The Oregon Coast ‘11

Well, our long anticipated trip to Seaside, Oregon has come and gone and I must say, it was all we had hoped it would be and more.  Many thanks to Art & Lesli for getting us the amazing beach house and really making it possible for us to have a memorable vacation with all our (Seth’s) siblings and cousins. We had so much fun and took way too many pictures, so be prepared for overload. Here we go!

Welcome to Seaside- an adorable boardwalk-style beach town right on the ocean.  It was so beautiful and there were a ton of cool things to do there- but of course, all we wanted to do was hang out at the beach. I was happy with a book, my lawn chair, and a pair of sunglasses.  The kids didn’t even whine or get tired.  They would play in the sand all day!

This picture of Smurfy cracks me up.  He had a Hitler mustache made of sand for at least three hours and every time we tried to take a picture he scowled just like this, so he looked even more “Heil Hitler-ish”.

We went to the Lewis & Clark National Park and of course the kids had to get their Junior Ranger badges.  (They are a little obsessed with the program……)

We drove to Astoria and crossed the bridge over the Columbia into Washinton State. (a little terrifying….. they were doing construction on the bridge and we got stopped at the high part- at least 100 feet up over the water.  It gave me the heebies.)

Ben & Megan brought a fun project for everyone to do- we made our own tie-dye t-shirts.  How very Oregonian of us.  It was actually really fun.

And HERE are the RESULTS:

That is a perfect Wallace/Unrein family portrait.  It sums us up nicely. :)

 

The boys tried their hand at surfing (they were not good- but they tried really, really hard…..)

I love this picture.  Isn’t the coast so pretty! I had just come back from a run and I must say I really loved going for my morning runs in Oregon.  Partly cause I had some good company- I ran with Meg, Chris, and Seth.  But also because I got to try new things. I went trail running in a forest that was straight out of Twilight, I ran on the beach, twice, and I ran down the boardwalk on the edge of town- all things I could never do at home. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went into town & rode the carousel, got ice cream cones, and went to the Aquarium.  Seth discovered a Beach Volleyball tournament going on and made us stay and watch for awhile.  He LOVES beach volleyball. (Mostly for the scantily-clad ladies, I’m sure…..)

Flying kites and having a snooze at Cannon beach…..

Yes, its alive.  Ew…..

The kids found ALL SORTS of sealife which they requested to bring home.  We told them NO on the live crabs, starfish, sand dollars, hermit crabs- pretty much everything that was still alive. We did bring home lots of shells, some dried out sand dollars, and a bottle full of genuine Seaside sand.  (Kenni collects sand- among other things.)

(Melissa Q- if you ever read this, Yes, we got the chalk, and Yes, it worked great!  Thank you so much!)