Cheese, Beach, Crabbing and Seafood Feasting Fun! - August 2018 Family Vacation: Part 3

My kidlets at the Blue Heron French Cheese Company in Tillamook, OR. The first time we attempted to go to the Tillamook Cheese Factory there was a line out the door so we decided to keep traveling and landed at the Blue Heron instead. Glad we did! 

Michael particularly loved all the old logging and farm equipment displayed on the property.

I always said Michael was my mule!

The kids said I make a good milk cow. I'd say that's pretty accurate :)

The girls delighted this musician by dancing to his music.

Afterwards, we want back to play on the beach at Bar View Jetty. Hailey and her cousin, Lily, are always having a great time together.

There were sand castles and forts to be built all week long with the cousins.

The kids got a selfie-stick at a thrift store so I tried it out. Here is Larry, my step-dad, and I. It was great having both sets of my parents with us at the beach this year.

Clearly, I was having way too much fun with the selfie-stick! Here I am with both my moms.

Andrew and Josiah spent a great deal of time and energy building this amazing sand fortress. A lot of engineering and thought went into this. Kept them busy for hours.

We picked a picture perfect day to go crabbing at Kelly's Marina in Brighton, OR. We've been stopping by there to buy fresh seafood for years and always dreamed of going crabbing on a boat. We finally made it happen this year and I'm so glad we did. This will be a family tradition for years to come. We enjoyed it so much.

This ended up being Josiah's favorite activity of the entire vacation.

We got two keepers!

Michael and Rina were the pilots of the boat, Josiah was the puller, Hailey and I were spotters. 

We made a great team!

Awesome memories were made.

While our crabs were cooking, Mom met us down there and she and Larry bought enough seafood for our whole family to have huge seafood feast.

Rina is not a fan of the smells of fresh seafood.

Crab, Prawns, steamer clams and grilled oysters with garlic butter, Parmesan and bacon bits.

Josiah was a big help with grilling the oysters over the campfire. This kid adores seafood!

Eating treats like this is what this Eastern Oregon family loves. We live far enough away from the coast that we aren't able to go every year, so we make the most of it when we are able to vacation there. More to come!

God Bless,
Jackie

Tree to Tree Aerial Adventure Park: August 2018 Family Vacation: Part 2

I had such a great time playing with my older kids in the tree tops at "Tree to Tree Aerial Adventure Park" outside of Forest Grove, OR. We stopped there on our way to the coast. Josiah was able to go with his Boy Scout Troop a few years ago and wanted to go back.  I'm glad we went. It was a lot of fun! Poor Michael, he was stuck on the ground with the cranky toddler who desperately needed a nap, but he managed to get some good pictures despite.

I love Hailey's look in this picture, LOL.  I'm very afraid of heights but I had to focus really hard on the safety system they have in place. It helped me not to think about how high I was off the ground. There wasn't a time during this experience where I didn't feel safe.

 Josiah convinced me to go on this red diamond run with him. Fun and challenging at the same time. I felt a little torn between the two kids who each wanted me to go on the runs with them. Because of that, I ran out of time to try out a black diamond run with Josiah. Next time!

 Josiah was truly in his element that day.

 It took some convincing for Hailey to go down her first big zip line. I went first and then she did it. I was proud of her for conquering her fears, too.

 Mama first!

 Don't look down, LOL!

Rina watched us for awhile and then hung out on the play set. We'll go back when she's old enough to participate. 

Vacationing with such a wide age range is quite challenging sometimes but we managed to make it work. After this adventure, we made our way to Bar View Jetty (outside of Tillamook) with our camp trailer for a week of camping on the coast. More fun to come!

God Bless,

Jackie

"Capital Fun" in Salem, OR: Aug 2018 Family Vacation: Part 1

Since we were headed to the beach anyway, we decided to take our trailer down to Salem the weekend before our vacation started and visit some dear friends during drill weekend before heading to the coast. We had a wonderful time catching up with a family we hadn't seen in 3 years. Our kids had a blast playing with their kids in the Willamette River.

Such a an awesome couple and wonderful hosts! We ate well while we were there.

The guys got to talk "military" and "Boy Scout" stuff. Josiah is really growing up. 

 During Michael's lunch break, we rushed over to see the Oregon State Capital building. Unfortunately we weren't able to get in as it was a Sunday and much of the outside is under renovation. At least the kids were able to see the basics- something they've never seen before.

 The beaver bronze was a hit with the kids. Next time, we'll have to go back on a weekday so the kids can go inside. Also we will wait for the renovation of the grounds to be completed. 

Michael took us to work for a couple of hours where we got a private tour of several helicopters, including this Blackhawk. The kids thought it was amazing! We really enjoyed meeting some of Michael's co-workers. Great people!

That evening, we all combined our kayaks and we had just enough for both our families to go kayaking on the Willamette River. So much fun!

What a blessing to reconnect with friends and see where Michael drills. It's nice to put faces to names. It was a short weekend packed with lots of fun. We left the next morning for our aerial adventure at"Tree to Tree Park" in Forest Grove, OR, as we slowly made our way to the coast. 

More fun to come...

God Bless,
Jackie