Oregon Coast

3 am Thursday, the 26th of September,  found the wheels on the bus going round and round. We were officially on our way! It took us about 11 hours with stops. My husband was our able driver the whole way. We had a good and safe trip.

Kade and Papa relaxing at our "beach house" in Waldport.

Friday morning, we drove down to the bay in Newport.

We enjoyed seeing all the fishing boats,

and listening to the sea lions bark.

Then, we ate at the Chowder Bowl on Nye Beach. The best chowder of the whole trip!

These two had so much fun at the beach. They were always holding hands.

Kammy dreaming about riding horseback on the beach.

Next, we visited Yaquina Head lighthouse. At 93 feet, it is the tallest lighthouse on the Pacific coast.

The tour guide wore a lightkeepers uniform.

114 winding steps to the top. You can barely see Kayla and Kalli way up there above Kammy's head.

My parents. This was their dream trip for their 40th wedding anniversary.

The view from the top.

I didnt get a good picture, but one of the treats was being able to watch a large whale play in the water near the lighthouse.

You can see him spray in this photo if you zoom in on the white spot just out and to the right of the lighthouse.

Kaite and Kade sitting on the bottom step. They were not allowed to make the climb to the top.

Kade snuck a picture in the lightkeepers hat while he waited.

From Yaquina Head, we went to Yaquina Bay lighthouse. it was interesting to hear how the first lightkeeper here had 7 children, the last of which was born in this very room. They all lived right here--in the lighthouse.

The afternoon was spent playing on the beach. Kade learned several new words on our trip, including ocean and beach. He was always begging us to "go beach."

My aunts sister owns the house we stayed in, and we loved watching the deer play in the backyard.

If you know me, you know that I love sunsets. Sunsets on the beach are especially glorious!

This was the first night, but I didnt miss a one--I just couldnt possibly post all the pictures.

This was the night we snuck away without the kids. Smile.

Saturday morning, we woke to more family! My brother and his family arrived during the night.
The girls walked to the beach and the boys, went on an early morning deep-sea fishing trip. They caught several fish, but my hubby and brother were so sick that they didn't even think to take pictures. Rick has a newfound sympathy for me and my morning sickness. He said that if he'd been that sick, we'd have only had one child. I feel so bad for not giving him a drammamine, but he's never been prone to motion sickness, so we weren't expecting this.
Ahh! The stuff of which memories are made!

After the boys had recovered a little, we drove up the coastal highway towards Florence, were we hiked up to the Heceta Head lighthouse.

The views were breathtaking and pictures don't even come close to doing it justice.


Kade got to go all the way to the top of this one and is waving out the window to the other half of our group.

At Heceta Head lighthouse, with the light of my life.

The teen/tween girls.

The "big" kids.

We all enjoyed dinner at Mo's on the water in Florence.

Kade loved the big anchor.

On the way back, I snapped this photo of the lighthouse from our moving vehicle.

We stopped at Devil's Churn to see the sun set.

It was so beautiful!

Sunday morning, after a delicious pancake dinner compliments of my sis-in-law, we had Sunday school at the house. Brian and I both grew up listening to my dad teach, so we enjoyed having him teach the family devotional/lesson.
Then, we went to the beach and tried to get a few family photos. I'm not posting them. because I think my mother may want to use some of them for Christmas cards.

We had fun watching my parents play in the ocean. Smile.

Back at the house, we enjoyed lunch of Mom's taco pizza before we headed to "the beach" for church. (At least that's what we told my parents we were doing.)
What really happened, it that us kids went together and rented the Little Log Church by the Sea in Yachats, Oregon for a special Anniversary service.

Rick brought a special message and Brian led us in "Saviour Like a Shepherd Lead Us" a song from mom and dad's wedding.

I had to have a picture here too, as I have a collection of old country church photos.

After a very sweet service, we had a little reception in the church yard. The weather Sunday was absolutely beautiful-rare for the Oregon coast to be so warm and sunny.

My talented sis-in-law and neice made a beautiful cake combining the Ruby Anniversary theme with the sea. The seashells were just beautiful and all edible chocolate!

We gave my parents a few small gifts and a card shower/memory scrapbook. The girls read special memos about the Ruby and Nasturtium flower, the gem and flower of the 40th anniversary. Kayla read interesting events from the year they were married, and since we figure they have done about 14,600 crossword puzzles over the last 40 years, we designed a fun one with wedding day memory words.

All the grands happened to be sitting on a bench looking sweet, so I got camera happy.

We all had such a great time!
Brian and his family had to head for home soon after, but later in the evening, we drove to a covered bridge.

Then of course, back to the waterfront for sunset.




We had planned to head home Monday morning, but we were all so tired and didn't want to leave the beach yet, so we stayed another night. It weathered up and was pretty cold and rainy much of the day, but we enjoyed visiting gift shops and later in the afternoon, playing in the sand again.



One last sunset on the beach.



We made it home safe and sound Tuesday afternoon. Thankful for a lovely time and God's presence and care all the way!