Oregon Coast Trip - part 2

We started out early Monday morning heading North to Sunset Beach for what was probably the funnest activity of the entire vacation (in my opinion).....beach combing! We spent 2-3 hrs on the beach just looking for sand dollars, shells, and anything else that was cool....like say live crabs! We stayed until the tide started coming in.

I couldn't resist sharing this adorable shot. Jack, Charlotte, and Garrett heading down the hall toward the parking garage in our condo. On our way to do some beach combing!

Before we found much of anything we were so excited when we stumbled across several live crabs trying to hide in the tide pools under the sand. It was not something we were expecting to find! Everyone was so excited and we started collecting them in the buckets, thinking we might eat some for dinner that night. But later we discovered that not only do you need a license but that there was the chance the crabs might be sick from the clams or muscles they eat. So we set them all free.

But we found lots of sand dollars!!

Buckets full of sand dollars!

Even Charlotte found one that she repeatedly tried chewing on because it looked yummy to her.

Here's the crab that I found in a pool. I had to pull him out of the sand a bit but also wasn't sure if I was pulling the right end (after all, I've never held a crab before!) so I left him in the water and called for help from Curtis and Stillman.

This was my favorite find on the beach! I was told that finding a shell like this on the beach in Oregon was rare because they usually get broken up. So naturally I was super excited!

On our way out from the beach Curtis thought it would be fun to spin a few cookies on the beach because there was lots of space to do it. But that didn't last because there was a cop on the beach that spotted us and pulled us over on the beach.  We didn't know this but apparently the beach is considered a highway and he was reckless driving. Fortunately the cop let us off with a warning!

We then did some driving around trying to find some good places for taking family pictures. We even got lost and accidentally stumbled upon Fort Stevens. We just drove by it but it was neat to see the old bunkers and cannons. All the driving around wore us out so we headed back to the condos so we could take naps, showers, and get ready for getting family pictures.  It was decided to head South to Indian Beach at Ecola State Park for the pictures.

Beautiful scenery going in to Ecola State park where Indian Beach is located.

This was right off the beach.

Nikki on Indian Beach waiting to get pictures done.

I was the only one asked to sit on the wet sand for the big family group picture. Can't say I was entirely thrilled about it but that's how it goes sometimes.  I haven't seen the big group picture yet so hopefully it was worth it ;)

My boys having fun in the water after our family was finished with pictures.

Some of us found some natural wildlife. Sea stars (aka Starfish)! We had also seen baby crabs and tons of muscles (similar to clams) covering some rocks. The baby crabs were actually living underneath them. It was awesome to make our own discoveries outside of an aquarium!

Tuesday we stayed in Seaside most of the day swimming and walking down Broadway Street to check out the shops and some activities to do.

Uncle Colby throwing Garrett in the pool. He has such cool uncles!  :)

One activity we found on Broadway was bumper cars! I was glad that Jack was too short to ride alone because I got to ride with him and it was fun! (We're in the red one)

Cousin Alex and Nikki with their new silly hats they bought at a hat shop in the Carousel Mall. It's called Carousel Mall because right in the middle of the mall is a carousel. Charlotte rode with me on the carousel and she LOVED it! She was so upset when it was time to get off. She wanted to ride again!

The boys found stuffed animals to buy with their own money they earned over the summer.  Nikki had also earned her own as well. They earned the money by reading every day and doing weekly book reports for their dad to read while he was in North Dakota.

We stopped at an arcade where the kids played lots of games.  Garrett was lucky enough to win 125 tickets while playing a game and did it in one turn.
Tamara and I were photo bombing Katie's picture :)

More fun at the pool. Cousins!

There was a beach volleyball tournament coming up on the weekend and so there were people building sand sculptures that were pretty amazing. Some were for a contest I think and some were just hoping to make some money, just like other people who were playing instruments and singing for money. This is at the beach right behind our condo.

The next fun adventure was preparing some tin foil dinners and heading back to Sunset Beach, where we did the beach combing, and having a campfire on the beach. Most of the kids had fun digging and building with the sand while the food was cooking. And some of us enjoyed watching some whales that weren't too far off shore. All we could see of them was their top fin.

Campfire on the beach. We made a half circle to block the wind so we could get our coals started.

So many beautiful sunsets on the beach that were absolutely breathtaking!

Tough guy Stillman who had just gone boogie boarding in the freezing water while others are looking at the whales.

Cooking dinner!

Playing in the sand!

