Visiting home - part one

After over a year in between visits, we finally made it back to Oregon to visit my family. Having been back since Saturday, things are just trying to work themselves back into normal. Three hours of time zone have been crossed twice, schedules and routines forgotten, daily adventure left behind for everyday life at home again. 

Instead of taking my nice camera on our trip, I decided to lame out and just shoot on my iPhone. There are many photos that I haven't even dealt with yet, but unless I throw some highlights up here, I'm pretty sure it will never get done...languishing in that special place I put all those things I'll "get to eventually".... Pardon the abundance of instagrammy photos. It was pretty fun being able to use my first smart phone to broadcast our adventures as they happened though!

My dad also has a bunch of good shots of kids with grandparents that need to get sent to me, so unfortunately there really aren't any of those in here. 

After flying into Portland and staying a night at my mom's house, we grabbed some supplies and dragged our jetlagged bodies (including two kids with colds that spontaneously surfaced in Oregon after months of good health) to the coast. Violet had the hardest time adjusting to the new time zone, and decided to wake up at 3:30 the first morning we were there, followed by several very early mornings after.

The kids found some puddles to destroy a few clean outfits in almost immediately. 

Then we had this freakishly beautiful day to spend on the beach. Got some kites from a local kite shop and headed out to fly. It's embarrassing to admit that I grew up here and had never flown a kite. Miraculously though, our kites went up without a problem. 

Clover spent some time flying hers all by herself

And Violet even got a minute of successful flight....before yanking the out of the sky and brutalizing it. That's my Violet.

Grandpa got them shovels, which they used to dig in the sand and beat each other with. 

Feeling left out of the fun, I grabbed a shovel and dug a big hole. This hole became the most sought after beachfront property, at least according to my children, who then fought violently over it until I dug a second hole right next to the first one. Clover hunkered down in the old hole, happy to be rid of her sister for a moment....until the second hole became cooler than the first and she tried to forcefully remove Violet from it. Somehow a shovel ended up descending upon Clover's head.

Seriously. It's a HOLE. 

Depoe Bay was driven through a few times on the way to Newport. Clover had this unsightly snot induced red mustache from being sick, so cliffside pictures of her didn't turn out so charming.

Some people decided they needed a poop shower, apparently, because they brought bread down to the beach and threw it directly above their heads for the seagulls. Clover became enraptured and ran hysterically towards the commotion. 

I thought the kids would like the Taft beach, where there is always a ton of interesting driftwood all over the place. 

Clover did some beach inscribing with a scraggly looking quill she found on the beach. We parked by the highway and walked down a steep-ish sand wall to get down here for a long walk.

Clover turned four several times if you count all the various celebrations we had for her. A custom ordered marionberry/blueberry pie from our favorite local bakery (she requested birthday pie), and a trip to the aquarium happened on the coast.

A bird pooped right as I took a picture of it.

We took a rainy day trip to my old library and explored the kid's room. 

A spontaneous trip to Newport to look for some seals on docks was highly rewarded.

Used books were scanned, flipped through, freaked out over, etc. (at least after changing Violet's obligatory stinky diaper upon entering any business establishment. it happened everywhere we went. too many french fries, I say)

Nooks were discovered.

 

While visiting my grandma, Clover got to spy on the people across the street just like my grandma used to when she was still mobile. 

 

On the way to Portland, we stopped in Salem to search for a coffee shop we'd been in before. Google maps led us to a street with potential, and my random choice of the Governor's Cup ended up being it. The shop is neat. I think it is an old bar, and has some interesting architectural qualities to it. 

While we were there we divided our time between spending quality time with grandparents, eating an obscene (in my eyes, anyway) amount of fried things, and going on adventures. Somebody please tell me I'm not the only one who is constantly exasperated by her kid's obsession with eating nothing but french fries at restaurants. "You need to eat some real food!" was practically my theme phrase on vacation. 

I had resolved before we left to journal a bit every day about our journey, which never happened. So many little bits of memory are already fading away. It's too bad....

Next up will be the Portland branch of vacation. In which many muffins were consumed, and many streets of Portland driven around. (and a celebrity dined with!)