Sunset Beach

 Yesterday we wanted to take Taran to the beach to get IN the water this time. Sunset is a calmer beach (almost looks like a lake) and is a bit more protected from the wind because it is surrounded by cliff walls. When we gathering our gumption to go to the beach my friend texted us to say they were heading to the beach too! So we met up and sat and chatted while the kids played. 

Brent carried Taran all the way out into the water on his back which Taran loved and kept laughing about how cold his feet were. 

I neglected to get the camera out until the end so there aren't very many. Guess I was having too good of a time talking!

Griz loved the gross green sea weed type of stuff.

Ocean Fun in Bandon

 We had thought about taking the kids and Taran to San Fransisco for our last week of no work.  We couldn't make it work affordably so we decided to stick at home and enjoy the beauty right here in our own neighborhood.  We spent one of our days down in Bandon.  Just love the view down there.  The rocks are so interesting!  Who needs a crowded busy city when you've got this, right!?

We were focused on Taran when all the sudden we looked up and Griz was at the top of a really high cliff.  The picture below doesn't show how high he was, it was high enough that it made our hearts stop a bit. We both kept calm and encouraged him back down.  I was really surprised he didn't freak out, he has recently had some fears of heights but luckily he kept his head! 

Sanna was barefoot trying to get really high too.  We stopped her luckily before she had gotten too far.  They had a lot of fun playing on these rocks.

This next pic of Sanna cracks me up.  I can see this look of fear on her face, I think she got caught by surprise by a wave coming in.  It was so funny.

 It's hard for Taran to walk on the beach so luckily Brent obliged him with quite a few piggy back rides.

 In fact he gave him a piggy back ride all the way up ALL of those stairs...

Sunset Beach

We got a random text from my Aunt Luann letting us know she and Paul wanted to come visit us because they were out (sorta) our way at the Redwoods.  We met them at the beach and had a really great time visiting with them.  After they left we stayed even longer and all got crispy in the beautiful bright sunlight that wasn't that hot but still full of UV rays.  Oops.

This kite and that length of string is all we have left from our fun time we had with the Morgan's at their cabin.

We like going out for drives... a lot.  It is always so beautiful.  I love it when we actually have our camera with us for a nice scene...

Redwood Magic

Life in an RV can be hard at times.  Add the stress of applying for jobs and trying to study with very crappy wi-fi into the mix and yeah it all gets even harder.  My dear husband has so much to deal with and he was closing up last week. I hadn't seen him smile or crack a joke in a few days and I was starting to worry majorly.  Well we started for the coast Friday morning and as soon as we finally got to the ocean I saw that stress start peeling away. Then we looked at this property we really want and I saw it peeling away even more.  By the time we got to the redwood forest in California I had my happy husband back again. There is something magical about the Oregon Coast for us. The redwoods are just our absolute favorite.  I wish we could build our house right there in the middle of Jedediah Smith State Park.  

My hubby knows the right time to get out there and he sure knows how to capture things beautifully.  It was a wonderful wonderful morning spent exploring.

Chico wanted to take pictures and videos with my phone.

The kids love the redwoods as much as we do.

The kids had a blast standing up in the car with their heads out of the sunroof. Made for an awesome view as we slowly drove through the forest.

We got out at Stout Grove and had a nice little walk.  The cool thing about this next picture is that the trail they are walking on is actually a fallen redwood tree.

It wasn't raining at all but some of the trees were dropping a bunch of water and it almost looked like rain. It was really neat.

Is it seriously February? We had the most amazing weather that weekend. Almost forgot it was still winter.
After we left the Jedediah Smith State Park we drove them down to see the giant Paul Bunion statue.  Chico saw some awesome waves from the highway and convinced us that they HAD to go swimming.  We had their suits in the car so we let them. Their version of swimming is more like jumping up and down in the water.  They didn't get past their knees I think, ha ha!  If it had been a good swimming beach though Brent would have joined them in there.

After we left the beach we took the kids back to the hotel to shower off. Then Sanna and I went to the store and got some food and pizza for dinner. Then we watched cable tv for the rest of the evening. So weird for us since we don't normally have tv.  But Brent had a bunch of work to do on his laptop so the kids and I first watched Property Brothers, then found the end of the Lego Movie, and then watched Chopped.  Kind of fun but also mind numbing with all the commercials. Bleh!
Then the next morning we hurried off to the Redwoods one more time before church. Just incredible again!

We rushed home from the redwoods so we could check out of the hotel and get to church by 11:00 (the website said it started at 11:00).  We got there by 11:05 and found out they had changed it to 11:30 recently but hadn't updated the internet. So we were actually early (shocking) which turned out to be great because we were able to talk to people AND we got to see our friend Tammy!  She was in the 9:00 am ward but when she found out we were there she said she'd catch us after sacrament.  She came and talked after the meeting and invited us over and invited us to even stay the night! She and her family were so hospitable. We needed a break from tiny spaces for sure (and it was nice to save some money since we needed to spend one more night)!  They fed us good food, had a movie with popcorn and one of my guilty pleasures graham crackers with frosting on it. They had good wi-fi for Brent to use. They showed us a few cool places in town (the Lookout and the pier by the lighthouse).  The next morning Tammy let the kids and I swim in their hot tub pool. It was so much fun!

That morning while the kids and I swam and packed, Brent was off dropping off resumes in town and then we headed back home dropping off resumes on the way.  We stopped at Five Guys for dinner that night which we haven't had in a few years. It was gooood. :)

All in all a great weekend and I am currently counting the minutes until we get to leave again tomorrow after work to go down to the Coos Bay area again this weekend!!!!