Seaside-Day 4

Tuesday, We got up to go to Cannon Beach and Haystack rock, which ended up being awesome! And terrible. It turns out, we parked literally on the opposite side of town from HR, but didn't know it at first and decided to just walk the beach. We played in the sand for quite some time before making the trek, each holding a baby. It was definitely a desert mirage-we walked and walked, but it never seemed to get any closer. We eventually got there and it was another one of our highlights! It was just some crazy giant rock that came up out of the middle of the beach, and for some reason, attracted and supported all sorts of sea life, including puffins and sea gulls. It was very cool to see up close. The walk back, though, was agonizing. We figured we actually trudged 3 or 4 miles through deep, soft sand, holding unhappy babies. Boo. We went back and window shopped a little, as well as took Amie on the carousel. She acted scared at first, and would not let me move an inch away from her, but LOVED it and nearly threw a royal fit when we didn't go again. We ate at McKeown's that day, which was probably my fave, and Norma's that night (fresh seafood!)







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Look how big that thing is!



Alisa was being so incredibly good and happy at dinner, that I had to take a picture, even though my flash wouldn't work.

The carousel. Not that you'll see us. Even though there was nobody around, did that stop the woman from plopping her kid RIGHT in front of us? We were really cramped, both trying to hold our kids. Still fun, though.

Seaside-Day 3

On Monday, we made our way down the coast to Tillamook to go to the cheese factory. We had directions, but of course, no foreknowledge of a road closure and drove like 40 minutes out of or way on the way down (no big, we were listening to a book on CD and the girls were asleep.) We took the tour and tasted their samples. It was actually pretty cool to tour the factory, not to mention making jokes about the workers being like animals at the zoo, watched all day. We also bought some local made berry syrup, too (I know-not cheese.) Then, we headed just a bit further down the way to a french cheese factory, Blue Heron, where we sampled various Bries and all sorts of mustards, sauces, jellies and jams, and ate lunch in their cafe. They also had a petting zoo there (wha?!) and that was probably Amelie's favorite part of the entire trip!! On our way home, we stopped back at Tillamook for some of their ice cream-SO great (and the line was a billion miles long.) You will see, Amie thoroughly enjoyed hers. We had planned on seeing Haystack Rock that day, too, but were running out of gas and didn't find a station til we were back to our place, so we just went home and ate at Bee Bop, an excellent 50's burger joint. Oh, yeah AND since it was the first Monday of the month, we got our 2 free redboxes that night. Don't think we're lame, we still were way off on sleep.






Chasing the birdies!!!!
She really wanted to feed them, but when they'd come up, she'd back away and sort of close her eyes. You had to hold her there and hold her hand/arm, too. But she liked it.


Amie ducked down right at flash.

Mmm is for mess.

Seaside-Day 2

The next day was Sunday, my birthday, but we couldn't locate a church! So, we did breakfast at our condo (and sat through another presentation for a gift card-WITH the girls-NO fun.) Then, Jeff brought a Sunday-friendly movie for us to watch. We had lunch in (sandwiches, veggies, chips) and then took a long walk on the Promenade, before dinner in (french toast and pudding-yum!) I also had a birthday doughnut the night before, since we weren't spending dough that day. We also caught up on much-needed sleep.



She obliterated the remainder of Amie's PB & J.

Loved the deck-so cute!!

All dressed up with no place to go...

Seaside: Day 1 photos

Kaboom!

So stylin'!

From our balcony...

...I know, the Shilo's right there, but we had plenty of beach view.

AND mountains!

