Beach Party

The Bauerschmidt clan came to visit Oregon for a week, after all, what better place to go for spring break than Oregon! It kind of reminds me when Sam and I went to Cape Cod for spring break. It was cold and mostly shut down.

Luckily, the Oregon coast doesn't really shut down, and it certainly was warmer than Cape Cod.

We started off the 4 day extravaganza by both leaving Portland around the same time. I recommended they stop by Camp 18 for some decent food and a really neat Oregon experience. Mary then had the idea to surprise them there, so we did.

Then off to the beach house we went.

Everyone got along great. Paul and I had all the kids in the minivan, and Mary and Lauren took Hazel in the Subaru. Simone instantly decided she was going to be Elise's shadow - they were like long-lost sisters.

Two years ago we brought Hazel home, so we decided this weekend would be a good one to celebrate her birthday. Everyone made hats out of paper and decorated them. We decorated the house a little bit and wrapped up a present for her.

The kids wrapping a present with Hazel completely oblivious to the fact she was the star of the day.

Now she knows she's the star of the show.

Elise and Simone help make the chocolate cake, which was of course not for Hazel.

Mary and the girls whipped up a chocolate chocolate cake which was enjoyed by all, especially with a large bowl of whipped cream and some strawberries. We sang happy birthday, and everyone helped unwrap Hazel's gift.

It took Hazel 5 minutes to find and destroy the two squeakers, and another 3 minutes to rip it apart into what looked like a bunch of purple spaghetti. It was probably the flimsiest toy we've gotten for her.

When we weren't partying, we were reading books.

Lots and lots of books.

Even more books.

And more books.

We did leave the house, it wasn't all parties and reading.

Simone and Elise shading themselves from the sun.

We hung out in the yard, coloring bricks with chalk, running around the house, collecting flower petals and pine cones to decorate the house.

We checked out the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

I hadn't been to the cheese factory in ... 12+ years. You used to only be able to see the big vats where the milk turns into curds. That's now done somewhere else, but what you get to see is the 40+ pound blocks of curds wrapped for aging, and 40+ pound blocks of aged cheddar sliced, chopped, bagged and sealed. Very fun.

Hug Point at high tide.

We also tried Hug Point, but unfortunately at high tide, which meant we couldn't get to the waterfall. Instead we let the kids climb high on slippery rocks. They had a blast.

We later checked out Oswald West, which was as cool as I remember. Huge trees, a suspension bridge (Hazel wasn't so crazy about that), and a pretty little beach.

We had a great time connecting with Lauren, Paul and the kids. We seem to see each other around every 5 years, though this was so much fun we might just have to do this again a little sooner.

When we left, Simone was sad and wanted to head back to the beach house. And, it turns out, Elise was missing Simone a lot, and Evan missed Hazel.

Rico Suave