Lets train

Tuesday, July 19 | Day Six in Oregon

We all slept until 8:15 this day, and then Brittany had to go in to work for a bit. Nate and Jon went to the high school gym, where Jon is now the head coach for the girls volleyball team. They had an open gym this morning and Jon wanted Nate to come and 'show 'em how it's done', or something;)  I considered going, too, but decided to stay back with Porter and Nate's parents, when they arrived. We all ate breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen at some point here, too. Admittedly, it's been so long since this vacation happened, that the details are a little bit blurry!

My in-laws and I walked to a nearby playground with the kids, marveling at the perfect weather.





Once Nate and Jon came back from volleyball-ing, they showered and we met them at the house. Lois and I packed some food for the big kids and then Nate, Lois, Truman, Cecelia, Jon, and myself all drove in the van to Yachats, leaving around 12:30. Strange name for the CUTEST little town on the coast!! Tony stayed back with Porter who took a nap, then Brittany met those boys at her house before they drove up to meet us for dinner later in the evening.

The first stop in Yachats (which was about 1.5 hours away, I think---windiest roads ever but beautiful drive!) was Jon's favorite coffee shop: The Green Salmon. The kids had already eaten a delicious meal of PBJs and goldfish in the car, but they got the most amazing cookies here along with huge smoothies. The adults splurged on some very strong/fantastic coffee and lunch---I got a wrap and remember it being tasty and healthy. We sat outside on the wooden picnic bench and enjoyed the sun, with the breeze from the nearby ocean keeping it a tolerable temperature.



We walked around for awhile, discovering Yachats Brewing, where Nate purchased a hat and possibly a beer to go. Then we headed over to Nate's cousin's cottage they were renting for the week, and it was an adorable one-room rustic house right on the ocean. All of us walked down to the rocky beach, where Truman and Cecelia had the time of their lives. I seriously think they could have spent an entire day just walking from rock to rock, searching for shells, watching the waves, and looking at little sea creatures. We saw starfish stuck to rocks, a ton of little crabs, some fish, interesting barnacles and clams (oysters?) and sea life all over the place. Cecelia demanded that I carry her shell collection in my bag, and I convinced her to keep just over a third of her findings----sister loves her some shells but mama only had so much room to spare. It was a beautiful time and the terrain was just breathtaking. I bet we easily spent two hours exploring the beach with family.















Eventually Brittany, Tony, Porter and Brittany's dad met us at the cottage as we were wrapping up our time on the rocky beach. We then walked to dinner, where we had reservations at Ona Restaurant.





Originally we planned to have dinner here in Yachats with just Jon and Brittany, leaving the kids at home in Florence with Tony and Lois. But I didn't think that was really fair to them, and hoped Porter would just behave during dinner so we could all enjoy our meal together. I figured Truman and CC would be fine and they were, but Porter was pretty freaking antsy and definitely needed to walk around outside of the restaurant for about 50% of our time there. I didn't mind too much, because I still got to enjoy an amazing meal (giant falafel burger with bacon, and wine!) and the kids did eat really well here. It's a fairly fancy restaurant but still semi-kid friendly, and it's always fun to have a big group at dinner...even if I did spend a lot of the night outside with the little guy.



Before the rest of the crew finished their meals, I took Porter and Cecelia with me for a walk towards the beach. The sun was starting to set and it was just gorgeous around there, although it did make me a little nervous to have such a humongous drop off from the road to the beach. You know, antsy kids and all. We met up with the rest of the group and ended up walking around the rocky beach near Nate's cousin's house again. We caught the sunset, which was breathtaking, and I snapped a million more pictures.















The ride home was pretty quiet, I think all three kids passed out pretty quickly and it was late---maybe 9pm when we left. I don't recall bedtime being too difficult back at Jon and Brittany's house, and I also don't recall how late the adults stayed up after the kids went down. I'm guessing not too late, we were exhausted yet again! But being tired on vacation is a different type of tired than when you are home, right? It's a 'good' tired!

Wednesday, July 20

I must have been getting burnt out on taking pictures this day, apparently I only have twenty three pictures from the whole day? What in the world??

I woke up early our seventh day in OR and went for a five mile run, a little nervous that I'd get lost in Florence alone but somehow how I managed just fine. When I returned we all ate breakfast and then packed up for our excursion of the day: kayaking, sand boarding, and being generally very Oregonian. ;)

Overlooking her shell collection from yesterday:


We went to Clewox Lake/Honeyman State Park for our experience this day. We rented three kayaks and two sand boards, then spent several hours on the lake and boogying down giant hills-o-sand. Have you ever seen such a thing? I took videos, of course, and the pictures don't do it justice. The lake was clear and beautiful, and Nate took the big kids and went with his brother down the river for a bit---wish he would have taken more pictures! Porter despised his life vest but otherwise all children were adequately happy. Truman rocked the sand boarding and Nate complained of a neck strain the next day from wiping out so much;) I remember being pretty hot this day but the weather was nearly perfect, and the state park was busy but not horrendous. It was a great morning!









And yet, I drove back to Jon and Brittany's house with Lois and Porter around 1:30pm because he was 100% over it. Nate, Tony, Jon, Brittany and the big kids stayed for a little while then stopped at BJ's Ice Cream Parlor and also picked up coffee from Suislaw River Coffee Roasters. Hell yes. They brought both back home so that is why I'm excited about this part.

This is when the afternoon forked for us: I made the executive decision to chill the heck out while uploading pictures on the deck and enjoying some quiet time of my own. It was MUCH needed at this point after a hectic and jam packed trip and I do not regret taking a chill pill here. Nate and Jon went golfing. Tony and Brittany took Truman and Cecelia to see Finding Dory. Lois and I relaxed while Porter napped, then when he woke all three of us went grocery shopping. This was one of the highlights of the day, somehow---it's rare that just Lois and Porter and I ever get to spend time together. And at a grocery store, none-the-less (Lois's favorite place, not so much mine).

We came back home and started making dinner: Costco veggie burgers were the main dish, can't remember the rest but I'm sure it was delish. We put our kids to bed at 9pm and then Jon, Brittany, Nate and I went out to the local dive bar--Beachcomber. Tony and Lois stayed back to 'watch' the sleeping kids. It was exactly what the doctor ordered to spend time with just the newlyweds, at a bar where they literally knew everyone because the town is super small. We talked about all kinds of topics with two drinks a piece, then walked home around midnight. Side note: did you know that Oregon has a zero tolerance policy for drinking and driving? As in, you cannot have a 0.01 or you get a gigantic ticket, and subsequent offenses mean you lose your license pretty quickly? This is amazing and I can only imagine how it would go over in Wisconsin, but it does make sense! Hence the walking for about a mile or so each way after drinking----fine by me!