When we made reservations for a 3 day/2 night beach vacation for the end of August, we assumed that we would have perfect weather, at least for the Oregon coast. You know, highs of about 70, sunny, the sweet smell of the ocean floating in on a slight breeze....cause its ummmm....AUGUST. The month of hot sunny weather. So hot and sunny that it topped 100 for the three days preceding our beach trip. However, this is Oregon, and this is what we found at the coast:
Thats right...overcast, with lots of big thunder and lightening storms. When it wasn't all out raining, it was a wet misty drizzle. But hey, we are Oregonians, we are born for this!! We still managed to have an awesome time, and ran out out to play in the sand at every break in the clouds. With all of us being so busy and stressed out lately, this was exactly what we needed.
Rowan was totally delighted by the sand:
My big guy:
We found a ton of seaweed, shells and rocks washed up from the storms, I thought this one was cool because it has barnacles in it:
On our second day there, we had planned to go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium to see the "Oddwater" exhibit. Unfortunately, Killian got hit with a wicked stomach flu that morning. It didn't seem too bad, until we got to the aquarium. After 5 trips to the bathroom in about 20 minutes, I was ready to pack up and head back to the hotel, but Killian really wanted to finish looking at everything. The solution turned out to be a wheelchair, where he could relax and see everything, but not have to exert any energy. It was a really cool exhibit, smaller than we would have thought, but the rest of the aquarium was really fun, so it was worth the trip. We got lots of neat pictures:
These crabs were WILD! They were the biggest crab in the world, a Japanese spider crab. They can have 13 feet leg spans!! They are so weird looking:
And they look so mean!
Grandma and Grandpa gave the kids each some money to spend at the gift shop, and Killian came away with a shark tooth necklace and Rowan latched onto a red octopus, which she named "Ocean". She is very attached to her, and has slept with her every night since!
After the aquarium, and some rest for Killian, we threw food out the window. To these guys:
It was so funny, they would line up and kinda float in, they have a weird way of hovering just long enough for you to toss the cracker out, grab it, and fly away leaving the next guy back to hover into position. The kids LOVED this, and we threw out 3 pounds of trader joes crackers, and 4 tubes of ritz. Its hard to stop once you have started!!
Gotcha!
By Monday afternoon, Killy was feeling better so we headed down to the beach to fly his kite:
Flying a kite is so RAD!
We were all really looking forward to having a fire on the beach and cooking hot dogs, but it was so cold and rainy that we only lasted long enough to make the fire, eat a dog and get covered it wet sand:
Rowan enjoyed herself:
And Killian enjoyed himself too, despite having "Bitter beer face":
The next morning it was low tide, and we headed out to explore these rocks:
We found lots of baby sea anemones:
And starfish:
All in all, it was a great trip and we all had a lot of fun. Rowan especially, since this is the first beach trip where she was big enough to really participate in everything. Check out her delight:
Thats right...overcast, with lots of big thunder and lightening storms. When it wasn't all out raining, it was a wet misty drizzle. But hey, we are Oregonians, we are born for this!! We still managed to have an awesome time, and ran out out to play in the sand at every break in the clouds. With all of us being so busy and stressed out lately, this was exactly what we needed.
Rowan was totally delighted by the sand:
My big guy:
We found a ton of seaweed, shells and rocks washed up from the storms, I thought this one was cool because it has barnacles in it:
On our second day there, we had planned to go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium to see the "Oddwater" exhibit. Unfortunately, Killian got hit with a wicked stomach flu that morning. It didn't seem too bad, until we got to the aquarium. After 5 trips to the bathroom in about 20 minutes, I was ready to pack up and head back to the hotel, but Killian really wanted to finish looking at everything. The solution turned out to be a wheelchair, where he could relax and see everything, but not have to exert any energy. It was a really cool exhibit, smaller than we would have thought, but the rest of the aquarium was really fun, so it was worth the trip. We got lots of neat pictures:
These crabs were WILD! They were the biggest crab in the world, a Japanese spider crab. They can have 13 feet leg spans!! They are so weird looking:
And they look so mean!
Grandma and Grandpa gave the kids each some money to spend at the gift shop, and Killian came away with a shark tooth necklace and Rowan latched onto a red octopus, which she named "Ocean". She is very attached to her, and has slept with her every night since!
After the aquarium, and some rest for Killian, we threw food out the window. To these guys:
It was so funny, they would line up and kinda float in, they have a weird way of hovering just long enough for you to toss the cracker out, grab it, and fly away leaving the next guy back to hover into position. The kids LOVED this, and we threw out 3 pounds of trader joes crackers, and 4 tubes of ritz. Its hard to stop once you have started!!
Gotcha!
By Monday afternoon, Killy was feeling better so we headed down to the beach to fly his kite:
Flying a kite is so RAD!
We were all really looking forward to having a fire on the beach and cooking hot dogs, but it was so cold and rainy that we only lasted long enough to make the fire, eat a dog and get covered it wet sand:
Rowan enjoyed herself:
And Killian enjoyed himself too, despite having "Bitter beer face":
The next morning it was low tide, and we headed out to explore these rocks:
We found lots of baby sea anemones:
And starfish:
All in all, it was a great trip and we all had a lot of fun. Rowan especially, since this is the first beach trip where she was big enough to really participate in everything. Check out her delight:
