Oregon Coast

Last week we drove to the Oregon Coast for a Patton family vacation. There were 18 of us in 1 house plus a carriage house above the separate garage. It was pretty crazy sometimes with the kids running around. We didn't stay in the house too much. The girls did fairly well on the drive over. I, on the other hand, had a meltdown, but we won't go there. I did have to crawl into the back seat on more than one occasion to calm down Ryleigh. By the end of the drive she had had enough of her car seat. I don't blame her. I am happy to announce that, although she had a couple of poopy diapers, no blow outs occurred. That is the worst when you are traveling. McKenna watched movies and talked the whole trip. She did not sleep at all. She was too excited. As long as she is happy that is all that matters. When we arrived at the rental house, the kids jumped in the hot tub right away. Dan, Ryleigh and I took a quick stroll on the beach. Our nephew decided he was going to play in the water and was soaked by the time we left. The water is so COLD! We expected that but it is harder to play in.

Wednesday consisted of looking for star fish and sea anemonies in tide pools, walking to a lighthouse, and running around the Oregon Coast Aquarium. We saw a sea lion on the rocks at the tide pools. My brother and sister-in-law wanted to get close for a good picture and scared him off. Way to go... McKenna loved the aquarium. She even communicated with a sea otter. I missed it but she had a nice crowd of people around her watching. She was looking through a window which was partially under water. The sea otter came right up to her face and McKenna pressed her hand to the window. The otter pressed his flipper on the window where her hand was. Pretty cool! She also had a Puffin perform a show in the water for her. She must have a way with animals I guess. We had lunch at Izzy's Pizza buffet. It was really good. Mckenna ate a ton. Dan and I were in charge of dinner that night. We made clam chowder and tuscan soup. They must have liked it because it was all gone at the end. Most of the evenings were spent playing games, talking, and digesting dinner.







Thursday was beach day. The weather was fairly nice. Cloudy, but warmer than Wednesday with no cold breeze. We had a sand castle contest where everyone was a winner! Thanks Penny for bringing prizes! Dan and a couple of his siblings went in the water. Some had wet suits, some didn't. McKenna went in about knee high. She was freezing by the end of the day. Ryleigh and I watched from the beach. I did get my feet wet. We were able to get a few kites in the air. It was fun watching McKenna run and run to get her Barbie kite up.

Dan's Japanese pagoda

He won the prize for the best Japanese castle!

Best sports logo!

Best animated or Disney character (Lightning McQueen)!

Best traditional castle!

Best Egyptian theme!

Friday we went to the outlet mall. I bought some clothes for the girls. Dan found a sweater that he liked. We brought it home and came to find out it is a women's sweater. So I guess I have a new sweater. We ate at Mo's for lunch. And stopped at Coldstone for ice cream. There was an ice cream shop across the street from Mo's, but they took cash or check only! Who does that anymore. Sheesh! Especially in a tourist town (my gripe for the day). Dan and I had wanted to go to Tillamook to see the cheese factory and a lookout point, but we ran out of time. We will just have to go the next time we are in Oregon. I did get a nap in with Ryleigh before dinner. That was nice. That girl can sleep anywhere. As long as she has her blankie. We watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics that night.

Saturday consisted of packing and cleaning and driving. We got home at 8 pm and started laundry. A vacation is supposed to be restful and relaxing. How come I don't feel well rested? Oh well. We are back in the swing of normal life. Kenna went back to school and Dan started work, where they piled more jobs on him. Wahoo...