Oregon

So we went to visit my family in Oregon. Ash's parents have always wanted to see the coast, so they came along for the first half of the trip. Thanks for coming from so far, guys, it meant a lot to us. We all had a really great time together. Especially the kids, they were super spoiled with both sets of grandparents around. Thanks to my parents, for having us all. Here's Micah chilling with uncle Kev. Tillamook Head is in the background, which you'll hear about later.

Uncle Rog and Liza.



Aunt Monica.

This photo makes me laugh because Eliza is obviously explaining something really complicated to Kevin; I'm sure it's about foxes. You have to click on it to see her facial expression and her hand position.



Tillamook Head is this gorgeous, 6 mile hike from Seaside over into Cannon Beach. It's foggy and sometimes muddy, but so beautiful and quiet, all you hear is the ocean.


Ash wants to smash my camera.




In December there was a big storm and my parents, along with thousands of other people, had no power for a week. Lots of huge trees came down.


Kayaking on the estuary.



So every year on the 4th of July, my parents have a BBQ and then we do fireworks on the beach. The kids loved it. Here they are with Grammy and Grandpa Buchanan.

Nina and Papa Mitchell. See? Really spoiled.



Sarah lasted until 10 pm and then crashed. Her little eyes were red from all the smoke.








Sarah loved to get dirty.

Ah, the good times: Eliza is freezing, Sarah and the dog are eating the sandy old bread meant for the seagulls, and Micah has no pants on. I love it.






We visited the replica of Ft Clatsop.

I have no idea what kind of tool Micah is sitting on.


Not enough sleep and too many relatives willing to give you candy and soda equals...

Ash had a weird flu for a couple days, so he didn't get to visit the Astoria Column, this big tower with intaglio art on the outside, explaining Lewis & Clark's expeditions. It's up high and you can see all the way over into Washington.

Looking back at OR from the WA side.

The carousel.

I left the wipes in the car, oops.

So Rex thought it would be a great idea to rent a surry cart thing to tour around Seaside, because the kids really wanted to. Well, we rented it for two hours and returned it about 20 minutes later. It was really hard to pedal, especially with 8 people on it plus me holding Sarah on my lap, so Rex was sweating buckets by the time we got rid of it. Poor Rex. He called it a $30 lesson. They should have paid him the $30.

We spent a day in Seattle visiting with friends from college. It was so much fun, thanks for hosting, Cameron and Michelle. Eliza says she's going to marry Garrett.

Eliza had a traumatic experience sliding off this pig at the flying fish market.

Eliza and Garrett checking out the jewelry.

Note to self: keep track of how much fruit my kids eat. Too much is a problem, especially when traveling with a limited number of pull-ups and an almost potty trained Micah. Micah loves raspberries.

The whole crew, minus Aaron & Ali's family, who couldn't make it. We missed you!