Vacay at the Oregon Coast!

Dave is a pretty hard worker. It would normally take a giant crowbar to pry him from his desk at work for any significant amount of time. UNLESS! he has a week of paid time-off that he will lose if he doesn't use by the end of March. So away we went to the beach house!





To join us for the weekend came the Hillyards, Deweys, and Aldridges. YAY!



On Saturday we hiked (well they hiked; Annalise napped in the car for two hours and I dared not wake her) and visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

On Sunday we went to church at the little branch in Neahkahnie and afterwards I became single-focused on getting pictures of the babes on the beach in their church clothes. Luckily for Annalise, three-year-old Liam was there to steady her still-wobbly-sitting self...

until at one point he forgot himself and the supportive arm became a choking headlock:

But all was quickly well again:

We went inside for brunch,

and back out to beach once more before everybody took off.

We were sad to see them go, but our vacation was still just beginning! We spent a lot of time napping...

and just hanging out...

We walked around town,

and frolicked on the beach,

and some of us slept on the beach.

We drove around through the coastal cities and bought some fresh smoked salmon

... and then my baby turned seven months old! Which she celebrated by SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! FOR SEVEN HOURS! It was so thrilling I was practically high on sleep. I had let her sleep on her stomach unswaddled the whole night thanks to a helpful tip, and when it worked I let myself get really hopeful that we were starting a new. trend. My hopes were quickly dashed the next night, but at least I had one good sleep. My very exceptionally old baby just started being much more interested in solids this past week (and possibly allergic to squash) now crawls back onto our laps if we ever attempt to set her down, blows raspberries nearly constantly, grunts and growls with gusto, says 'da da da' and 'ba ba ba' over and over, and gets on her hands and knees and rocks before laying on her belly to scoot somewhere.

St. Patrick's Day found our little shamrock dressed for the occasion.

A leprechaun by the sea:

We decided to celebrate by taking Annalise on her first hike!

The view from the top:

It all went by way too quickly. Hope to see you again soon Manzanita!