Oregon Trip, 2 weeks later...

Our family Oregon trip was about two weeks ago. We went with G-Ma, Babs, Rusty, Glennmerica and Elowena and Adrianna. Babs rented a cute little house in Lincoln City on the beach that had a few stairs that went down onto the beach. Most days were much like being on a cruise ship, as in: Get up, eat. Get ready for day, eat. Go to beach or town, eat. Come home, eat. Nap, get up, eat. Go for walk, eat. Get ready for dinner, eat. Get ready for bed, eat etc... Some noteworthy events , aside from eating every 10 minutes, were the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Building sandcastles (Elowyn and Adrienne's first sandcastles ever!) We shopped at the outlet malls, Blew our own artisan glass floats, played catchphrase at sundown, Lester and I went running every morning, and rode our beachcruiser bikes actually on the beach (which was like riding in molasses) and we made everyone Beauford Stew (with fresh clams and not as fresh scallops - it was delish!).





Here is a picture of Ely Sue and the young gentleman who tutored her on how to blow her glass float...Elowyn found it particularly hot in the glass blowing studio...and I don't think it was because of the ovens!





Sandcastle building was the most enjoyable thing. Not because of the fact that you are helping a kid build their first sandcastle, but because of the destruction and mayhem that followed the building. Note the picture of Elowyn at the bottom of this post, standing proud and triumphant next to her city, named Elowyn city, what is not shown is what later ensued:

1. Kid next door approached with malicious intent (we questioned possible mental retardation, never to be comfirmed). After Lester screamed with all of her might from our second story bedroom window and he retreated (in his head thinking it was God yelling at him), we became aware of the vulnerability of our sandcastle not just to the ebb and flow of nature's tides, but the human element in the form of nasty little snot-nosed kids with unresolved issues of sandcastle envy.

2. Another kid from the other direction and female, much like the Exorcist girl, approached it to survey the land and what it would take to bring it to ruins, as our entire family watched from the picture windows of the house. We were relieved to watch her wander away, leaving it unharmed, only to have our hopes dashed as she quickly returned, runing upon it with a war cry and jumping, stopming, kicking and flouncing all over our creation. The only force able to stop her, was Adrienne, who in her distraught state ran out onto the deck and screamed "Leave our sandcastle alone!" at the top of her lungs. We received dirty looks from her parents for the rest of our stay. The feather that adourned our sandcastle was later found on HER sandcastle - which Lester and I promptly stomped on...

3. All that remained following the aforementioned episodes was a lone tower and two small trees and a partial moat, which were then peed on by no less than four dogs out on walks.

We do not know if we will go on to build sandcastles again, but that sandcastle will continue to live peacefully within our hearts.