there and back again

the final leg

wednesday 12,

woke to a continental breakfast, morning swim in the pool and another hot shower. once ready we headed across the road for a final shop at the woodburn outlets. there was a pretty fun tree house play area that the girls played at while one of us would shop and the other watch the girls. sophie made friends with another little girl named sophia and it was neat to watch them interact with each other and understand how to play with each other.

with our money spent we strapped in and headed to seattle. the last leg of our adventure. the destination, the zoo.

thursday 13,

zoo day. the woodland park zoo is really amazing, however this year i had some difficulty. after watching "the cove", i came to question how and why we have things like the zoo and aquarium. as much as i enjoyed being there my heart hurt for the fact that these animals were not where they should be, mostly due to the actions of my fellow people.

the zoo this year can be summed up as, nation geographic day for the girls. after watching both the elephants and giraffes do their business right in front of us, the girls could hardly speak of anything else, and continue to quote these events as the highlights of their trip.

watching the lions

feeding the lions

the bears were amazing, they played in the water right against the glass we were standing behind.

snack time

thinking of my favorite zoo friend

elephant watching

my little zoo helper. she held onto this map as tight as can be and would show us where to go next.

African village

these two are to be mated this week, a program that has been in place at the zoo for fifteen years and this is the first time it will happen.

tired after a great day at the zoo

friday 14,

we knew we wanted to stop at the seattle outlet mall before heading home, and after counting our coins, we knew it was time to head home a day early! we packed up the van one final time and headed north. we made our stop, we spent the last that we had, we were home in time for dinner.. spaghetti dinner to be exact. the same dinner we had made and frozen for the first nights of our adventure, the same spaghetti that was still in the freezer when we got home!

our conclusion;

pretty great adventure. if doing it again, we would do it as two different trips. one trip for the coast and one trip for the city part. we are thankful. thankful for a family that understands how to love one another. thankful for a husband who loves adventures, who takes pride in his fires, who is willing and excited to fix the van, who dreams of being on survivor. thankful for two girls who love being outside, who remembered to give thanks to Jesus for the days we had and the adventure we were on. thankful for time, time together, time to share. i am thankful for all that we have been provided with. i am thankful to our Creator for all things seen and shared, all things loved and created.

sophies prayer on the night we came home, "and Lord help us go on another adventure very soon."

there and back again

continued stories of our adventures on the oregon coast.

friday 7 - continued

we arrived at cape lookout. the sun was setting and the sand was warm between our toes. we put the girls to bed after enjoying the sunset and a warm shower. scott and i sat around our "found" fire...i should say, scott's found fire as he proudly had scavenged for every piece of wood we burned. i would say that it was romantic but the smoke kept us at arms distance.

i don't know how many have seen the movie chitty chitty bang bang, but there is a scene where the family and truly are at the beach, here the kids sing to truly how much they like her and vice versa. sophie is walking up and down the beach singing that song.

the fire collector

saturday may 8,

sunshine first thing in the morning, surrounded by a little hedge of trees, the ocean to our back and the sound of waves crashing all night long. some of my favorite sounds include these; the van door opening and closing: it is a loud and heavy door, a very distinctive vw sound, the tent zipper, waves on the beach and lastly rain falling on a tent. my heart was full.

this day found us at the beach. buckets in hand, wet suits on, and surf board under arm. we played, we sat in the sunshine, we watched the girls dig and build, we smiled at each other. for me, these are the moments that i cherish with all my heart. these are the times i live for. fresh smells, wind in your hair, sand between your toes, your family beside you. simple and beautiful, i could not stop giving thanks for all that we have and had been given.

first surf for both girls

soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner

the girls would start the night in the tent and fall asleep together

scott came back from finding wood one night and made a comment on how the people beside us were eating a fancy meal and drinking wine. we giggled as our nights included tea and drying clothes over a smoky fire.

this is the proud pile of found wood. five dollars for wood can seem like alot when you are on a budget...but at the end of the night when you are still trying to get your wet wood to burn you think, maybe tomorrow night we will invest...but...

sunday 9,

mothers day.

we drove from cape lookout down to cape kiwanda in pacific city. we were here five years ago, when scott and i did this same trip together. this place captured our hearts. at the time we pulled into the parking lot at the pelican pub and stayed there for the rest of our trip. with a little cold water shower on the side of the pub, some good waves and dunes to the side, we marked this place as one of the best and so made a return trip with the girls. again, beauty and peace surrounded this place. with the resturant patio meeting the beach, scott and i sat and enjoyed a long and almost romantic lunch while the girls played in the sand beside us. there was a pod of whales breaching in the cove and the sun shone on my cheeks.

we reluctantly finished our meal and drove south again. our destination was south beach. as we pulled in, we were disappointed with the cost of the state park and sad we had left our home at cape lookout. so we made a quick dinner, watched the waves on the beach and drove back north to beverly beach. we spent the night. only night/time it rained.

monday 10,

hot showers at beverly beach. i happened to be in the bathroom at the same time as some other ladies. they made me giggle with how much they appreciated the hot showers. we didn't stay long here, only packed up and headed back north. we made a stop at the lincoln city outlet mall and then back to our spot at cape lookout.

sometimes the car seat was a good place to curl up and take a rest

after scotts comment on the couple camping next to us, i found us a little romance of our own

the nights sunset

tuesday 11,

the time had come to head inland, so with one final play at the beach, we swept the sand out of the van and drove toward woodburn.

a view of cape lookout

city living is a whole different story, but we managed as we would put the girls to bed in the hotel room and then wait in the bathroom until they had fallen asleep. after a swim in the hotel pool we showered up, taking a significantly longer time than usual and headed across the street for a little night shopping at the woodburn outlet stores. once back we were all ready. girls in their beds, left over wine, dark chocolate, dvd player and seinfeld. we laid on the bathroom floor, drinking wine out of the bottle and cursing the dvd player as it finally packed it in. classy was the word we used to describe ourselves. we crawled into the bed and fell asleep rather quickly.