Spring Break Bash 2011!

Beaches! Sun! Bikinis! It's Oregon. Who are we kidding. Spring break means rain. We got a little lucky at the beach and got a couple of minimal rain days. I won't go so far as to say it was sunny but after the weather we've had the last few months, no rain is saying a lot. Mary Lou and Heidi also came down to the coast with the kids so our kids had all kinds of fun playing. Before they got there, we caught some clams and Mason and I did a hike. Mary Lou and Heidi were staying at the Grandparents beach house. Over the years, the Grandparent's beach house had fallen into a bit of disrepair. There is foliage growing on the roof. The furnace wasn't working. Termites were eating around one of the windows. Without Grandpa being able to keep it up, the house is falling into sorry shape. Wednesday morning we met the Ham/Evans crew at our favorite breakfast place, the Spouting Horn. The kids kept themselves occupied playing Angry Birds while we waited for food.

The Spouting Horn overlooks Depoe Bay which was recently hit with a couple of tsunami waves after the earthquake in Japan. One of the docks in the bay was rendered unusable following a large surge.

Heidi and Mary Lou and never been to the Spouting Horn. They seem to be enjoying their experience.

After breakfast, we took all the kids to the aquarium in Newport. We may have only needed to take them to some rocks.

Posing by some garbage/art.

More posing and more garbage art.

Most people became familiar with the Oregon Coast aquarium when it was the home of Keiko...aka Free Willy. I never had much interest in seeing Keiko. Sharks on the other hand are much cooler. Don't fret Willy fans, the shark tank was Keiko's old digs! Dut dut. Dut dut...

Mason tries out the old scuba gear. Somehow I don't see serious scuba diving in his future. At least not in this kind of get up.

Siena tries out the shark teeth. Yup, pretty big.

The outdoors. There's supposed to be birds and stuff here. All I see is sand. And Mason's head.

One kid.

Two kids. Three kids.

And then there were four.

And another poor turtle holds up the four...

Note Heidi's "Hairy Otter" shirt...a good purchase me thinks.

Eeek! Anaconda! Mason seems much less scared than I was. That is one big snake.

Getting a feel for being explorers.

So is Mary Lou. This might be a better way than following Uncle Bruce on one of his adventures.

The token nose pick shot. Sorry Ellia, the camera never lies.

I see this wonderful Japanese crab and I think: lunch?

Jelly fish. Big jelly fish.

Mary Lou and Heidi had to head up to the beach house to spend some quality time with the furnace guy so we hit up my favorite place, Rogue Brewery, for some lunch. For those not familiar with Rogue, they have a number of award winning brews and is by far my favorite brewery. The food's not bad either.

Siena plays some games with Daddy while we wait for our food.

Mason and Siena, getting ready for some Jenga.

The view from the brewery. Can't get much more costal than this.

The rest of the spring break week was pretty low key. I helped out Isler with some tax returns again yesterday. Do they know I'm not a tax accountant? :-)

I took the kids on another walk today. Siena took the '57 Chevy pedal car. It was the only way she'd agree to go. These walks are supposed to be about fun and togetherness. Sometimes it becomes me telling the kids what not to do and them trying to do it. Mason came home muddy and Siena wet. I needed a glass of wine after sounding like every grown up on every hike I went on as a kid.

Regardless, I'm ready to face the working world again tomorrow. Bring it on!