Before and After: Beach Vacation

Besides for our all inclusive stay at Salem Hospital this summer, Craig and I did not take a vacation this summer. After looking at our schedules, we decided to rent a house on the coast for the first weekend in October. We were fully prepared for yucky weather (which would be the norm for fall at the coast), but we were blessed with sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70's. Being that we live an hour away from the coast, we go quite often and stay overnight probably 5 times a year, but this time was completely different.

Before:Craig is a minimalist when it comes to packing for vacation. He is perfectly happy just bringing one towel to sit on on the beach.
Now: Grace is little, but she has a lot of stuff. For the house, we brought her pack and play, her play gym, a quilt, half a box of diapers, bobby pillow, bouncy seat, plus several changes of clothes. On the beach we carried out a sun shelter, the Ergo, her diaper bag plus three towels.

Before: In a four day trip to the coast I would have read at least 2 or 3 books.
Now: I read about 90 pages. Which is about 70 more pages than I read all summer...

Hanging out at a shipwreck, NBD

Gracie and Daddy

Before: We would have gone to several restaurants and I would have packed a nicer outfit for an evening out.
Now: We brought cereal, milk, snacks and sandwich stuff with us. We did go get dinner, but we brought it back to the house to eat. Gracie is usually okay if we go out with her, but if she is over something (like sitting in a restaurant) she lets EVERYONE know.

First time touching the sand

Clearly Grace was not impressed with the big WWII gun

Before: Naps on the beach all around.
Now: Well, one of us got a nap in on the beach.

Craig's nap did not last long

Even though things are different now, I love it! We had a fantastic first family vacation, and I can't wait to take more!

This selfie only took two tries. I feel like it should be in a selfie hall of fame. Even the baby is looking at the camera!

First World Problem

I will start off by saying, yes there are bigger problems than this in the world and even in my own life.

My husband is starting a new job, which will be so much less stress. I have been begging him to quit his job for over a year now, but he wouldn't without finding another job. Practical but he was so unhappy and stressed out all the time that I don't really think it was worth it. Any way... because he is starting a new job, that means he won't have vacation time saved up for our usually big summer vacation. I am kind of bummed about this, however he is supposed to have Fridays off and leave at noon on Thursdays, so I have been dreaming about several weekend trips we could take this summer.

1. Boulder Beach Water Park, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
 
We are totally big kids at heart and we love water parks. We even went to one on our honeymoon (and he lost his wedding ring.) According to Google maps this is about a 7 and half hour drive from our house.

2. Bend/Sunriver, Oregon

I love Bend and the surrounding areas. Sunriver is an awesome little vacation community with bike paths and little shops all through it. This is about a 3 hour drive from home.

3. Seaside, Oregon

Seaside is probably the most touristy area of the Oregon coast, but we hardly ever make it there. I love the large beach area. 2 1/2 hours by car.

4. Astoria, Oregon

Why yes, Astoria is where The Goonies was filmed. I have been wanting to go hang out here in this town for awhile. It would make a lovely camping trip for us. And it is only 3 hours away.

Have you ever been to my neck of the woods? Any weekend trip ideas for us? Do you plan big vacations or smaller weekend trips?

Kauai 2012

Today is my first official day back to work. We had some "pre-season" professional development last week, but today is the first day of contract.

This was at the sandcastle contest in Hanalei. 

Finally I am getting around to posting about our vacation! The Mister and I are so thankful to be able to have gone to Hawaii, for the second year in a row. Kauai was just as beautiful and wonderful as it was last year. Because we had already been once, we didn't really feel the need to do a ton of activities while we were there. Most days we had no plan, and just picked a beach and hung out/snorkled. When we were hungry, we'd get a snack and head to a different beach. It was a tough life, that's for sure. :)

Each day that we were in Kauai, I wrote out a postcard saying a couple of the highlights from the day. I mailed them off daily, and when we got back there was a couple waiting for us, and we got one a day for a few days after we were home. It's fun reading back through what I wrote and remembering some of those little things that we may have forgotten.

We hiked the Kuilau ridge trail. It was an easy 4 mile round trip hike, but it was gorgeous!

We made it down to Poi Pu a couple times. Poi Pu is on the sunny south shore and it had AMAZING snorkeling. I am not a great swimmer, and where we were was super shallow but there were a TON of fishies in like 2-3 foot deep water. We also made it to Puka Dog. I had seen it on the Travel channel and it was pretty yummy!

