Fourth of July Fun!

Steven in the bike parade.


The family minus me. (i was taking the pic)



The family minus Dad (he was taking the pic)



The girlies


Steve


Amanda and Nick


Lindzi eating a yummy creamy

We had a fun filled fourth of July this year. We went to my Mom and Dad's and watched the parade. Amanda and Nick are living with us right now and they came too. Then we went to the park and played a few games. Then Nick (Amanda's) had to go into work. Brenda, Nick and Jonas came to the park and hung out for a while. Dad and Steven played in a basketball tournament. Then we went to Mom and Dad's house and had a BBQ. We played games and I scrapbooked some until the fireworks at 10:00. On the way back out to my Mom's house, Nick (Amanda's) was driving on the interstate and hit a kitchen chair that had apparently fallen off someone's truck. He pulled off and walked to the gas station and called my Dad, who went and picked him up. Luckily he only had a flat tire, but it was a bad flat. So the next day, John and he went and got a new tire. The fireworks were great and i only got a few mosquito bites. Lindzi loved the fireworks this year she kept saying prit-tee whenever i would say pretty.... it was cute.

Happy Fourth of July!

Vacation: Day eight

Our last official day of vacation is over.... We went to cannon beach again to enjoy it with better weather. We went near low tide and we were able to get so close to haystack rock. We got to enjoy the tide pools around haystack rock and saw lot of star fish, a few crabs, sand dollars, barnacles and clams. It was pretty cool. Then we went back to the condo for lunch and relaxation. I took the girls to the beach outside the backdoor here and Lindzi loved the water and it was actually warm enough to enjoy it too!! The rest of the day we spent resting and packing and trying to get mentally prepared for the 13+ hour trip home.

I tried to get a shot of the lighthouse on tillamook rock.

Lindzi enjoys the beach right behind the condos

haystack rock

the girls and John

Vacation: Day seven

We started out headed back to Astoria to climb the steps of the Astoria column. The first time we went, the stairs were closed for repair. We climbed all 164 steps!! It was a little frightening at the top, but very cool. We wanted to go across the Astoria-Megler bridge. It starts out very high up and it is 4 miles across. It goes right into Washington. We found Fort Columbia and toured it for a little bit. Then we decided we wanted to check out the Cape of Disappointment.... and while enroute found out there was a lighthouse we could check out. It was the North Head lighthouse. It was a cool light house only they had stricter rules than any of the Oregon lighthouses. They didnt allow anyone under 7 to go up into the top, so of course they wouldn't let Kassidy go- shes 6. They also said you couldn't wear flip flops ... of course about three of us had on flip flops. So Brooklyn and Kassidy traded shoes so she could go up, then Desi and Lexis traded shoes and took turns going up and me well... i had on flip flops too, but I just went up anyway. I was annoyed of the rules and that Kassidy couldnt go up and felt like being a rebel, so i just didnt say anything about my shoes per se and they didnt really check or ask .. so i went up. If you ask me the rules were ridiculously over the top anyway... and where we didnt know and didnt have other shoes... well what is a tourist to do??? Then we found out that there is another lighthouse a few miles down the road called the Cape of Disappointment light house... but this one you can't go up in at all. So we checked it out and took a few pics of it. To finish off our touring for the day we went to Fort Clatsop... it's like a museum of Lewis and Clark with a replica of the original fort. After that we drove back to the condo to get a late lunch and then John took the girls swimming at the pool. Later on we went to the outlet mall here in Seaside and checked it out... we found a few things but not very many great deals. It was still fun to check out and walk around.

in jail at fort columbia

big guns!

North Head Lighthouse

Cape of Dissapointment light house

Fort Clatsop

the girls with Sacajawea

Vacation: Day six

she fell asleep playing with my cell phone.

On this day we relaxed and rested and played a little too. We went to the aquarium where the girls enjoyed seeing all the different fish and sea life. Then they were able to feed the seals. There was a particular seal that if you did not feed it fast enough he would splash you!! It was pretty funny. Then the girls went swimming in the pool and Lindzi napped. Then we played a little in the rec room and John played some air hockey with the girls. We had spaghetti for dinner and doughnuts for dessert...mmm mmm good. Then John and Lindzi and I went for a little stroll around the town while the girls stayed in the condo watching disney channel and playing computer. It was a fun day.

Vacation: Day five

the girls on Agate beach

Agate beach

Yaquina Head lighthouse

check out those stairs .... and me and my flip flop shoes...lol

fun by the tree

in the yaquina bay lighthouse

Yaquina Bay

John by the Yaquina Bay lighthouse

all the girls

Brooklyn and Kassidy in Heceta Head lighthouse

Heceta Head lighthouse

We did a TON of driving this day so that we could see a few of the lighthouses here on the Oregon Coast. First we stopped at Agate Beach and walked around looking for shells and things... it was a beautiful beach, but we didn't find very much. In the background you can see the Yaquina Head lighthouse, but we didn't see that one up close until the end of the day. The first Lighthouse we visited was called Heceta Head Lighthouse. It was a cute little lighthouse that we did a little tour of. Then we went to the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse (not to be confused with the Yaquina Head Lighthouse) It was an actual house and light house... very cute. The final light house we went to was the Yaquina Head lighthouse. It is the tallest lighthouse on the Oregon Coast. There were a lot of stairs in that one.... it was fun. Except one of the lighthouse guide was an old cranky man who complained the whole time about people talking too loud and how flip flops are the worst shoes because they are so dangerous to climb those light house stairs and how noisy they were on the metal stairs.... and how he was trying to save these stairs and on and on. After we got out I just had to shout because i could!! And I didn't have to hear cranky Harry complain. LOL

After that we still had a few hours of driving to get back to the condo. All said and done we were gone for almost twelve hours!! We left at 6:00 am and got back at almost 6:00 pm! We were all worn out.