OUR WEEKEND IN SEASIDE

We are having a wonderful time here in Seaside - lots of fabulous food, fun shopping, crazy weather (heavy wind and rain) crazy military scheduling, and adventures.

We are calling this our weekend of "new & different". We started off our long weekend together with stopping at an Asian restaraunt in Salem that we have never been to before. From the outside it looks like a total dive, inside is nice and the food was awesome. I will probably talk about food alot, and how much preston is laughing at me about the subject of food....Starting with the fact that I ordered and ate most of 2 different sets of menu items for lunch....

Our next stop was the temple. We got there not knowing what we wanted to do and discovered that they needed help with initiatories. It was really amazing and thought provoking. When we were done, Preston mentioned that he didnt think that he had helped with those since his own (many years ago...) I think we both really felt that it was the right way to spend our time. On our way out to the coast I found that I was hungry.... again...so I worked on our leftovers from lunch while preston laughed at me some more...

We arrived in Seaside to heavy rains and just about everything already closed....We still found a little place (called Pudgy's) to have a light dinner-snack and had a great shrimp salad and choc layer cake - YUM!
Our room at the hotel is great. We have a great view of the river. The staff has been extra helpful, & the little extras have been wonderful. It was a treat to get to actually sleep in and lollygag our first morning here too.

We have enjoyed finding all sorts of new and fun places to eat and shop. Everywhere we have been has been amazing and we are bringing home fun surprises for all the kiddos.
I think our favorite treat shop was this really WOW candy shop. They had everything in old ashioned bucket bins or clear plastic dispensers, and isle after isle of what seemed like a million different candies -both new and "retro" plus they had a whole side of the store dedicated to handmade chocolates. Another side of the store was a "creation" buffet of handmade treats - huge candied apples, fudge that you could watch them make from scratch right there behind the counter - and get this: chocolate covered TWINKIES!!! They had hand dipped this lovely treat in choc, butterscotch, white choc, etc and then drizzled and coated with candies and such. I LOVE twinkies (my one childhood treat I still love, though cant have for now) but I am not sure I would have been able to handle those in the showcases though. They also had hand dipped choc covered oreos and other cookies and treats. The other fun thing about that shop was that you could "sample" 1 piece of fudge AND a saltwater taffy for free! The other fun thing we thought was very appropriate was the name of the store - "The Buzz" - just looking at and smelling all of those candies and sweet treats was enough for a sugar buzz....I can imagine that eating it would put anyone over the top. The store was so fun that they got us in there for a 2nd round where we picked out fun treats for all of the boys.

We also discovered and made purchases from several specialty shops. It was fun to browse all the cute shops and to take cover when the sky literally opened up and a deluge of water fell from the skies off and on the whole day.
They had this darling book store where the town's only "reading" cat resides with his owner. The cat had his own cushions and places to just hang in the children's section and we felt he was very gracious in allowing us to browse through his domain. Apparently he is pretty famous here and had several newspaper articles and clippings all about him (not his owner or the store mind you) posted up on the store's bulletin board. He was pretty hefty and it looked to me like he was really living it up and enjoying every minute of his fame and fortune :)

I think by far my favorite place to eat (and the place we got the best laughs) was the local "Pig & Pancake House". I have not been to one of those in ages and I had forgotten how extensive their menu was. I was able to special order banana-pecan pancakes, which came with a marmalade syrup that was WOW. I also ordered a plate of potato pancakes (shredded hashbrown cakes with onion, peppers, etc) that came with bacon and applesauce. We ended up getting the unexpected treat to eat breakfast with one of our friends from the unit. We sat and chatted and ate for more than an hour - and in that time I finished all but 2 bites of pancakes. Preston just kept looking at me and shaking his head and laughing at me as I kept eating. These were not small plates either - I think I had the "short" stack of regular sized pancakes - which was 3 or 4, plus there were 4 fairly good size potato pancakes, plus the bacon and applesauce and several glasses of water. By the time we were done our waiter was manning the cashier's desk. When we thanked him for such good food and service, he mentioned that he saw I had finished almost all my meal and asked me who (which of the guys) had helped me finish it. When I pointed to myself and told him that I had finished it, he got this shocked look on his face and kind of stood there for a minute staring at me. Then Preston did laugh - a lot. I laughed too, and it kind of brought the young guy around so we could chat for another minute. I told him that the only thing I could think of that would make me eat like that was that I had started a new exercise program and that my metabolism has kicked into high gear. It really is the only thing I can think of that has made such a big change in my eating habits. Preston & I laughed and talked about that little episode the rest of the day.
It wasnt the last time he laughed at me over food though - because even after eating all that and doing some sigificant walking and shopping, I was asking him if he wanted to stop for a treat and we stopped and had dinner at 5pm because I was starving again. He kept telling me that he was not hungry at all and yet I was really and truly hungry. So much that I left a only small portion and a take out dessert from another very large meal. It really is kind of crazy. I never eat like this, and it has been a very long time since food has tasted SOOOO good. I have tried hard to make very good choices - and I apparently am doing a good job because I have been feeling really great instead of yucky and have had really good energy for the most part. It has been really fun to get to go out to "big people" restaurants and have so many healthy choices to choose from. To get to just sit and enjoy a meal and time for just the 2 of us, to actually enjoy foods that I dont get to choose from very often.

Last night the weather held off for about all of 10 minutes - almost long enough for us to walk down to the beach. We enjoyed looking at the diferent layers of cloud banks and the sand blowing across the beach at sunset. When we walked down it was windy, but dry. We lasted about 5 minutes standing on the beach before the clouds plowed across the sky and dumped heavy rain drops on top of us. It was crazy to stand there and literally watch the clouds with the sky streaked with rain move toward us (much faster than we anticipated). There were so many different layers of clouds - big, white and fluffy, dark and ominous, thick and thin layers, with the sun just behind the thinner layers adding a golden hue in between all the heavy black clouds. I was hoping to get picts, but glad I had not tried as the camera would have gotten possibly ruined by the heavy rain we got caught in.

It has been fun and carefree this weekend. We have mosied our way along the boardwalk and in and out of all the little shops. We have held hands and snuggled and talked of so many things. I havent taken one single pict, or even felt the need to. It has just been time to rest and play and enjoy this special time we have had together.

Today has been mostly spent apart as Preston has had many duties to attend to. I have hung out here in our room and have worked on odds and ends. I got the chance to attend a spouse luncheon with a couple of other wives from the unit which was really fun, and again really great healthy food choices. It will be another couple of hours before Preston is back and we will go find somewhere new and fun for dinner. I will for sure write more, or have Preston post about all of his adventures very soon. For now I get to look out the window at the gray skies (no rain yet today) and all the people walkeing and biking down the streets both in and out of uniform. I am thinking a nap might be in order too....we'll see what the rest of the day holds....so much fun. Will post again soon.