That cat reminded me so much of my Allison kitty. He had a tag on and was just hanging out in the life guard tower.  There was a lot of time when there were hardly anyone on the beaches with us. It was so nice!

Some other highlights:
The mister really wanted to lean how to stand up paddle board, so we took a lesson one morning. It was pretty fun, but I probably won't do it again, he really liked it though. We went to a luau on Tuesday night, and the fire dancer was bad ass. For reals. I ended up seeing 4 sea turtles and 1 Hawaiian monk seal. We had shave ice 3 times and Banana Joe's frosties twice. Gosh, I would LOVE to have some shave ice over mac nut ice cream right about now.

What's your favorite vacation you've been on?

Gone Fishin'

Well, probably not fishing. But I am on vacation!

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At  3:00 3:15 this morning (I'm guessing, because really, we never leave on time and I am writing this on Thursday night) the Mister and I left our house and headed the hour+ to the airport for our vacation. This summer has been rough on us, and we could not be more ready for a week of

Boogie Boarding:

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I love dogs on surf/boogie boards

Snorkeling:

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Fruity Drinks:

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 See you all when we get back! 

You can follow me on Instagram if you miss me :)  

My Oregon Bucket List

I love living in Oregon. I've lived here for the majority of my life. (there was a brief stint in Southern California when I was a little) For all of that time that I have been here, there is plenty I haven't done yet. I guess I sort of take for granted all the cool things in my state, and figure it will always be here, so it isn't a priority when we have some vacation time.

1. Camping in a Yurt

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Yurts are a cross between a cabin and a tee-pee. They are mostly found at the coastal state parks, and people can stay in them pretty much year round. I have always wanted to camp in them, but I think its kind of silly to do now, because I really don't mind tent camping. This is a to do once we have littles.

2. Crater Lake

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I have never been here, and sometimes I can't believe. Crater Lake is a national park in southern Oregon, just north of Medford. You can stay in lodges around the lake, and I know you can take tour boats around the lake as well.

3. Crabbing in the Pacific

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There is a 99.9% chance this made it on my list because of Deadliest Catch, but whatevs. I like crab.

4. Goonies House

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Goonies was filmed in Astoria, Oregon on the northern coast. There are tours of the filming locations, including the house. Plus Astoria has some other neat things like the Astoria column.

Astoria column

5. Painted Hills/Fossil Beds in John Day

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Another national park, but this one is in eastern Oregon. I usually forget about anything east of Bend, but it is like a whole other world compared to the Willamette Valley.

6. Portland

Schnitzer concert hall (where we just saw Aziz Ansari!)/Japanese Gardens/Powell's Books/Voodoo Donuts/ The Grotto at Christmas/Rose Garden

I grew up in Portland, and I actually have been to a lot of these places, but I would love to go back as an adult. I have NEVER been to Voodoo, I'd like to go to check it out. There is also a ton more.

7. Mt. Hood Railroad

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This scenic railroad runs through Hood River, which is one of my favorite places. At Christmas time they do a special Polar Express train ride which I would love to do. Of course its weird for a 30 year old woman to go on a Polar Express train ride, so this is another thing that I should put off until I have a little.

8. Sunriver

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So, I've been to Sunriver before. It was actually the first vacation the Mister and I ever took together, but I love it and I want to go again. Sunriver is a resort community outside of Bend. It has tons of bike trails and is a great place to stay if you are snowboarding up at Mt. Bachelor. There is also some fantastic hiking in that area.

9. Riding ATVs in the dunes

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There are some serious sand dunes on the coast and people bring there ATVs and cruise all over them. I think it would be so fun to do at least once.

Have you been to Oregon? What was your favorite part? Do you have a local bucket list for where you live?

Not to brag, but

4 months from today I will be getting off a plane here:

I will go hiking here:

Eating a frosty from here:

Watching these guys:

I don't mean to brag, but the Mister and I are headed back to Kauai this summer. (OK, I guess I am bragging a little...) I am so excited!

But, leaving for Hawaii in 4 months means it is time for me to put on a pair of these:

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Become reacquainted with these long lost friends:

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And start paying better attention to this:

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But sometimes, you gotta forget it all, and enjoy some Happy Hour with a good friend! And that is exactly what I did tonight after work!