OUR WEEKEND IN SEASIDE II

Well, here we are home again - and almost a whole week gone again since we have been back...

I will try to backtrack a little to finish telling about the rest of our weekend. I think I left off with me waiting for Preston to return from his unit duties....He got back and said things went ok. He had a pretty crazy day with things but felt for the most part that things went well. As a side note, we had chosen NOT to fork out the big bucks for the military ball tickets. We found out that night that it sounded like a good thing we didnt, as the band really struggled and the whole thing was over and done with by about 930pm...not their best year with new people and new music....maybe we will try for next year after they have had some more time to get all the bugs worked out....

We tried another new restaurant for dinner our last night there. It was a recommendation by another of the hotel's managers. It was called "Bigfoot" - the whole restaurant was decorated to look like a huge log cabin - inside and out. The food was amazing there! I got a hazlenut crusted halibut with rice and sauteed veggies. Preston got his favorite - prime rib - and I tried a couple of bites. Now, for me this is a big deal - I dont like prime rib for one very big reason - too undercooked most of the time (I always think of Dr Suess RARE roast beast...) I have a thing that I like me meat COOKED, thank you very much...Anyway - for me to try one bite, let alone two was a big thing. It was cooked perfectly and was the very best prime rib that either one of us had EVER tasted. All of dinner was really extra yummy and we would definately go there again.

After dinner we came back and vegged for awhile while waiting for our friends to pop in on us. Saturday was our official "swap" night - our van for their suburban. They have a smaller family and have been looking to downsize, our family has grown to busting at the seams and we took the opportunity to upgrade. I think both families will be happy with the swap. We still have a few things we need to get figured out on our end, but for the most part I think the space alone was enough to encourage the trade. The kids are pretty excited about the new "beast" and it has already been great for having to pack/haul extra stuff.

After the official swap Preston and I headed out to track down a favorite piece of choc cake. As we made our way towards the restaurant we were surprised to find the (up to this point) quiet streets over-run with teenage kids (rude ones at that) and several sets of police cars with lights flashing from some misadventure. We were really surprised to find things so chaotic, even in the restaurant. We took our cake back to our room and watched more Food Network.
Sunday AM Preston had more meetings, and after I had a rough night I got the chance to sleep in. When he got back we cleaned up and packed up to get ready to go. We had brunch in our room which consisted of all the leftovers we had from previous yummy dinners. We were surprised to have awakened to a day with no rain or wind and it was even fairly warm...of course it was finally nice on the day we had to head home...gggrrrr :)

We decided to drive 101 on the way home. We stopped off at Tolovana State Park @ Cannon Beach and see if we could brave the weather for our long awaited walk. To our surprise the weather was amazing and apparently lots of other people decided to take advantage of it too. We just chose a direction and started walking. Lucky us, we chose the turnoff where the famous "haystack rock" is located. We walked as far one direction as we could along the beach. It was wonderful to just walk and talk and hold hands and just enjoy our last bit of time together. One direction took us an hour. When we got to where we couldnt walk any further we decided to turn around and head back. The view was amazing on every side - the beach, clouds, water, children playing, all the darling beach houses, other couples walking, birds bobbing on the waves...and so much more. It was so wonderful to just BE there together and see all the beauty that has been created for us. All too soon we were back at the parking lot, and it really was time to head home...

We decided to enjoy one more snack, our leftover desserts! They were way YUM - extra crispy, crunchy baked apple crisp, berry cobbler and choc layer cake. We pulled over to a little view area to enjoy our treats and then hit the road. Our way out to the coast was broken up with lots of stops, but we pretty much drove straight home - both of us were feeling extra tired and the drive seemed longer than it really was. The view along the drive home was very beautiful though and there were lots of things to see and talk about.

We arrived home to boys screaming - "the big truck, the big truck!" and "mom, mom!" We gave out all the fun presents that we had collected and everyone seemed to really like them (Wii remote smarties dispensers, books and the girls trunks, plus surprises for the Weatherreds)

I wrote before about the darling little book shop that we found. Below are the 3 books we found for the little boys. I got this one because I absolutely fell in love with the illustrations. I am a sucker for children's picture books, but this is one of the most beautiful that I have seen. It is a wonderful addition to our personal library

When I saw this book I had to get it for Caiden. One of his first Language Arts assignments was about the Lewis and Clark expedition. An excerpt from this book was given in his textbook as a reading assignment. He loved that whole lesson and all of its different activities and he never stopped talking about Seaman the dog. He is our dog lover anyway so reading about one so big and that was such a big part of history was even more fun for him. The illustrations and story are both wonderful and the "Seaman" bookmark is an extra plus. He was SOOO excited when he saw it and took it up to his room vs keeping it in the library. Seeing his reaction and knowing it made him so happy made me glad I had picked it out.

When I saw this book and its darling illustrations I knew I just had to get it for Ky. Bedtime is always a drama every night at our house - the weeping and wailing and knashing of teeth is our normal routine. I was hoping that maybe if we read this book often enough, with all of its cute bedtime suggestions we might make more progress...it hasnt worked so far, but we have really enjoyed reading it. I esp love the illustrations in this book beause they remind me of "Shaun the Sheep (Wallace & Grommit) animation shorts that come from England. We really enjoy British humor and Shaun the Sheep is one of our faves and gets the laughs just like the ones this book also gives.
Even though we had the camera with us for the entire weekend, we did not take one singe picture...sometimes I think I should have, but for the most part it was so nice to just enjoy the time and not miss a thing. While we were walking on the beach I remembered Preston's new cell phone (which he brought with him) and that it had a camera on it. I had him take a couple of picts of Haystack Rock and then he took a pict of us. Kind of silly, but a fun, special memory from our wonderful weekend together. Thanx again, love, for letting me come with you and for all the fun and special time we had together!