Beach Vacation and More!

Whew, we just returned from a fantastic two-week trip to the Oregon Coast. It was 16 days of cool weather, seafood, visiting with family, and playing in the sand.

We started the trip with a family reunion at Champoeg State Park south of Portland. The boys had a teriffic time at the family golf "tournament." They always like playing golf with Bubba.

The boys both enjoyed toting their own golf carts and clubs (lefty ones for Wesley).

This golf course boasts the only covered bridge west of the Mississippi!

After two days at Champoeg, it was off to Beverly Beach, near Newport, for a week. Michelle's sister and her family, plus Nanni and Bubba were all there, and we had a very fun week doing all our favorite things.

Cameron and Dad spent most of a day at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which is always Cameron's favorite place on the trip. He loves everything there! He spent all of his vacation money on a cool stuffed octopus and stuffed jellyfish.

Wesley thinks having a huge natural sand box to dig in is just awesome!

We all enjoyed dinner at one of our favotite restaurants, Mo's Seafood House on the historic Newport waterfront.

Wesley spent some of his vacation money on a stingray puppet at the Hatfield Marine Sciences Center.

Ainslee's Saltwater Taffy - the very best taffy on the whole Oregon Coast. We really had fun at Depoe Bay.

Dinner at the Rouge Brewery in Newport. Mmmmm, brewhouse pizza...Cameron, Wesley, and cousins Sara and Megan had a great time together.

Another trip hi-light for Cameron was going on a 3-hour bay crabbing charter trip. Dad, Cameron, and Bubba headed out to drop and pull crab rings for several hours and the trip was WELL worth it. Dad and Cameron both caught their limit (12 each) of dungeness crab, which we had cooked and cleaned for us. We then cracked crab for several hours! Aaah but it was so good. Cameron learned to measure the crabs and identify them by gender during the trip. He had so much fun.

Bubba on the "Enterprise," the boat that took our intrepid crabbers on their adventure.

Feeding the seagulls at Depoe Bay.

After a week in Newport we headed north to Tillamook to stay at Cape Lookout State Park. The beach is our favorite thing to do here, so we spent hours every day playing in the sand and the surf.

Wesley buried Cameron in the sand!

Turn-about is fair play, Cameron buried Wesley!

Cameron found a big treasure while on a several mile beach hike with Dad -- an old crab pot buoy! It was seriously stinky, but we're trying to clean it up and hope to use it in the decor of his bedroom. And Mom means it was VERY stinky...

Mmmmm, marshmallows over the campfire...

Cows! And lots of them! Tillamook is famous for cows, and the Tillamook Creamery, of course. We spent a very fun afternoon touring the cheese factory and having ICE CREAM! In fact, we ate ice cream three times over the course of the week!

Wesley's favorite flavor was rootbeer float.

Cameron's favorite flavors are Rootbeer Float and Chocolate Chip Mint.

We tried something new this trip, we purchased "raw" taffy from Ainslees and we pulled it ourselves! Messy business.

Look what blackberry flavored taffy does to your tongue!


Cameron made a new friend on the beach, Shaye, and they found a LIVE female dungeness crab in the surf! We couldn't believe it!

Castle building.

More castle building.

And yet more castle building...

Does anyone know the SPF of SAND????

Towards the end of our trip we ventured out to Cape Meares for a look at the lighthouse and the famous Octopus Tree. It was great!