Let the Sun Shine at the Oregon Coast!!

Okay, so I promise you it looked like this everyday except Thursday morning during our week at the coast. People always say we are making it up...but we truly enjoyed sunny days, star-filled nights and even the most beautiful full moon I have seen in ages. It was quite the week. The Park Rangers kept laughing when more people would show up to visit and hang out with us. Unfortunately, in all the chaos we didn't get a single picture with "everyone"...

Among our wonderful guests were, my mom and Michael, Phil's parents, The Kerns (long-time family friends), Rod, my grandparents and for one day Phil's brothers family came....Wow!!! Our kids had a blast with their cousins on Tuesday (Shanelle, the newest addition, was sleeping in the trailer at this point - sorry Shanelle - we'll get you next time!). Logan and Landen love to ride 4-wheelers together so this was extra special for them to be together. After the 'big' ride, the Dads took Victoria and Nathan out to do some more practicing on the smaller hills. Next time they may even get to ride out over the big hills on their own!!

My grandparents came to visit us Tuesday morning and my grandpa gave it his best effort to take a ride on the sand dunes. He made it about half-way through the "whoops" (in case you have never heard of these, they are serious speed bump like things made out of sand). After several of these whoops, he told Michael he didn't think it was worth it. So, they came back to camp. I think it is pretty cool that at his young age of 86 years old he was willing to try it. Oh how I hope I have that much life in me at that age!!

I think we have a lot of family convinced that riding 4-wheelers is pretty fun. My mom had a lot of fun riding with Michael, but once he let her loose on her own she had a blast. The first time going down a hill was a little scary (note the picture on the bottom left!!), but she loved it once she made it. They had so much fun that they are planning to come with us in April.

Then, Phil was able to talk his mom into going for a ride with his dad. This is a big step since my dear mother-in-law has battled vertigo since January 2008. It was awesome to see that she really is getting better (slow but sure!!) and was able to truly enjoy Phil guiding them on a personal tour of the sand dunes.





Needless to say, the trip was great and the kids had a blast. I am still trying to figure out how to post a slideshow of pictures, but it is taking me a while. So, this is it for now, but keep looking back...I am determined to get the slideshow on here.