Wrapping up summer….

It has been a wonderful summer.

I am so grateful that we were able to have our entire family together at the beach in Oregon.

Life is good!

JoAnn

Bad hair days

Doppelgangers?

I said I needed to relate to animals more, but is this taking it too far? 

Given a little humidity, I quickly get this look.

I’m off to the beach, so more fluffy hair photos might be coming your way!

JoAnn

Oregon Coast Vacation- Part two

Utah has been especially hot this week, and the heat has contributed to our withdrawal from our recent ocean visiting experience.  We are missing the cool salty breezes, spectacular scenery, and fun adventures.

One thing I’m not missing is the pain from the piercing sun burn I got.  I thought I’d taken care with sunscreen and a visor, but the reflection from the water was pretty strong.  My hair suffered from the moisture, too, making me look a bit like Aubrey’s puppy, Coco, before he got his new hair cut.

Note to self for next time:  More sunscreen and a big hat.

(I spelled Coco’s name wrong in my dog post.)

However, I want to capture as many memories as I can to keep this vacation alive (and to document things we might want to do again), so I’ll share more ideas and pictures from this trip.  Be warned.  We had a lot of cameras there!

Some of us enjoyed visiting Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport, too.  It was interesting in that the tour guide explained what life was like for the whole family at the lighthouse.  Even the children had major responsibilities, painting the lighthouse inside and out, and tending the garden.  The adults had to carry heavy buckets of oil up the stairs and keep the light operating.  They also had to keep a fire going at all times to keep the oil (rendered pig lard) from solidifying.  It was a lot of hard work!

The tide pools were a big hit, too.  The pictures  below were near the Yaquina lighthouse.

Another good place for tide pools was Seal Rock.  It was a rocky, steep climb down, but the brave ones who went there loved it.

I mentioned in the last post how much we loved spending time on the beach.

The beach house had big buckets and shovels for the kids and even beach chairs for the adults.  We enjoyed digging in the sand, flying kites, playing ball, taking walks, watching whales, throwing Frisbees, and people watching.

No sea creatures were harmed for this picture.  These were not alive when we found them.

In the two pictures below, a whale was putting on quite the show right near the beach.  We thought maybe it was in trouble, since it was so close to the shore and stayed so long, but it eventually moved on down the beach.

It was a great week!

Have you ever vacationed on the Oregon Coast?  If you have, what wonderful tips can you give for future vacations?

I’m sure there must be many more great things to see and do!

JoAnn

P.S.  Big family picture coming soon.

O.K., here are a few more pictures. 

The Beautiful Oregon Coast (vacation time)

We recently returned from a family vacation at the Oregon Coast.

What a beautiful place!

We had our whole family together for five days and it was relaxing, fun, educational, and maybe a bit hectic on occasions.

We stayed at the perfect place-Sea Glass Cottage in Depoe Bay.  The house might not look too large in the pictures, but it was oozing with cottage beach charm and had enough bedrooms, bathrooms, and living space for all 21 of us.  Check out this link if you want to learn more about it.  Son-in-law Karl’s family found it last year and we are so grateful to the Nielsens because it was perfect.  (Yes, I have no shame in copying their family vacation.  They are experts-and they are nice enough to share ideas.)

We were right on the ocean front and that made it so nice.  The house had a lot of windows and you could enjoy watching the ocean and beach all the time, inside or out, on one of the decks, or in the hot tub.  Oh, how we enjoyed the sound of the water!  The house was above the beach on a rocky hill, but the short walk to the beach only took five minutes.  The middle house in the picture below shows its ocean side.

We planned activities that people were free to participate in, or do their own thing.  We did most of our activities around Depoe Bay and Newport, but did make the drive down to Florence to ride on a dune buggy in the sand dunes.  It was worth the two hour scenic and slow drive (the road signs called the traffic delays “congestion”) to get there.  The dunes were spectacular and our driver even let everyone out on a hill to play in the sand.

It doesn’t get any better than that!

On the drive back, we stopped at the Heceta Head Lighthouse.  The views here were spectacular!  We hiked up to the lighthouse and took so many pictures that we could fill up ten posts with different angles of the place.  (I’m trying to spare you picture overload, but it is very hard to do.)

This keeper’s house is now a bed and breakfast.  That would be a fun place to stay!

Another of our favorite activities this week included a whale-watching tour on a lovely boat called the Sampson.  It left from Depoe Bay, the “world’s smallest bay”.  We had a fun time watching the whales (yes, we saw some) and we loved the boat ride (most of us).

