The sun was beating down, but it was so windy that it felt quite cold. We brought the sun shade all the way to Oregon with us, so figured we'd put it up. We ended up flying it like a kite for some time before we got it staked beside the car for some wind protection. Kind of looks like a Ford Escape ad, doesn't it? But trust me.....you wouldn't sell many cars that smelled like ours did that day!
The kids and I had a few races on the beach - I always lost. :)
And we waded in to do a little wave jumping too....
But as it turns out, Liam is more of a Nervous Nelly than I am, and freaked out that we were being too dangerous. He retreated to his safety zone, while Sarah tried to jump waves but was too overcome with fits of giggles to get much height.
Meanwhile, Matt and Liam made their own fun....
It's all fun and games 'til someone gets hurt....which is exactly what happened here. Whoops!
A few tears and a hug and they were back at the chase....
Pelicans. Why not?
And since it was a beach vacation, a few more beach pictures....
On to Seaside! It proved difficult to juggle a camera while lifting kids and trays of chopped up sardines over the seal enclosure at the Aquarium.....so we hauled all that camera equipment around without ever opening the bag. Some days that thing feels more like exercise equipment! So you'll just have to trust that those seals were cute, and the kids didn't mind getting their hands all mucky with fish heads {shudder}.
You'll also have to trust me that the kids are really awful at Skee Ball. We found a place that served gluten free pizza for lunch, which was conveniently attached to an arcade. When Matt had to sneak away to somewhere quieter for a phone meeting, that's where the kids and I hung out. There are no pictures of that because I was trying to keep the bowling balls from being hurled in the direction of people and property. Not on purpose, of course....they just have remarkably bad aim!
One of the activities we were most excited about on this trip, was a visit to the Tillamook Cheese factory. Now that Liam is a full fledged dairy eater, he was excited to try some samples. And he loves machines nearly as much as he loves cheese, so seeing a working factory was right up his alley. Only trouble was, the two days that we were in town happened to be the two days of the year that they shut down the factory for maintenance. Fortunately they still had squeaky cheese samples and ice cream. And this contraption....
Also disappointing was the closure of the Cape Meares lighthouse due to vandalism. We were allowed in a few years ago, but this time we were out of luck but didn't find out until we walked all the way there. Liam was happy to stretch his legs, but Sarah was very unhappy to stretch hers. It must have looked cruel but I made her walk all the way back up this hill (which was bigger than it looks here) while she cried and screamed "UP!" the whole way. If you're going to throw tantrums, pick on your brother and be a little pink turd all day then stay up half the night chatting, then you're not getting a free ride up the hill from me. Tough cheese curds, sister.
The most difficult thing we've found about camping with wee ones is keeping them occupied while stuff has to get "done" - setting up the tent, meal prep, dishes, etc. Sure, they could help, but these things take long enough already! Without fail, opening up the car and giving them free reign to roam around it is the answer. It never gets old, even when they have logged hours and hours of travel time! Gets Matt out of my hair, too. ;)
This view was just steps from our campsite at Cape Lookout. But if you thought that was the sunset (as we did) then you're wrong. It's actually a boat. After a rather technical explanation of sunrise/sunset for Liam's benefit, we were pretty surprised to see the sun hit reverse and bob back up over the horizon. But it's a boat. :)
Moving on to Portland where we spent a couple nights in a hotel - yippeeee! - before heading back home. A real shower, and a real bed. Ahhhhhh......
Now before you go thinking we're a family of Manufacturing Process Junkies, a word about Bob. As in Bob's Red Mill, Bob. Bob is near and dear to me as the maker of the finest gluten free all purpous flour blend. And when Liam was first diagnosed with his allergies and I was completely overwhelmed wondering what I would feed my kid, Bob saved the day. I think I heard angels singing when I first stumbled upon an entire section of gluten free Bob's Red Mill products. So a visit to Oregon would be remiss without paying homage to Bob at the big red mill. Bonus: gluten free chocolate chip cupcakes piled high with chocolate icing and a drizzle of chocolate syrup. I mean, really. This is not something we get to see every day:
Sarah was a bit slower to work her way through her cupcake and I left the kids with Matt to do some shopping. A couple minutes later I was browsing the other side of the store, and heard loud and clear: "YA-YUM!!! NO! EAT! MY! CUH-CUH!" Translation: Back off, Liam! Get your own cupcake! When she's been wronged she unleashed her inner velociraptor.
Also at the factory, I learned something I didn't know about my husband:
Porridge, huh? And I thought he was in China all that time.... ;)On to OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Do we know how to live it up?!
We watched an Imax movie called "Born To Be Wild" - Sarah's very first movie! It was about baby orangutans and elephants. She liked it, but spent a good deal of the hour climbing all over Matt and repeating "monkey! Baby monkey!" I think we'll keep her out of theaters a little longer, still!
Matt and Liam got to take a tour of a real submarine from WWII. Sarah was not happy to be left out, but she wasn't quite old enough for the tour. After a royal tantrum in the gift shop (whoa boy, that was a doozie!) we found a ball room that got her laughing and running around with balls under her chin for about 40 minutes. She's a lesson in contrasts, that one.Liam, on the other hand, is our little information seeker:
And to celebrate our last evening of the vacation, we took things up a notch and went to dinner at a wine tasting bar on the waterfront called Thirst. The original plan was to go to Burgerville USA, near OMSI. But the place had a weird smell and I exercised my power of veto. Matt made a comment in joking spirit, but Liam had the great sense to repeat it loudly as we headed for the door: "This place is too low class for Mom!" Thanks, Liam.
So here we are, wrapping up our vacation with good food and a couple of drinks on the patio. Sarah is finally asleep. And Matt is thinking "this is very nice....but I can't reach my beer."
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