After eating dinner we sat around and talked for awhile and then packed up and left when it got dark. It was so dark that we had a hard time finding the road back that connected to the beach. Thankfully there was a bus parked close to the road that had reflectors that helped us figure out where we were going.
We were so busy the whole week it's hard to fit it all in one post.  This one got pretty long since I shared more pictures.  Once again, this will be continued in another post!

Oregon Coast trip - part 1

We have been wanting to visit the Oregon coast for years and this last month we finally made it happen, thanks to my parents. They had made reservations in Seaside, Oregon through a time share they own. It was one of the best vacations ever and it was also the first official Tony Norton family reunion. All of my siblings were there except Phillip, as well as Grandma and Grandpa Norton (GG). We stayed in 4 different condo rooms on 2 different floors but the rooms were across the hall from each other.  So there was us with Chris and Tamara in one condo (on the 2nd floor). Stillman, Michelle, Colby and Krista were across the hall from us. On the 4th floor was Melissa, Nathan, Dad and Mom. Across the hall from them was Grandma N, Grandpa N, Derek and Rachel. (And of course all of our kids!)

We began our trip on Saturday August 1st.  Most of us have an app on our phone that allows us to track where our family members are, so it was fun being able to see where everyone was while we were all traveling at the same time from different locations. I hadn't been to Oregon in 20 years and so I had forgotten how much of it still looked dry and desert like after years of people raving about how green Oregon is.  Well, it's not very green until you get closer to the coast but it still has some beautiful scenery, like Idaho.

Just before making this trip we had purchased a cargo box to carry luggage on top of our van since our family is growing.  It was so nice to have but when we got there it made for an interesting dilemma as we wouldn't be able to fit in the parking garage.  Curtis ended up having to take all of our luggage out of the cargo box and stuff everything and the box inside the van just so we could park. While he did that I took our kids up to our condo room. It was handy that my brother Colby had brought his truck so we were able to store our cargo box in the back of his truck all week.

That evening some of the men went to the grocery store to buy some food for the week. That's right, the men! So I took all of our kids down to the pools, including Charlotte.  Funny enough the "baby" pool was colder than the main pool so I took Charlotte in the main pool.  I was worried about how she would react to being in the pool since the last couple of months she had HATED taking baths. She used to love baths and I have no idea why the sudden change of mind.  It might have something to do with me taking her in Lake Lowell for the first time at the beginning of summer and the water was cold.  I don't know.  I can only guess.  Luckily, she did fine in the pool as long as she was being held. I even took a bath with her afterwards since I was already in my swim suit and I think that helped having me in with her but she still whined a bit.  Miraculously by the end of this vacation she began to LOVE baths again. Hallelujah!!!

The view of the ocean from our condo.

The next morning was Sunday so we all went to church in Astoria where Laverne's (Mom's) brother is bishop.  Most of us left after Sacrament meeting and headed back to the condo where we could relax and rest. Later we took our kids down to see the ocean since our condos were right on the beach. Stillman's and Derek's families joined us down there where what started out to just be a walk on the beach turned into most of the kids getting soaked from head to toe from falling and running in the ocean waves. It was fun watching the kids play in the ocean but of course I was still worried the whole time of any of them getting sucked back by a rip tide.

First time the kids touched the ocean and the beach.

Jack is the one on the left in the dark shirt and Garrett's the green shirt in the middle running towards the beach. They were having so much fun running in the water.

Nikki soaked by the ocean and loving it! Don't let the kids fool you either. The water was freezing cold!!

Even Charlotte loves the freezing water. She loved walking on the beach and in the water!

After we went back to the condo and dried and cleaned off, the men on the 2nd floor got to work on a delicious BBQ dinner.  They went a little crazy with meat but it was all delicious! We had hot dogs, brats, pork steaks, jalapeno poppers, watermelon, salad, and chips.

My brother Stillman and Curtis.

Charlotte looking down at the people by the pool.

The view from the condo across the hall from us. They got to look down at the pools and the beach.

Later that night Curtis, Tamara and I went up to the 4th floor to join our brother Derek and Rachel for some board games (Derek's favorite past time).  We played a fun co-op game called Escape! where we all work together to try and get out of the underground tunnels where jewels are hidden before the walls crumble down on us! But before we started and before my battery ran out I caught some awesome views of the sunset.

All the fun we had so far and it was only Sunday night. I will have to split this into several posts. Stay tuned!.....I promise I'll finish it this time!