Newport also has a wonderful marine center called the Hatfield Marine Science Center.  It was very hands-on for the kids and had great displays, including a machine that created a tsunami.  The best part of the center was it was free, with just a donation box.

Meals were mostly cooked at the cottage, but we planned easy menus that didn’t take a lot of time to prepare.  We had a delicious lunch of fish and chips, and clam chowder at a place called Gino’s in Newport. (Moe’s was our first choice, but the wait was longer than our time frame.)

We may have been given our own private room at the very back of the restaurant, entered from the outside,  passing workers and huge cooking pots full of simmering soups to get there.  Do you think all the hungry, tired children in our party had anything to do with that?  We were isolated, but at least the food was delicious and our waitress took good care of us.

We also picked up some delicious Marionberry, Chcoclate, and Banana cream pies at the Chalet Bakery in Newport to take home for a yummy evening snack.  Here is the link for the bakery.

Our very favorite activity had to be beach time.

“Our” beach was perfect. 

Tomorrow I will post more of our adventures (yes, we have plenty of photos to share).

Come back if you dare!

♥

JoAnn

P.S.  Thanks to Liz and Irene for the picture collages.

Getting used to a dog

Photo collage by Liz

I’m not a pet person.

I once wrote a post about my lack of “pet love” .  You can read about it here.

(I’m not proud of this fact.)

Our granddaughter Aubrey has a new puppy, one that will eventually become a service dog to help protect her, and she sure does LOVE him!

He’s a Goldendoodle.

She named the dog “Cocoa” and he is as cute as can be.

I am now trying to get on the bandwagon to enjoy him, too, since he often comes with the kids to visit.  I’m trying to relax when he wants to play, and I’m learning to appreciate the loyalty and love that an animal can show.  (I still have a hard time with being licked and jumped on, but maybe with time…..)

My husband had to find a new way to store his pond filters since Cocoa loves to chew on them, but he created a cool hidden shelf under the deck and out of reach of a curious puppy.

We are adapting.

Am I ready to run out and buy a new pet?

Probably not.

But,

I am learning to love this new member of the family.

JoAnn

P.S.  I’m sure glad snakes aren’t used as service animals!

Happy July 4th

We started the day with a ward breakfast, followed by a patriotic program (my favorite part).  All the kids participated in a bike parade, followed by games.  Afterward, we hung out with our family and had a barbecue and birthday party. 

Isn’t it great to live in a wonderful country?

I love America!

JoAnn

P.S.  What do you do to celebrate on this day?

Roses and random thoughts

Don’t you just love June’s roses?

We’ve had this arbor for several years and this is the first time the roses have come near the top.  They aren’t spaced evenly, with little gaps here and there, and with one branch going up too high-away from the arch, but I have really loved watching them bloom, and look forward to seeing what next spring will bring. I wish I knew how to train the vines to go where I want them to, but nature just keeps trying to get it perfect, despite our efforts. 

Their beauty is a wonderful gift.

I can’t believe that June is already over!

(I’m saying that with a little nervous rise in my voice.)

We’ve worked hard and we’ve played a lot.

There has even been some “down time” doing absolutely nothing. 

It has been great!

I’m still suffering with a bad case of writers’ block.  I’m hoping it’s not permanent.  Maybe I’ve just written every thought in my head and there is  absolutely nothing left to share. 

Here are my Top Ten reasons why I can’t seem to kick the writing doldrums:

♥ School’s out and I don’t HAVE to think.

♥  Cleaning very neglected rooms like the garage and the storage room turns one thinking to escape mode- not creativity.

♥ I need a hair cut and my stylist is booked out several weeks, and it’s difficult to write when one feels frumpy.  (Yes, Michelle, I know I should schedule my next appointment when I get my hair done).

♥  Someone outside my window has been shooting off firework bombs for the last ninety minutes disrupting my thoughts.

♥ Weight Watchers has added guilt to my overbooked conscience.  (My fault, not theirs.)

♥ My flower gardens need all my time and attention.  Blogging can wait.

♥ Who can write when finding a perfect new rug for the dining room took so much time?  Who knew?

♥ Spending quality time with two of my sisters and a niece, checking out not one, but TWO Parade of Homes tours, and then needing to recuperate from the long days (and all the stairs we had to climb).

♥ Dreaming about our upcoming vacation time at the beach in Depot Bay, Oregon.

♥ Hanging out with nine of my very favorite people on the planet (love those kiddos)!

So there you have it.

I AM A VICTIM OF WRITERS’ BLOCK!

It’s not my fault.

Do you think there is a cure for me?

JoAnn