Our first family vacation-Newport Oregon

This was our first real family vacation. The reason for the vacation besides that it was much needed was that my niece was getting married in the Portland Temple and I told Christian hey if we are already going to be in Portland why don't we go to the Oregon Coast. I couldn't believe I didn't even have to try to convince him.

We couldn't leave until Friday Christian got off work and with 2 little ones and me pregnant there was no way we could have made it to the wedding. I don't know what I was thinking. We would have had to literally drive all night. My body couldn't have handled it. So we stayed the night at my parents house (almost half way) and then we got up early and kept driving. I was pretty bummed we didn't make it to Sam and Andy's wedding. (sorry guys.....I better get to see all the picts though and I better hear all about it)

Saturday we continued our drive. Luckily Landon needed a serious diaper change just before Multnomah Falls. So we had to stop. And since we were there already we might as well go look at the falls too. I miss Oregon. It was so beautiful and breathtaking, even if there were way too many people there. We got to the coast at about 6pm that evening and I wish I had pictures of the drive. Brenten would get so excited for the tree tunnels. Once we were there we checked in and ordered pizza. Lets just say that Abby's Legendary Pizza is only legendary if legendary means gross. But the boys didn't care. Then we went down to the beach. And we even got the boys go get a little wet. Landon pretends to run toward a wave and then would run so far from it like he was running for his life. Our hotel was great. We could see the ocean from our window.

Then we took the boys swimming in the pool. Landon was so cold from the Ocean that even at the pool he shivered.

Sunday we got up and went to look at some shops. The surf shop we were looking for was closed so we went to the Oregon Aquarium. It is a great aquarium with all kinds of exhibits and sea animals. But we could only get the boys to touch animals in the touch tank once. After that the surf shop opened and we bought Christian a skim board. Landon and I had a nap and Brenten and Christian headed for the beach. Landon and I followed after nap time. We took down the sand buckets and shovels. The boys were in heaven. Between the water and the sand the boys would have been happy to never leave. Christian and I skimmed boarded for a couple of hours. I was really cautious. I really didn't think I should take a fall (which I didn't) but it was lots of fun and by the end I was getting the hang of it. Christian even got to the point of going into the waves. For dinner we went to the famous Mo's. Famous for their clam chowder. Now I don't do sea food but their clam chowder is so good. And I got to go shopping after dinner and I bought salt water taffy. It is so yummy.

Monday was more of the beach. it was so foggy but really the weather was still great. We tide pooled a little bit and we saw crabs, starfish, hermit crabs, sand crabs (which were actually pelting the skim board when Christian was skim boarding), and other sea creatures that I don't know the names. then we did more digging and more playing in the water. We took a break for lunch and then we went to the lighthouse. Unfortunately we couldn't go to the top because Landon was too small. We tried tide pooling at cobble beach too but really the tide needed to be out further. But it was still fun and so pretty. From our bed that morning we saw 4 or 5 dolphins playing the water and a grey whale shooting water out of his spout. I was pretty impressed. After the lighthouse landon fell asleep in the car so we drove up the coast. And that ended up more shopping for me. WAHOO!!! And then we came back played on the beach. We went to IZZY's for dinner. It is a pizza buffet place in Oregon. This was the place that my mom would take me to when we would go to Portland. It was a little reminiscent. After dinner we went swimming and by the end we were all wiped out.

Tuesday morning we got the boys out of bed and we started the 16 hour drive back home. Unfortunately I made it a little longer. Normally I take a 1/2 a unisom at night and it really controls my morning sickness. Well I forgot and we all paid for it. At every stop I had to throw up and Brenten was sure to tell people in the bathrooms that the baby makes his mom sick. It made for a long trip home. Christian drove all but 2 hours and the boys didn't get hardly any attention from me. But thankfully they were great. They were all troopers.

We all made it home safe and I have had my unisom so i am doing much better and the boys were so exhausted that they slept until 10:30 this morning.

It was a great first vacation. Oh Yah and did I mention I LOVE OREGON!!!!!!