Last Spring Break we had planned to go to Yachats for 5 days and stay at a little beach house right on the beach. Little did we know that our plans would be drastically changed and that our world would be turned upside down (and for over a year as well). Last year at this time, school was canceled until May, the virus was rearing its ugly head in New York City and close by in Washington. Our Governor issued a Stay at Home order and travel throughout our own state was limited. Last year we had the welcome distraction of a new puppy-Teddy who we got at the start of Spring break. We hadn't felt the exhaustion yet that the Cornavirus brought and hadn't felt the strain yet of the kids being at home day after day and month after month.
Fast forward to this Spring break. We had decided to stay local in Oregon for Spring break when we began planning stuff to do in December as the virus case counts were pretty high in Oregon and we didn't want to pay lots of money somewhere and then have it be canceled. I was also worried about flying without being vaccinated and the kids' exposure. My parents bought a beach house near Depoe Bay at the end of December and said we could go to their beach house for Spring break. Then it timed out that my parents were able to get fully vaccinated 2.5 weeks before Spring break so we were able to drive down to Corvallis and spend the first part of our Spring break with them hand stay 3 nights at their house (something we had not done in 15 months since Christmas 2019!). Then on Tuesday night we planned on heading to their beach house which was only 1 hr 20 minutes away from their house in Corvallis. Sean had to work the first half of Spring break and planned to meet us at the beach house on Wednesday afternoon.
We left for Corvallis on Saturday after Olivia's gymnastics got over at 4:30 PM. We were able to make it to Corvallis by 6:00 PM. I had packed the car to the brim as we had 8 days worth of clothes, the kids, the dogs, food for the beach house to snack on. It was quite the ordeal packing the car up and making sure we had everything! The kids were so excited to see CiCi and Baba. Baba made us yummy chicken tacos and fresh guacamole. We had fun watching the NCAA basketball tournament and then played Pictionary. Then the kids went to bed. The kids had some problems sleeping as they were so excited to be in CiCi and Baba's house again. They finally did go to sleep though and my mom and I got to stay up and look through my baby book that she had completely re-done.
The next day I woke up to Brandon making a giant pancake. He found the recipe by himself on a website and decided he wanted to make it. He had fun making it by himself and serving it to us and CiCi. We went on a fun hike with the dogs to Peavey Arboretum and had a picnic there. It was kind of drizzly and cold but it was fun to get out of the house. The next day we woke up to better weather. Brandon and Baba had a fun walk with the dogs and then we went to Walnut Park near my parents' house and Brandon went skateboarding and Olivia went roller blading. They had a lot of fun and it was fun spending time outside on the playground.
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| Brandon's yummy pancake! |
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| Lulu got a bit cold |
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| Dog snuggling time on the couch |
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| Beautiful Teddy! |
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| These two look so similar! Lulu loves her Pumpkin and Pumpkin likewise |
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| Teddy's 1st Gotcha Day! Can't believe we have had him for a year! |
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| Brandon and Teddy on his Gotcha Day |
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| Rollerblading at the park |
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| Beautiful spring day in Corvallis |
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| Skate board fun! |
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| Brandon did great making it down the hill |
On Tuesday my sister Rachel came with Jasper and Juniper to my mom's house. They were so excited to hang out inside as this was the first time since my parents were fully vaccinated they were able to do so. We were celebrating Juniper's 2nd birthday and the kids were so excited to celebrate. The day before Olivia and CiCi made Juniper's favorite Funfetti cupcakes and they went to the Dollar Store to decorate for the party. Juniper was so excited to celebrate her birthday. We had a fun day celebrating and the weather was awesome so it was fun that we could outside and play. Olivia had fun rollerblading around Cici's neighborhood and Jasper and Brandon had fun going down CiCi's driveway with the skateboards. Juniper got up from her nap and she got to open her presents and then we had a yummy spaghetti and meatball dinner and cupcakes. Rachel's family headed home and then we finished packing up as we were heading to my parents' beach house for the rest of Spring break. My dad drove the kids there as we ended up taking his old TV to the beach house in my car and the kids had fun with him. We said goodbye to my dad and then unpacked the car and went to bed.
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| This one was a keeper! Everyone is smiling and looking at the camera on Juniper's 2nd birthday! |
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| So nice to not be in masks! |
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| All the dogs had fun chasing each other in Cici and Baba's backyard |
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| Happy 2nd birthday Juniper! |
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| Festive hats |
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| Juniper loved our Minnie Mouse shopping cart we got her |
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| Skateboarding in CiCi's neighborhood |
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| Blowing out the candles! |
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| Such a fun birthday party! |
We were excited to spend more than a few nights at the beach house. We were going to be there Tuesday night through Sunday morning. Sean was coming on Wednesday afternoon after he worked a half day. The kids and I had fun hanging out in the morning. Brandon and I played pool downstairs and the kids made Easter bunny rice crispy treats. They enjoyed baking them together. It was a very cold and rainy stormy day at the beach. We headed down to the beach once the tide was low enough in the early afternoon and were the only ones on the beach as it was so cold. The dogs had fun running around off leash at the beach. Sean arrived and we decided to go out to dinner at one of my parents' favorite restaurants Tidal Raves. We went there at around 5:45 and was told it would be an hour wait so went to Depoe Bay to get candy and then headed back to the house. We were close to being next in line so we headed over and ended up having to wait quite a while but the wait was totally worth it as we got to see the sunset and had a table right near the ocean. Sean and I had an amazing halibut crab dinner that we shared and clams. We went to bed stuffed.
