2014 Wedding Anniversary in Oregon

Jacob and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary while we were in Oregon.  We took the opportunity to leave the boys overnight and go to the coast.  It was wonderful.  I'm not sure Ben thought so, but the break was definitely good for me.

We started out driving to Cannon Beach.  We were exploring a little bit anticipating our return trip with the boys the following week.  We walked down to the coast and then explored the shops in the town.  It reminded me a little of the seaside towns in Cape Cod.  Just a little, there are definitely differences between the East and West coast.

Our little overnight get away also coincided with the most rainy days of the entire trip to Oregon.  Go figure.  I kept saying it was fitting since it rained on our actual wedding day too.

Cannon Beach is famous for that rock in the background called haystack rock.  I guess it's been in several movies including Goonies.

(It was our anniversary guys, we were feeling a little cheesey.)

Look at us, still happy after 5 years and two kids.  Here's hoping we stay happy after many, many more years.  I sure love my little family!  And especially that good husband of mine.

After exploring the shops in Cannon Beach we made our way to Seaside, where our hotel was.  We unloaded all our stuff and then headed out to explore the little town.  We ended up going to dinner at Norma's Seafood and Steak.  We split a plate of fish and chips.  I also had their famous clam chowder.  For not being big seafood lovers we both were totally happy with our meal.  It was pretty good.

After dinner we headed out to walk along the ocean.

Aww...cheesey anniversary pictures!

Someone else even made a heart for us.  How thoughtful of them.

The water was FREEZING.  It was already a chilly evening so cool water was not really refreshing, it was just plain cold.  I didn't stay in very long, that's for sure!

I love the coast of Oregon with the hills and then the ocean.  It's quite lovely.

Our hotel was brand new and built right on the banks of the river that runs through Seaside.  It was pouring rain the next morning so we never did get to enjoy sitting on the balcony.  Too bad.

After eating breakfast at Pig and Pancake we decided to pack up our stuff and spend some more time on the beach.  The rain had let up and we thought it would be fun.  It was.  It was still stormy enough that not many people were out.  It was also really pretty with the low hanging clouds and the sand was fun to walk in more packed down with the rain.

This is a statue of Lewis and Clark.  I can't remember why though, something about ending the Lewis and Clark trail at Seaside or something.

The lifeguard tower on the beach.  When we went back with the kids there was an incident that the lifeguards had to spring into action for.  It was interesting to watch the rescuer go into the ocean while several more life guards watched through binoculars to keep track of everything.

Jacob bought this kite on our honeymoon and we never got a chance to fly it in Victoria.  So we took the opportunity to fly it in Oregon.

It's a fun little stunt kite and I had never flown a kite like it.  It took a little bit to get a hang of and then was just a lot of fun.  At least until it started to down pour again.  We quickly pulled the kite in and headed for the shops to take cover.

I ended up totally soaked just the same.

I changed clothes and we ended our celebratory day with a little shopping out the outlets in Seaside before driving back to Grandma's house.  We had rented a car and were trying to get it back on time.  Somehow we ended up a little rushed at the end of things and still had to put gas in the car and make it back to the rental shop with minutes before the time due.  I told Jacob I'm sure 10 minutes late wouldn't cost us anything.  He was trying to get the amount of gas just perfect and it proved a little difficult since you can't pump your own in Oregon.  He had to tell the attendants to just put in 10 dollars and then we were still short of the mark so we had to stop at another station... and were still short.  It was super funny.  We started making our way back to the rental shop and somehow the gas gauge miraculously ticked up one notch.  Jacob in all his worry exclaimed "It ticked up!!!"  It was super funny.  We did pull into the rental shop at exactly the due time.

We returned to this two cuties who were excited to see us and the salt water taffy we brought home.  They were also excited about swim goggles and kite string.

The next Saturday we returned to the forest.  There was much four wheeling, tractor riding and also archery.

Though it's not pictured, I also shot the bow and arrow and, once I got the hang of it had the best shot of the afternoon.  Grandpa and Jacob asked how I pulled that off and I let them in on my strategy of not aiming much at all.  I did way better when I wasn't focused on aiming.  Hmmm...probably not really the best approach.