Remember how I went to Oregon, ages ago. Well, I'm back. I came back ages ago too. But I pretended I was still there--pretended by avoiding my chores, reading books instead of doing work, playing with my kids instead of fixing any legitimate meals, and seeing how long it takes my laundry piles to resemble the Tetons (although I did laundry at least 2 times a day in Oregon--whatever).
Once I finally bit the bullet and accept my reentry into responsible life I have had several other projects occupying my blogging time, so time has gone, and here we are in June. But as a hotter and hotter summer approaches, a little reminder of a sweet, cool, pacific spring. It was lovely.
(I also put this off a bit not having the words I wanted to describe our trip--I give up and leave it to the pictures. There's a lot of 'em, sorry, get that scroll bar going or head on to the next blog.)
Daddy got to stay with us the first day before he headed back to work. He used his time to teach Uncle Matt the finer points of 2-line kite flying (they're a ton of fun, go pick yourself up one).
Grandma B and Aunt Lindsey busied themselves keeping the little boys away from the big boys' kites--'cause as much fun as the kites are, they pack a mean wallop if you get in the way.Of course the two older boys went for the water and it didn't take long for Will to come out on the short end of the stick.
Unfortunately he didn't mind and was right back up in no time.
Grandma had to resort to her most important job: herder. (all this because I obviously busied myself with the camera, sorry Grandma)
That was the last time we wore shoes. Our liberated toes enjoyed their week's vacation as much as the rest of us.The next days all fell into a nice pattern. If it was too windy and cold Joseph stayed with Grandma B while the boys and I ventured onto the beach. After the first day they kept asking me to play "water run" as they call it. So they spent their time playing tag with the tide,
stretching out enormous pillars of seaweed,
getting up close with deceased wildlife and it's accompanying bugs,
and conquering burned out drift wood.
One day we wandered up the beach to the tide pools. Matthew was in heaven. Poking, proding, catching, chasing.
The problem with visiting the tide pools is you spend all your time hunkered over, concentrating on tiny things by your feet. And you forget to look up. It's important to look up every once in a while when you are on the Oregon coast. If you don't look up, you won't notice until the moisture hits the back of your bent neck that you are much too far from home to outrace the storm, especially while encouraging two boys who have to run on their own since your arms are busy protecting baby Nikon.We gave up on an all out sprint after about 30 yards, cut inland, and our bare feet carried us as fast as they could across the road and into a hotel.
Grandma B was at home happily baking bread and not listening to her cell phone so we sat by the fire, waited out the rain while our hair dripped dry, and then walked back down the beach.
Rain or shine Matthew came home each day with an impressive loot. Grandma didn't have much deck space left by the end of the week.
When Joseph came along he was content to trail William through the sand,
or follow Matthew through the grass maze.
Here's Will doing "Little House on the Prarie" coastal style.
And, of course, there was plenty of sand castle building.
And, of course, there was plenty of sand castle building.
We did take a few day trips to the aquarium,
and to the Tillamook cheese factory. It's fantastic. You get to walk through the factory, learn all about cheese, watch 40lb blocks of cheese being made, sample all the cheese you can eat, and then wash it down with some of the best ice cream anywhere. It was a dairylicious day. Mmmmmm.
Did I mention my mom's brother and his wife were there some of the time? Uncle Freddy was just as much fun for my boys as he was for me. He sang silly songs with them, ran around in the sand, and built a fire. Fire building makes you an automatic hero for my kids. Too bad this one didn't last very long. Once the flames got to a descent size Uncle Freddy tossed in a stone and told Matthew it's always good to add a lucky rock to the fire. Matthew figured two lucky things would be better than one so in the blink of an eye he yells, "Lucky Sand!" and tossed half the beach onto the logs. Well, that about did it in.
But Uncle Freddy found other important skills to pass on. He shares my Dad's compulsive passion for dental hygiene and found a willing student in Joseph.
By the end of the week we had very sandy toes, and very clean teeth.
And after about a month we have slowly eased back into midwest life (and time). Although it is still evident that Will spent a lot of time with Grandma B since he tells me things like, "Mom, your just preposterous." Any day now I'm expecting him to whip out words like "magnanimous" and "ostensibly." Thanks Mom!
