Seaside Getaway

Hans' opposite needed a full 7 days off in a row to move. This meant that Hans would also get 7 off in a row. So we decided to rent a little beach house and getaway for a few days. We left Friday, September 19th and came home on the 23rd. It was just what we needed. Can't go wrong with time with the family.
Be prepared for picture overload... go get some popcorn or something. We had a lot of fun!
The first stop was the house where they filmed the movie Goonies!

We took these pictures from the Goonies house in Astoria, Oregon.
We could hear these weird sounds and then realized that they were the
cause of it all. What a cool experience it was to see them out in the wild
making a racket!

This was for my dad. Every time I see an old car I think of him. He can
always name off the model, make and year of the car... if it is old. They
used to have a distinct look to the year etc. but not anymore he says.

This is the Goonies House. There is even a sign that
says, The Goondocks

When my parents came for a visit a couple months ago they came up the
Oregon coast first and then over to out house. While they were traveling they
came upon this bridge. My dad is not a fan of water. They just about went
over this bridge, until they realized they didn't have to. My dad was in a total
panic- well sort of.

After hearing about this bridge and looking it up I decided that I wanted to
go on it. Even though it scared my dad. I actually think that was part of the
thrill for me. (insert giggles) 

Since we were going through Astoria, Oregon we thought we would make
the trip and cross it. What a great experience! The girls thought it was
awesome. 

While we were crossing Arlee was saying, "This is awesome. See I am not
freaking out. Why was Papa freaking out? He is so weird." 

Lydia just kept shouting, "WATER!!!!"

Totally in the water!

This is the other side of the bridge. The Washington Side. The bridge goes
over the Columbia River. 

The length of the bridge is 4 miles total. They count as soon as it leaves
the hill. So the ramp is included. As you can see it is very high. The Astoria-
Megler Bridge is  a steel Cantilever through truss bridge that spans the Columbia
 River between Astoria, Oregon and Point Ellice near Megler, Washington.
 Located 14 miles from the mouth of the river, the  bridge is 4.1 miles long and was the
 last completed segment of U.S. Route 101 between Olympia, Washington and Los Angeles,
California. It is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America.

This was our beach house. We found it on www.oregonbeachvacations.com
It is called "My Beach House" Actually this house reminded us of our
town house that we lived in when we first got to Yakima, Washington.

As you can tell the girls made themselves right at home.

Girls' bathroom

Girls' Room

Master

Master Bath

Hans had a childhood friend move to Beaverton, Oregon after law school.
They came up for the day. It was about an hour and a half drive for them.
We went to Haystack Rock and played on the beach.

It was cold, but totally worth it.

Once Lydia got over getting her hands dirty.

Arlee was in heaven.

John, Mallory, Arlee and Hans

Trevor and Cassie

Haystack Rock

This picture was taken right after a "sneaker wave" (Stinker Wave as Arlee
calls it) flooded our beach site, ruined our phones, made everything wet
and sandy. Luckily, it missed the camcorder, but only because Arlee's
backpack protected it. Thank goodness I was worried about it getting
sandy from the kids not being careful.  

Family Photo Opp.

Like I said, she was in heaven!

The girls were having fun getting their hands dirty and then holding them
out saying, EWWW! in unison. 

Boys will be boys. I have no idea how cold the water was, but it wasn't
swim worthy in my opinion. But hey the ocean is the ocean.

After the beach we ate lunch, gave the kids naps and
then set off for the promenade. After we stopped at the
Salt water taffy outlet and got over a pound! Seemed
like a lot for us, but we have been enjoying them.

We spotted BIG FOOT! Haha! It was good too, but we are
looking forward to trying more places the next time that
we go. The resturant was pretty dark inside. It was hard
for us to read the menus. The girls loved the smile fries.

After dinner we headed to Gearhart, Oregon. Only about 15 minutes away.
The Sunset was beautiful! We were looking for sand dollars, but I guess
you need to go during low tide. I think we were still in high tide. This
beach you can drive your cars on if they have 4 wheel drive. So we had to
drop the Millburns mini van off and load them in the back of ours. We were
all safely transported down the street. 

The girls had fun finding jellyfish that had been washed up. When they
found one they would all point and say, "EWWWW!" and burst into
laughter. Probably what kept them going. It was freezing and we didn't find
any sand dollars that were whole.

After we took them back to their van they headed home to Beaverton. It
was a great day and surprisingly good weather. It only rained while we were
inside.

The next day it was rainy all day. So we stayed inside and did two puzzles,
watched a movie and let Lydia nap for a few hours. She didn't get a good
nap the day before. After her nap we went to Del Ray and enjoyed yet
another beach. It was wonderful!

We ran from the waves. One of our favorite things to go on the cold
beaches.

Lydia actually liked getting hit by the water. She wasn't
happy if the water missed her.

Arlee's pants were soaked so we changed her into her swimsuit.

They enjoyed chasing the gulls.

Walking in the tire tracks

making silly faces

Being together

And checking out their shadows. We actually found a whole sand dollar.
 Only one, but hey we found one. 

We had to pry this little girl out of the water and off the beach. Arlee was a
better listener. Lydia is still too little to comprehend we were all hungry and
would go to another beach after dinner.

After dinner we walked to the beach just a couple blocks from the house.
It had some swings that Arlee and Mallory were dying to go on the day
before. They played on them for a little bit.

Then the storm came. We thought we were right in a pocket of lovely
weather, but it proved otherwise. We pretty much bolted back to the
house. By the time we got back it was a Monsoon outside. We had two
happy girls that got their fill of the beach during our trip.  After we got back
we showered and ate ice cream. Put the girls to bed and Hans and I watched
a movie. Well, being pregnant meant that I fell asleep half way though.
Hans then turned on the BYU/ UTAH game. Too bad I wasn't awake. My
team won. 4th year in a row! Go UTES!