Oh Oregon

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The boys love having their own suitcases and backpacks.

The Oregon coast just seems to get more beautiful each year. We packed in a lot of adventures on our latest trip, including many trips to the beach. The morning after we arrived, we made a beeline for the beach with Kjell's brother Tryg even though it was cloudy and cold. Marcus and I splashed in the water for quite a while and Marcus caught his first wave on the boogie board! Mike and Melissa Smith and their kids later joined us for some playing in the sand. On our way back to the car, the kids rode in the choo-choo train.

Thursday, we headed to Tillamook where we visted the Air Museum and the Tillamook Cheese Factory. The museum is housed in a former military blimp hangar, called "Hangar B", which is the largest clear-span wooden structure in the world. Tillamook Air Museum has been described as "one of the country's top private World War II aircraft collections". At the cheese factory we observed the machinery, ate Tillamook ice cream cones, and sampled the cheese. Mmmmmm!


Friday we headed to Ecola State Park to enjoy the gorgeous views and go on a short hike to Indian Beach. The hike was a mile and a half, which both Marcus and Holden did on their own. The kids loved splashing in the tidepools and climbing on the rocks at Indian Beach. After a long nap, we went to the Smiths for dinner and s'mores.


Tillamook Head was on the agenda for Saturday morning. Our trip coincided with our friends Debbie and Brandon Rowley who were visiting the Oregon Coast from Washington. We all went hiking together (but first Kjell and I went to garage sales with the kids...I found lots of puzzles and micro machines). The hike was gorgeous and a wonderful time to be with our friends, except that I forgot that it was so long! Still, Ellie (5) and Marcus (5) did the entire hike by themselves and entertained us with their antics ("no cutting", "that's my stick", "let's tackle our dads", etc.). The hike was 5.5 miles long - Tryg carried Holden, Kjell carried Wether and Brandon carried baby Tommy. That night Kjell and I went on a date while Grandma and Uncle Tryg watched the boys. We went boogie boarding in the ocean, ate a nice dinner, and took a stroll in Seaside.


When I woke up Sunday morning I found Wether sitting on Grandpa's lap stealing his breakfast, which seemed to be their daily routine. We went to church and had Grandma take quite a few family photos at the beach and in the backyard.  Kjell visited his Great Aunt Erna and Great Uncle Perry.


On our last full day we went to the beach in the morning with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Tryg. That evening we went into Seaside with Aunt Emma-Kate, baby cousin Desmond, and Uncle Tryg. Marcus and Holden went on the carousel, bumper cars, and swings at the beach. They also shared their first Elephant Ear. That night we packed and had a short night sleep since we left at 3am for the airport!