Road Trip

For this year's family vacation we decided on a trip to the Oregon Coast. We love it there and haven't been since right before moving to Logan. We were a little nervous about the kids in the car for the 12 hours it takes to get there, but the E's did AWESOME! Kelly and I were seriously shocked at how well they did, especially Ellie.


On the way we broke the drive up with a couple nights in Boise and then a night in Portland where we stopped at the zoo.
The pacing (swimming) polar bear was a favorite.





At the coast we rented an oceanside condo in the small town of Gearhart. We love this beautiful little town. Most of our time was spent playing at the beach . . . .

~ wading in the frigid water


~ roasting "lallows" for Smores.


~ snuggling


~ chasing birds



~ lot's of wading


~ crab walking . . . . .?



~ sandcastle building




~ We also headed to a few of the nearby towns.
In Astoria we visited a couple locations from a popular 80's movie; can you guess the movie?



~ we located some "docked" sea lions


~ visited Seaside where we strolled through some shops, fed some sea lions, and crashed in the bumper cars



~ spent some time at Cannon Beach

~ explored some tide pools


On the way home we broke the drive up once more with a stop at Multnomah Falls. This is also where we finally found a penny passport booklet for each of the kids.


and stopped a few nights in Boise again where we picked up the dogs, played with cousins, attended the 10th annual Dutch Oven Cook-off and most excitingly . . . . .


Ethan lost his first tooth! He was SO excited, especially since it had been loose for weeks. The whole week we wondered if it would come out while we were out of town and it did. Is it weird that this made mom a little sad? . . .another sign of my little guy growing up so fast.