The Oregon Coast

It's 6:45 AM and thanks to Dan's awesome new idea to get in some family scripture time, I'm awake before Simon. We committed to start getting up at 5:00 AM every morning. He gets up at 5 when he works but on the other days we get up when Simon wakes up. Simon used to wake up at 5 or 5:30 so I'm not a total stranger to this ridiculously early hour, but the first couple of days always hurt, not to mention cramp my late night YouTube habit.

Anyway, I'm catching up on our family vacation to Oregon. To sum it up, it was amazing. The drive was long and tiring. To be honest, next time I might consider just flying! Dan's favorite moment of the drive was when Simon had reached his limit and was melting down and we were on the fence about stopping. I saw some Golden Arches up ahead and told Dan, pull off!! He was like, now? and I said YES. Now. Then I said Simon, do you want a french fry? His crying immediately stopped and his hand shot into the air. Dan saw his hand shoot up in the rear view mirror and busted up laughing.

My trips to McDonald's for french fries have obviously been sort of a secret adventure for Simon and I on the days that Dan works those very long hours. Dan didn't know that Simon had developed a love of the french fry and knew that when I say french fry, I start passing them back over my shoulder to his waiting hand. He knew the cue and responded accordingly, with noticeable enthusiasm. :)

Let's just say that two months later, this is still something Dan likes to tease me about.

So after our day in Portland, we headed to the coast. We met up with our friends at the beach house and went to the beach that night. It was awesome! Dan was a little timid to get in the water because it was so cold. I rolled up my pants and took Simon with me and he was instantly fascinated and didn't want to leave. The saddest and most funny part was watching Dan tip toe around (in shoes) and then get completely overtaken by an unexpectedly large wave! He was soaked up to his knee caps at least, shoes and all. After that, he was all in.

We had such a great time. We went to several beaches and drove up the coast to hit some of the traditional touristy places like Seaside, Cannon Beach, Astoria, and a few others. We loved it and started picturing our lives along the Oregon Coast and looking up the price of homes in the area. Who knows, maybe one day we will pick up and move there. (Very unlikely).

We took our camera but never even took one picture with it! These pictures looked great on my phone but blown up a bit on my screen and they are all grainy. Oh well. I love them all.

Last leg in the carseat!

Getting to our house!

And that's the wave that got him!

This is definitely one of my favorite pictures of Dan. He's so great. And Handsome.

Simon played hard every day and was one tired little guy, but I loved his sense of adventure & tolerance!

We learned just how terrible strollers perform in the sand.

Jelly Fish remnants!

I love my family!

My true calling in life was to wear men's clothing and milk cows.

We added up how much one of these giant blocks of cheese would cost and it was like $125!!! I loved cheese

Apparently 18 months in the magic number for when kids need their own and don't want to share with their parents!