Seaside, Oregon

This year, we decided to use our condo points over my birthday and in a place we always wanted to try-the Oregon coast (we have a lot of condos there.) We picked Seaside, reserved 5 nights and Jeff got the time off, no prob. We had a 2 sleeper unit with just the 4 of us, and it ended up being perfect, since we also had the couch and the pack-n-play. (Though I think we'll need at least 4-sleepers from here on out.)
We left (in the car!) Saturday morning at 1:30 am. Jeff went to bed at like 6 so he could be awake for the drive. He made it all the way til like 7 in the morning before I took over! We wanted a large chunk of the 14 hr drive to be while the girls were sleeping, since that would be pretty terrible if they were awake for all of it. It actually worked out great. They were only antsy the last half hour or so. There was, however a different hiccup on our trip there. We blew a tire, and I mean BLEW! No little nail hole here. Jeff and I put the donut on together (I am a super-pro at this from my college days when my car had an alignment problem) then made our way through the middle of nowhere Or. We finally found a town with plenty of auto repair, but no tire stores. We were sent on to Hermiston, where we had Les Schwab replace both our bad tires (another was about to blow.) This was actually hardly an inconvenience, since it was lunch time and the girls needed a break. We just went across the street and ate at a local pizza place (pretty great) and by the time we were done, so was the car!
We got there around 5 pm, moved in and then set out with the stroller to survey the land. :) The condo was right on the beach, and on the main street as well. Seaside is a cute little place where everything is in walking distance, and they have tones of restaurants, shops, carnival rides, the promenade, etc. We ended up eating at Lil Bayou that night, one that we'd been recommended and I had looked forward to. It actually ended up being one of my least favorite. This is probably due to the fact that I wasn't very hungry when we got there, and our girls were TERRIBLE. I think everyone couldn't wait til we left! My clam chowder WAS amazing, though, I don't recommend the fried green tomatoes.

At Lil Bayou, they gave us beads and Amelie loved playing with them the whole trip:



(For some reason, it's not letting me add photos to this post, so I'll continue in the next.)

Should I be worried?

I'm thinking it's time to move mommy's undergarments up from the bottom drawer....

We leke tee eat, eat, eat...

There's a new little ice cream place (Lanta's) that opened up near our house and they were doing half price on their opening weekend, so we thought we'd check it out. Their specialty is frozen custard, and we got the girls a raspberry to try. It was a success. And a pink mess.

Mmm... custard...

Gimme more custard!

Gee, thanks mom and dad! That custard was so good, I'll put it all over my face!!!

What do you mean, it's gone?!

Whoa... custard overload.

The Corn Cob Fiasco

I'm not sure what it is, but both my girls around 6 months old could suck a corn cob until they were blue in the face.

Caught in the act.


They love each other.

She even got corn nobbies all over her legs.


There it is.

PMAA Lagoon Day

Every year, the Policeman's Mutual Aid Association (of which Jeff is a member) does a Lagoon Day. It's pretty sweet because it's only $20 for admission, and that includes an all-you-can-eat barbecue for dinner, plus they do raffle prizes, etc. I was so excited to go, because the past two summers we went each year, but I was pregnant both years. (Even on our spring vaca, despite being non-pregnant, I just had to stay with my new baby all the time.) I've had to go and watch people for years now-finally my turn. My sister Mal came with us, but there were no other takers, so the 3 of us did the baby shuffle all day long. (I could tell Mal got pretty tired of it, but she never complained and stuck it out.) I got to go on a few big rides, finally, and there was also a travelling show, Cirque L'Orage that we stayed to see. It wasn't quite Cirque du Soliel caliber, but the same type of thing and very cool nonetheless. It was a loooooong day, and I was very glad we went and stuck it out, but I said to Jeff at the end of the night, "I wouldn't be sad if we never came back til our youngest was about 2 or 3." He agreed.

Mommy and her little two-piecers cooling down mid-day.

Aunt Mar Mar was a big help.

Amelie dancing along to one of the (not so qualitized) shows.

Climbing on the fence. Right before she let go of said fence and went straight backwards and cracked, I mean HEAR THE CRACK, her head on the pavement. Dirty looks abounded.

It makes me sad that when Alisa sees the camera, she screws up her face in intense concentration and desire to chew it, because she really has such a pretty face.

A little better. She was fairly cheerful in the hot day.


I put Amie on the boats, which she was way excited for. She was all happy til I had to leave, but by the time she was coming around full circle, she was driving and playing.

Until she spotted me!

Then when she started to pass by me, full-on scream-crying. The cycle would repeat with every lap. Again, many people stared.