Smith Smiles: June 2009: Family Trip to the Oregon Coast

We took a family trip to the Oregon Coast this year. Mom and Warren stayed at a timeshare there, and Kristi's family and ours rented a beach house in Seal Rock, Oregon, just south of Newport. It was a VERY long drive, stopping at every town along the highway for potty breaks, but after 12 hours, we finally got to Newport around 2 am! We stayed with Mom and Warren the first night. On Sunday, Father's day, we got up and took the kids to the beach. It was such a nice day at the beach, not too cold. The kids put their feet in the ocean for the first time and loved playing in the sand. During our week's stay we visited the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, where Halle and I got to go all the way to the top. Halle even got a button that said "I survived the climb"! Hunter didn't meet the height requirements, so Nick was nice enough to stay with him while we went to the top. We also went to the Undersea Gardens, and spent some time in downtown Newport. One day the Nick, Dane, and Warren went to the beach to do some shell fishing. Kristi and all the kids went too, while my mom and Harmony and I relaxed at the beach house. The guys ended up finding some mussells, and Warren and Dane cooked them for dinner. They were the only two willing to eat some, though! We also spent a lot of time at the timeshare resort relaxing and swimming at the indoor pool. After our 5 days on the coast, we took a couple of days to go visit Jeremy and Danette in Vancouver, WA. We stayed with them and Halle and Hunter really loved playing with Andra and Drisan. One night Danette and I had a girls' night with some of her friends. We went to see the movie "The Proposal" and to dessert at a cute restaurant on the water, I think it was called "Beaches". On Friday we went to the Portland Zoo with the Astons. It was such a beautiful day, and the animals were amazing. The kids really enjoyed it. On Saturday morning, it was time to say goodbye. We really appreciated getting to spend time with such good friends. On our way home, we decided that we would go to the Portland Saturday Market. It was a lot of fun, and I even bought some cute tutu's for the girls! We also stopped at Multnomah Falls on the way home and spent some time exploring there. Another beautiful day! And last, but not least, we decided to go across the bridge to Washington to go see the Stonehenge exhibit. It was a great vacation!

Hunter, Halle, and Harmony in front of the beach house