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Idaho Part II
07.31.13 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Idaho Part IIWe made it to Silverwood about halfway through our trip to see my mom and grandpa. We have only been there once, but this was our kids’ maiden voyage.
Silverwood was really fun. We didn’t make it out of the roller coaster rides and into the water park, but just visiting the rides proved to be more than enough fun for the day. Our kids are definitely big enough to go on bigger thrill rides. Jude LOVED the roller coasters and even went on one that twisted upside down. And then they both asked to go again! This is what they looked like after the
Brave, little, crazy kids.
We had a fabulous time.
After that, it was more swimming, playing, and even a visit to the Bird Museum. We visited Dub’s restaurant where, I kid you not, we got SMALL sized ice cream cones that were easily, six inches tall. I managed to get lots of hugs in with my mom and grandpa, and at the end I even got to squeeze my dad. 🙂
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Idaho Days
Grandpa Tassie (AKA The Big Tass, The Colonel)
The view from The Bird Museum– a wonderful free museum just a stones’ throw from my grandpa’s place- where creative thinking and a belief in perseverance and children is paramount. Love this place!
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Tillamook & The Cape
07.23.13 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Tillamook & The CapeOur last official vacation day was a driving day. We planned on visiting Canon Beach, some scenic vistas and eating cheese curds.
Most people wouldn’t think much of cheese curds, but they have been the stuff of legend in my mind. As a kid we would always stop in Bandon, Oregon on the way to my grandma’s house to buy cheese, but more importantly, the curds. Not only are they mild and delicious, while you chew them they squeak pleasantly (when they are room temperature). A decade ago I would have driven to Tillamook for them. That is how much I have loved them, so was not a big deal to consider driving the hour from Seaside to earn some curds! (I literally woke up at 6:30 this morning, rolled over, pounced on Bradley and hollered that it is CHEESE CURD DAY!)
We wound our way down the coast, stopping and seeing stuff. We found a beautiful beach to play on that had a lovely windbreak and beautiful tide pools to explore. The scenic vistas were last seen by us over a decade ago as we made our way to Tillamook with Bradley’s grandparents. The coastal shot is one that Bradley used to commemorate our honeymoon together- he made a version in oil pastels when we arrived home from that amazing journey.
We finally made it to Tillamook, and guess what? I have fallen out of love with the almighty cheese curd. I bought two bags and one is in my fridge now, curing into actual cheese. It was simultaneously liberating a and a little sad that I don’t love them like I used to.
We spent the remainder of our day on the beach at our campground- Cape Lookout. This is another place we happened upon that we love. The beach, while a little sea-grassy is huge with lots of space to have a little privacy on the beach (meaning I wore my bikini without having a million people walking by or taking pictures).
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We smootched, danced around, sang New Kids songs as loud as we wished and built huge sand castles WITH a functioning figure 8 moat. I also dug a huge pit with a channel to the sea to fill it. This night was tremendously satisfying but frigidly cold!
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Beachside Seaside: Day Two
07.20.13 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Beachside Seaside: Day Two
This day was about the sand, the surf and the shopping!
We brought boogeyboards with us so we could surf kiddo style. Gigi caught on right away and truly enjoyed riding wave after wave into the surf. Jude, on the other hand, mostly stood near me, unsure of how to approach this whole ocean thing. Lets just say surfing was not his thing, but hopping up and clenching his teeth when the frigid water hit him was his thing.
Soon thereafter I got too cold to stand in the surf anymore so we focused on some awesome sand cast building. We really had a good time, digging tunnels, moats and finding a myriad of broken seashells to decorate the palace.
Before evening hit, we also managed to hit the stores and the carnival rides. Once upon a time ago the tilt-a-whirl was the bomb. Bradley and I would ride it and laugh, clutching each other and then we would wish we had the funds to go again and again and again! Things have changes. Gravity does different things to us than it once did. Bradley was sick for the rest of the day and I could hardly keep it together as Gigi and I swirled around.
See?
Shopping was interesting. Jude found this cute little dusty junk shop that had everything a 5 year old could ever desire. His needs were simple: a pair of Groucho marks glasses and a shark grabber thing. We embraced his inexpensive choices, fully aware that his desires will be much more spendy in the future. Gigi decided long before we left that she wanted a sweatshirt with the word Seaside on it. Easy. Bradley got a tshirt, I bought a super cute robot ring. 🙂
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Salt of the Seaside: Day One
This summer we are not Disneyland bound. Instead we decided to head to the ocean to experience an entirely different vacation. I have never been to Seaside (in Oregon) when the weather cooperated. Every single time I’ve packed my bathing suit and, with thoughts of warmer days, I’ve chosen to leave the warm clothes behind and every single time Bradley and I have made it to seaside we’ve had to contend with torrential downpours that left our tent and sleeping bags water logged and our spirits sagging. So this summer we didn’t have hard plans on dates so much as we watched the weather reports and waited for an extended forecast of 70-something degree weather. It worked! While we arrived to blustery weather, the clouds burned off and my plan went well. The sun shone and for the first time, I’m wearing a tan earned on the Oregon Coast!
We got to Fort Stevens, set up our tent, unrolled our sleeping bags and headed straight to the beach where the shipwreck is. It was so windy and hazy that vision was weird and our eyes watered the whole time we were there. But that did not deter my ocean hungry family as they swooped among the waves, set to work on moving logs and rolled in the sand. You may think I’m talking about my dog, but seriously, our kids ROLLED in the sand, rubbed their heads in it, made sand angels… They were filthy and incredibly satisfied within the first few moments of arriving.
Afterwards we cleaned up and headed to the arcade to burn through some bucks. It was a lot of fun! We all went to bed chilly, but excited for the next day’s ocean fun!
