My Heart Belongs in Pacific City

I love the beach. Any beach. But I REALLY love the Oregon Coast. It's where my life source is. My family has been vacationing there since I was little and I always felt like there couldn't be a happier place. I still remember how it felt to return to the ocean if we hadn't been able to visit for a few years. We'd be in the car winding down that road surrounded by the color GREEN and then finally the greenery would part enough for us to briefly get a peek of that blue-gray ocean and the excitement was unreal! I'd impatiently wait for us to find our beach house and get settled enough that we could go down to the water. Then we'd run down that sand dune at full speed and I'd yell "I'M FREEEEEE!" and we'd run straight into the icy waves and it all just felt like this is what life was all about. Whew. Can you feel my love for the ocean?? I'll calm down now.

While dating Matt, I found out that he too frequented the Oregon Coast as a kid. This just added to the nostalgia of it all (were Matt and I ever on the coast at the same time as kids???) and it was an obvious choice for our honeymoon destination. It's been almost three years and this summer we got to go back! This time with our playful daughter :) It's so cool to come full circle and bring our kids to a place that Matt and I loved to go as kids.

Carly is a water baby through and through. We definitely hit a couple of cold-windy-rainy days but Carly trudged right on into those waves whether it was freezing or not (and whether anyone was there to hold her hand or not!) When she wasn't in the water, she was building (or rather knocking down) sandcastles with her little shovel. She was in heaven. Just like her momma :)

Look at that face. Pure joy.

More pictures on my Mom's blog

Three's Company

It's been too long since my last post! We have been having a fun, busy summer.  Matt is working full-time, but he's taking a break from school which means when he comes home at the end of the day - instead of jumping right into homework - he can PLAY! Carly and I have been thoroughly enjoying our extra Matt time.

Our good friends treated themselves to a vacation and asked us to watch their 2 kiddos for the week they were gone.  Of course we accepted!  Their kids are close bookends to our Carly in age, so I knew it was going to be tough, especially with Matt at work all day.  Luckily, their trip was over the 4th of July weekend and there was plenty to do and see! We had a lot of fun and I felt like (a very very tired) Super Mom when we had successfully put all three kids to bed at the end of each day. I only had a meltdown once :)  (It involved poo in the tub...we won't get into it.)

Here are some highlights from that week - now you know who the extra kids are :)

Keeping cool during the heat wave

Making pizza!

Bedtime story

Early morning Balloon Festival

They let you get really close as they fill up the balloons!

Do you spot Steamboat??

They had Darth Vader's back to us, and once he was fully inflated they turned on his music and slowly turned him around :) It was all very ominous.

Then Yoda joined in!

Matt ran in the Freedom Run 5k

Off to the parade!

After awhile into the parade the kids were getting restless and in need of naps.  Matt and I had seen enough too so I started packing up the kids while Matt peeked down the street to see if what was next was worth staying for.  He laughed and said, "Chels, get the camera." Me: "Ugh I'm done taking pictures." Matt: "Ok, but you're going to want to see this." So I join him on the street and squeal "WHERE'S THE CAMERA?" because this is what I see:

It was all kinds of nerdy cool. We decided it couldn't get any better than that and went home. All five of us took a nap.