Day 2: Beach, Bookstores and BBQ

Sing Ho for the life of a tourist!!

I neglected to shut the drapes our first night in the hotel room. After all, the sunset over the Pacific was beautiful, and it was even better by night, curled up in a squishy, swively rocking chair. And the sound of the waves coupled with the breeze coming through the window was soporific... for adults.

But once the sun came up on Day 2, the photoreceptor cells in both kids went into overdrive. Beginning about 6 am, the kids started to make subtle crashes, bumps and bangs calculated to wake up us lazy grownups! After all, there was a beach to be explored! Holes to be dug! Shells to be discovered! Waves to jump over!

It's hard to be filled with the Spirit at 6 a.m. and you're wakened from a sound sleep. Especially the "longsuffering" part, and the "joy" part. I eventually crawled out of bed, snarling, around 7:30. Better me than Andy. I quickly started the coffeemaker (mood enhancer!) and forced the kids to eat breakfast ("no beach until you eat").

Three of us made it down to the beach by 8:30 a.m. We left the fourth upstairs until he, too, could be "filled with the Spirit" ! (lol) I sat in my beach chair, digging my feet into the soft sand, whilst the kids buried themselves in it. When A came down later, he took the kids into the surf (the average temperature of the Pacific Ocean is like 51 degrees--BRR) while I continued to stay warm and dry!

For lunch we went up to the room and I whipped up some mean Trader Joe's white macaroni and cheese (no preservatives or fake colors), and a few organic beef hot dogs (no nitrates, nitrites, or other nasty cack) while we polished off my Crab Louie from the night before.

Then we trekked out and saw the sights of the town.

It is an established fact that when you go on vacation with my husband, you will invariably end up at a used book shop and/or a zoo. It's just the way things are. I had a few other things planned too: going to the glass foundry where they blow the glass floats that used to be used by fisherman (and are now objets d'art) -- you can blow your own for a mere $65! (no thanks) I also wanted to hit a candystore for some saltwater taffy. Something about beach towns and saltwater taffy going together. I think all-told we went to 3 different book stores and A. didn't buy a single book. Kids got a couple though! We also went to the outlet malls. A waste of time. S. decided she had to have a purple Old Navy lunchbox, so she squandered her hard-earned cash and bought one.

After shopping it was time for the pool--warm water, you know, instead of frigid salt water. I sat in the greenhouse that passed for an indoor pool until I felt ready to faint. I noticed the inside air temperature was 100 degrees! So I moved my chair to just outside the greenhouse/pool , still close enough to "watch" my kids, but much more temperature-friendly.

And by dinner, it was time to embark on the reason we came down to Oregon--the rehearsal dinner, day-before-the-wedding-type of festivities! We met up with the wedding party at a place called Fishing Rock in Depoe Bay. Beautiful--but a good place to stay away from the edges. :) The wedding will be Saturday at sunset. We followed the party back to an extended family member's beach house (did that even make sense?) and enjoyed a catered dinner of BBQ pork and chicken, red beans and rice, cornbread and orange honey, potato salad and pea/cheese salad, watermelon triangles and lemon curd/blueberry tartlets.

Some of my four readers will recognize these people, so I'll post our dinner companions, just for your edification and enjoyment. Even if you don't know them, they're such old friends that they're like family, so consider this an introduction to my family--albeit a spiritual one. :)
Loren and Kelly live in Seattle's Wallingford district now. That's near the Woodland Park Zoo, ask me how I know (*rolling eyes*) Loren's a financial planner at what he called a "boutique" firm--meaning, small firm with rich clients. Kelly works at World Vision in Federal Way. Loren thinks that 29 is still a little too young for him to be having children. (HE volunteered that information; I never have the guts to ask ANYBODY "when are you having kids?" because I feel it's not my business! But since HE said it and I know some of you will WONDER about it... there it is.



Ruthanne and Dan live in Kentucky, where they are in the youth ministry. I just realized that with Dan wearing his hair that way, he looks like Josh Groban! He tells me he cannot sing like Josh, however. Ruthanne, this time next year, will have her PhD and be Dr. Crapo. By the way, she would have me say that's pronounced "CRAY-po." She's in the process of writing Chapter 2 of her dissertation. I have trouble understanding what it's all about. Something involving Hegel, Sophocles and Antigone. She will defend her dissertation in Holland! And not Holland, Michigan....the REAL Holland.


And now, for the lady and gentleman of the weekend: Lora and Dave! Love the matching shirt and dress!! Dave's parents went to Hawaii when he was 6 years old (this was before Lora was even born), and they wore these outfits. Now they've passed them on to Dave and Lora for their beach wedding! :) Actually, they only planned to wear these for the rehearsal.

Dave and Lora are both nurses at Good Sam hospital in Puyallup. He's a critical care nurse; she's in the ER. They met on a medical mission team to Sri Lanka following the tsunami of 2004.

And it's time to go. Wedding time! (I'm blogging one day late, so these are Friday's events).

More photos to come!