Summer trip to Seaside Oregon...

Brace yourself for a M A R A T H O N post....

One of our favorite family trips this summer was going to Seaside Oregon. We decided to take a road trip with our friends the "B's". They own a beach house in Seaside... lucky us huh? We had the time of our lives with them. The best part... Julie B. and I both grew up going to Seaside with our families. We had so much fun reminiscing about the good ole' days.

Here is our sweet Beach House. It was pretty much nicer than my home. I adore Cape Cod style homes... isn't it cute?

As we were approaching Portland.... Mt. Hood was smack in front of us. It was really fun to see, so I took a picture (while driving... so naughty) and sent it to Joe.
Little did I know, Joe was taking a much better picture of the Mountain from the airplane. Joe and Chan met us in Oregon after Chan finished his Service camp.
Can I just say.... Oregon feels as close to the 'Garden of Eden' as you can get.
Hanging baskets just don't look like this in Utah do they?
For those of you who know me well.... Can you imagine my heart rate spiking as I entered this room of Taffy? 170 flavors to be exact.
One of my many favorite childhood memories was eating 'Elephant Ears'. If you haven't ever tried one.... I'm sorry! They are basically fried wheat dough covered with cinnamon and sugar.
I couldn't wait to let my kids taste of their goodness.
Berks at the beach
Let me introduce you to the 'Tilt-o-whirl'.... another favorite childhood memory. I think Julie and I were more excited to take a ride than our kids. I don't remember how many times we road it, but it was a lot!
Brynerz LOVED everything and was pretty much giddy the entire trip.
Bryn begged and begged to get her ears pierced. Basically I caved after the two families ganged up on me and let her have her way. She was too funny.
Right before...
During....
Right after... She was a little teary but mostly happy.
We took the families to Multnomah Falls... another childhood fave.
The kids loved it and we hiked all around the area.
This is Bryn sticking her head out of the bridge.... crazy girl!
Cute kids...
The kids loved playing at the beach. We also built a bonfire one night. It was so fun. We roasted marshmallows and told Ghost stories for hours.
This little joint was a true find. They served the BEST tuna fish & chips on earth. Seriously... the BEST!
Cute kids in a cave
I'm sure my kids will never forget playing baseball with the adults on the beach. We loved smacking the ball around.
Thank goodness for Seaside Sweats because it got pretty chilly at night.
Great little old fashioned gas station in Le Grande
We stopped in Le Grande on our way to Seaside and stayed overnight. This little Mexican restaurant was really good.
Our cute Hotel in Le Grande.
The kids LOVED the beach. I can't tell you how freezing COLD the water was, but the kids didn't seem to mind. They jumped right in and LOVED it!
yes... we enjoyed a few days of laying out weather.
Buddy pals.
Bryn had so much fun with the big girls. She was a little "out of control" because she was getting a lot of attention from them.
I think it's safe to say we had a fantastic trip. The kids were happy which makes me happy.
We took the kids to the Portland Temple to check out the grounds. It was breathtaking as usual.

Not sure what to say about this
Or this
More tilt-o-whirl fun
Happy kids= happy parents
This was the beginning Seasides Main Street.

This ship behind us was really cool looking. Supposedly about 30 years ago it was a full shipwreck. I can't believe how old it looks now. There really isn't much left to it.
We took the kids on a Goonies expedition. My kids LOVE watching the Goonies movie which was filmed in Astoria Oregon. This was the Police Station from the movie.

This was the house where the boys lived. Mason and Brandon were devastaed they couldn't go on a tour thru the house. Supposedly someone bought it after the movie and moved right in.

I love how lush the forests' are in Oregon. We had a great time exploring.
This is called Haystack Hill. Another great place to explore in Cannon Beach.
We had a blast renting this sweet little ride. We seriously took this guy all thru town and worked our heads off trying to get from one place to the next. It's not as easy as it looks, trust me.
We thought we were pretty cool riding around. Oh the looks we got.... priceless!
Time to go home.... sad... We stopped in a little town outside of Boise for our last night. The kids had fun swimming, playing and eating.
Our last stop was Twin Falls. We wanted to show the kids this neat view. It really was spectacular. I think we were trying to prolong our trip as long as possible.
We had such a fabulous time. Thanks again "B's" for the memorable trip. I think we're all crossing our fingers that we'll be invited back again someday.