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| Wood burning fireplace when it's stormy outside is the best! |
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| Making their rice crispy bunnies! |
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| The kids made super cute Rice Crispy treat bunnies |
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| Stormy day at Bella beach |
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| Olivia was freezing as 40 degree wind pelleted her |
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| The dogs loved chasing each other off leash |
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| Sweet Teddy went swimming |
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| Beautiful views at Tidal Raves |
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| Such a fun dinner |
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| By far the best entree we had of the trip! |
On Thursday, Sean and I had a meeting with our contractor and designer in the morning regarding our house renovations and then Sean went to get yummy fresh seafood for dinner and I took the kids and the dogs to Fogarty Park. Lulu was good at the park but Teddy has been barking at other dogs a lot whenever he sees them. It is quite annoying and makes it difficult to take him places. The weather was much better and the kids had a lot more fun at the beach. The highlight of the day was seeing harbor seals! There were two of them and they got quite closet o the shore. We found out that our good friends Ben and Jaime were nearby in Newport for a few days. We had fun meeting up with them at my parents' beach house and having lunch with them and walking on the beach. We found out that they had just gotten engaged which was so exciting for them.
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| Perfecting the handstands at Fogarty Park |
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| Beautiful day at Fogarty Park |
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| So much fun chasing waves at Fogarty |
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| Olivia and Brandon at Fogarty such a pretty day! |
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| We saw harbor seals! |
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| Fogarty Park was beautiful |
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| Teddy was intently looking at another dog |
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| Olivia walked over to the walks near my parents' beach house |
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| Otter crest beach views |
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| Sweet Olivia |
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| Sweet Brandon |
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| Beautiful views on the loop-you could almost see to Newport! |
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| Devil's punch bowl! |
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| Checking out the views from Devil's Punch Bowl |
On Friday we had decided to spend most of the day at Yahacts. The kids made yummy chocolate chip kiss Spring cookies for our lunch and I packed a yummy picnic lunch. The drive down to Yahacts was about 50 minutes and we made a dinner reservation a few days back at Driftwood Inn. We got to Yahacts at 1:00 PM and went straight to Cape Perpetua. Sean and I were excited to share our favorite hike with the kids (and one of my favorite hikes as a child). The kids and the dogs had a blast exploring Cape Perpetua and the kids loved climbing up all the rocks even with the dogs. The kids enjoyed chasing the waves with the dogs. I got some fun photos on my tripod and we stopped for a picnic on the bench. We had fun hiking to Devil's Churn but the waves were not that crazy as the tide was going in. We hiked back to the car and then headed to another one of our favorite places-Yachats Brewery and the kids had homemade soda and Sean and I had beer flights. We ended the night at Driftwood Inn for dinner and got to see a beautiful Yachats sunset before heading back to our beach house.
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| So many memories of Cape Perpetua as a child |
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| Lots of fun exploring rocks |
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| Cute family shot amongst the rocks! |
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| Stopping to rest for a snack on the picnic bench |
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| Family shot at Cape Perpetua |
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| Lulu and Olivia! |
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| Waiting patiently for a treat |
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| Devil's Churn |
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| Such a beautiful day and hike at Cape Perpetua |
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| Home made soda at Yachats Brewery |
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| Tasting tray at Yachats Brewery |
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| Yachats sunsets are the best |
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| The moon was bright at Bella Beach that night |
Our last full day on vacation I was feeling sad. I was already feeling stressed about having to go back to work and didn't sleep that well that night. We had a leisurely morning with a yummy breakfast and then headed to Newport. We had early reservations at Georgie's at 4:30 PM (the only time I could get a few days out to limited restaurant capacity and it being spring break). We had a fun afternoon at Agate beach and went on a long walk with the dogs looking for agates. Teddy was acting badly in public again and barking a lot with other dogs around. After Agate beach we headed to Yaquina lighthouse which had some awesome tide pools. The tides were going back out and we were hoping to see some sea critters. The lighthouse was closed due to renovations but we were in luck with the tide pools. We got down there and had about an hour to explore the tide pools before our dinner reservations. We had so much fun looking in the pool and found several star fish and even a purple one!
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| Fun skate boarding to the cafe for coffee |
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| Agate beach was fun |
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| Yaquina Head lighthouse |
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| Tidepools are so much fun! |
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| We had so much fun exploring the tide pools |
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| Purple star fish! |
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| Marionberry cake |
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| Evening walks at Bella Beach as the sun goes down |
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| Beach sunsets are the best! |
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| Tuckered out pups! |
