owen in a front-pack carrier, and luckily I had a blanket to cover him and keep him safe. We got off the beach and half-way up the road to the house before the hail turned back to rain. We made it back to the house and threw all the kids in the bath to warm them up. Then I fed them hot chocolate, and everyone was happy once again.

The next day (Monday) we had sun! I went for a run in the morning. I loved getting out and running along the ocean. When I got back from running, we loaded up and headed for Newport. The house we were staying at was just outside of Waldport and 10 or 15 minutes from Newport. Newport is a pretty good sized town and we ended up going there everyday to see different things. On this day we went for the aquarium. It was amazing! The kids absolutely loved the aquarium.



"Swimming" with piranhas.

Exploring the many aquarium tanks. There were sea horses, giant crabs, jelly fish, and so much more.











The kids LOVED the touch tide pools.




The octopus! At first it was hiding in the crevice of a rock. I took a picture, and it didn't like my flash. It came out and spread out on the glass. It was really cool.






We got to watch the feeding of the seals and sea lions. The sea lions performed tricks for their food. It was so entertaining to watch.




Our only family picture that we took on the whole trip. I was getting the kids together for a picture, and a lady offered to take it for us so we could all be in it.

Most of the time I was the one behind the camera, with Owen on my chest. But every once in a while he and I got in a picture or two.


The kids were fascinated with the "passages of the deep". There were three tunnels made of glass, surrounded by aquariums. It was so fun to be surrounded by sharks and other fish.





After wearing ourselves out at the aquarium, we went to Walmart to do a little grocery shopping. Then we found a Staples and had the fun of picking out a new laptop. We (meaning Scott) decided that we couldn't make it through the week without a computer. So we had the good fortune of forking out a bunch of money for a shiny new laptop. Not what you want to do when you are already spending a bunch of money on vacation. But, it was really nice having a computer during the week to look up places to visit and directions to get there.

And the rest will have to wait till tomorrow. It's time for me to go to bed.