The Oregon Coast

We went on our first vacation as a family to the Oregon Coast. We had an absolutely marvelous time! Here are the highlights of our trip:

Cannon Beach

Tillamook

The 3 Capes Scenic Loop

South Beach

Oregon Coast Aquarium

Hiking to Drift Creek Falls

Beautiful Sunsets

The Devil's Punchbowl

Beverly Beach

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

Nye Beach

Who needs Hawaii when we have beautiful beaches within a half a days drive? (Don't get me wrong, we also love Hawaii!) We had some wonderful evenings out and enjoyed dining at Tidal Raves in Depoe Bay, Cafe Mundo in Newport - complete with a live blues band, and Andaman Thai in Lincoln City. Those are our Top 3 Recommendations should any of you readers visit the Oregon Coast. Yum Yum. Good food always seems to go with good times!

To see more detail pictures of our Oregon Coast Adventures check out Tysha's Photos.

We're back!

We just returned home from our first Family Vacation. We spent five wonderful days on the Oregon Coast. I'll sort through all of our pictures and then post some and tell you all about what a great time we had on our trip! Until then...here is our first family photo (we took our tri-pod and did what we could with the timer). I think heaven definitely includes sandy beaches!

A Play Date

Yesterday, Sawyer had his first "play date". My friend asked me to watch her son while she did a biking event. Grant and Sawyer were born only 6 days apart. Grant weighed almost twice as much as Sawyer at birth. It's fun to see how they are both growing and learning fun new things.

Since they are so close in age, it was kind of like taking care of twins, even though they don't look anything like each other...well they are both cute and chubby.

It was fun watching them. They played in the "gym" together. Swatted at the little animals. It was interesting because I have always thought Sawyer was an "easy" baby. And he is. But Grant is SUPER laid back. Their little personalities shown brightly as Grant was content occasionally swatting the animals, looking around, taking it all in. My milk seems to be laced with caffeine lately, because Sawyer can be quite hyper and intense, I suppose you could say passionate - about swatting the animals - almost like they were punching bags. It was pretty funny.

We also took a long walk down to the South Lake Union Park in our double jogging stroller. Grant slept most of the time. Sawyer was seething with energy. We watched the sea planes take off and land, and a few beautiful sailboats go by. We also spent some time singing and doing rhyme activities. They both just laid there looking up at me and smiling. It was a fun day with two boys! As you can see from this last picture, Sawyer had a great time. We'll have to have play dates more often!

All in 90 days!

Isn't it crazy that in just 90 days, Sawyer has more than doubled his weight and grown at least 5 inches? Imagine what an adult would look like if they grew at that same rate! I tried to get these photos to match up to show just how much Sawyer has grown in his first 3 months. It's pretty amazing! He was this teeny, tiny little thing - and now he's all roly-poly and chubby. It's crazy that he's 3 months old today. It's no kidding that "they grow up so fast"...now if I could just find some way to slow him down...a little.

ps: Remind me to do this again in 3 months! What a fun way to chart growth!

The Hands have it!

The most exciting thing(s) lately in Sawyer's world are his hands.

He sucks on them like they're candy, plays with them like they're toys, and has recently discovered that they're also pretty useful as tools.

It starts with a look of focus, determination, and much concentration, from the top of his head-

-even all the way down to his toes.

Then he does this. He reaches, he grasps, he grabs, he pulls, he bats, he karate chops. He has all the fun in the world with his two little hands. Hooray for hands (and may we grown-ups not take our own hands and hard-learned coordination for granted!)