Oregon Coast Anniversary Weekend

A couple of months ago Charlie and I started chatting about our anniversary.  Having kiddos kinda has made doing anything big to celebrate close to impossible.  ha ha.  So we discussed that maybe we could time something along with one of my mom's visits back to Boise and the idea of going to the Coast was born.

I can't even begin to tell you all how thankful we are to have my mom come stay with the kids while we were gone.  It made leaving (especially for me having just left a couple of weeks earlier) the kiddos for 3 nights/4 days a bit easier.  I knew they were in good loving hands and that they would have so much fun without us.

So we made the 8 hour trek on Thursday the 18th.  I seriously loathe long car trips (NOT looking forward to the trek to Disney but refuse to try and fly with three and car seats again)  But we made it work and got there eventually! ha ha ha.

We stayed at the Beachfront Manor Hotel.  We got an ocean view room with a hot tub on the balcony.  Overall we were pleased with our hotel/room... we had a few cons, but mostly pros. =)  We got our stuff unloaded and then went out for a walk on the beach.  Right outside our door we were greeted by a raccoon friend.  We didn't see him the rest of the weekend, but he was seriously right outside our door hanging out next to our balcony.

  We got ready after that to go to our anniversary dinner.  I had asked for recommendations on Facebook for restaurants in Lincoln City.  A friend suggested a place called Tidal Raves in Depoe Bay which was about 30 minute away for us.  OMG.  It was soooo good.  We thankfully had made a reservation in advance and got a window table and had the best view!

Trying to get a picture of us on our balcony with the ocean in the background before heading out to dinner

Our view at dinner.  Beautiful

 Friday we woke up bright and early.  Since it's an hour behind home, it was 8am to us, but 7am in Oregon ha ha.  We went to breakfast at Pig N Pancake and it was tasty!  I got a fancy coffee that I thoroughly enjoyed.

After breakfast we decided to go play tennis.  We had actually planned ahead for this because we keep saying it would be fun to go play together.  I played in high school (and basically haven't since ha ha) and Charlie likes to play any chance he gets with his friends.  Anyway, so we brought our stuff with us hoping to find a tennis court.  there was one just a block over from our hotel, lucky us!  I sucked, but it was still a lot of fun. 

 We went back to our hotel and got cleaned up.  We took off to Tillamook (about an hour drive from where we were staying)  We did the tour and then had lunch down in the cafe.  I bought some squeaky cheese in the shop.  I LOVE squeaky cheese and used to eat it all the time as a kid, then the stores around here quit carrying it.  =(  I didn't want to open it there because I wanted to bring it home to share with the girls.  They were totally unimpressed by it (charlie thinks it's disgusting! ha ha)  Oh well more for me right? We also indulged in some delicious ice cream while there too!

Squeeky cheese!

Cafe menu...  I told Charlie this was the one place he wasn't allowed to give me a hard time  for getting a grilled cheese!  I got a fancy one with bacon and tomato on it yum!)

Watching over the factory.  They turn those big 40lb blocks into the little loafs we buy at the store. 

While I was in Washington I left a treasure hunt for the girls to do with Charlie.  It was about 10 clues that took them around the house and lead them to special jammies I had bought for them.  of course since then Natalia has been begging me for another treasure hunt.  So I came through and left them one to do with my mom while we were gone.  here they are showing off their treasures they found.  (I got them on clearance at Fred Meyer a while back and had just put them away thinking I could use them for something, lucky me!)

After Tillamook we went to the outlet mall and got some shopping done! I can't remember if I blogged about it.  But a while back I attended this open house thing for a medispa in town.  I won this expensive product in their raffle and I really didn't want it... but who am I to turn down a $500 prize?!?!  So I posted it for sale on Facebook and on Craigslist and within a days someone from my cousins work bought it from me for $200!!  So I set that money aside as my Coach purse money at the outlet mall.  =)  I ended up getting a purse and wallet for less then the $200!  yay for good sales.
We hung out at the hotel for a little bit and then went to get dinner at Mo's that night.  It's supposed to be famous for their clam chowder.  I'm not too fond of sea food (funny huh, but there was plenty of chicken/steak options for me everywhere) but Charlie was totally unimpressed by their chowder.  I told him it was because being in Boston so much for work he's had their clam chowder and it's ruined him.

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early again. This time we went to a doughnut shop we found in town.  They were yummy, but of course nothing compares to Country Time here at home.  We went for a walk on the beach after breakfast and then Charlie decided to try and go for a run.  So I got ready while he was gone.  We headed down to Newport which was about 45 minutes away from our hotel to go to Rogue Brewery.  We had lunch right there in their restaurant which was crazy busy but good.  Then we took the tour around the factory which was really interesting.  Charlie got to sample a couple of beers.  They had a fun little train to take you to different parts of the tour too that the kids would have loved.

Charlie taking the Rogue Brewery Pledge

We went back to Lincoln City and hung out at our hotel for a bit trying to decide on what to do for dinner.  The BSU game was going to be on that night but on a channel our hotel room didn't have.  So we couldn't decide on going to a sports pub type of place or go try another restaurant that was highly recommended but probably wouldn't be showing the game.  We ended up going that route anyway, so we went to Kyllo's for dinner. I was tempted to get steak again, but decided against the $32 plate.  Yikes.  But the chicken pasta I got was really good so I was glad I went with it.  Charlie got a bowl of clam chowder with his meal that he said was better than the bowl at Mo's.  That night we both fell asleep so stinking early!  We were wiped out from a busy weekend!

Sunday it was the long drive back home.  We stopped for lunch at a Burgerville and had some delicious burgers on the way home.

We got home just in time for me to read and sing to the girls (Quinton had already been asleep for an hour or so)  I was one happy mommy to be reunited with my babies.  It was the one night I actually hoped Quinton would wake up and he obliged around midnight.  he looked so surprised to have me pick him up he kept reaching for my face.  It was awesome.

It was such a wonderful weekend!!  We really had a ton of fun and it was so nice to do something just us two.  I can't believe how fast the last eight years have gone for us!

The view from our balcony

For more fun pictures of our trip:  Oregon Coast 2014