The last three years we have taken more exotic trips for spring break--to New York City in 2005 and 2007, and to California in 2006. Chris was a bit disappointed to learn that we were going to the beach for spring break instead of somewhere more exciting...our kids are getting spoiled, I'm afraid, by all the travel they do.
We left Portland Sunday late afternoon, Easter, and got to my parents' beach house in Rockaway around 7 p.m. to have a late dinner. Despite all of our efforts to keep Nicholas away from the wood stove (which is the major source of heat in the house), he put his hand on the glass front that evening and got burnt. Talk about feeling like horrible parents!! We immediately flushed his hand in cold water, gave him Tylenol, and then cuddled him for awhile while he held his hand out (and called my sister for medical advice). That night his hand seemed to hurt him quite a lot, but by the next day he seemed unaffected and back to his usual energetic self. Unfortunately, big blisters formed on the pads of his fingertips, but they seem to be healing okay by now. We've tried to put band-aids on his fingers, but he protests mightily and they always seem to come off.
On Monday it was a beautiful day in spite of all forecasts of a rainy week, and we headed for Cannon Beach to take advantage of the weather. I got some good shopping in--a retirement gift for my good friend and colleague who was retiring last week, a birthday gift for my dad, and a gift for a birthday party Kieran is attending this week. And we had a nice visit to the beach. Except for a quick trip to the beach during a rain break on Tuesday, Monday was the extent of our beach time.
Tuesday the rain came and we stayed in most of the day. I actually practiced my mandolin! (Rare!) Tuesday evening my parents called to inform us that they were forecasting snow and we might want to head back that night. That sounded too exhausting and we didn't want to cut our trip short...so instead we stuck to our plans to leave Wednesday.
However, we woke up Wednesday to SNOW!! At the beach!!! On spring break!!! We packed and cleaned as quickly as we could manage, with three kids, and headed home late morning. We took the long way around the coast range, where they were projecting heavy snow. It took us 3-1/2 hours to get home (it's usually a 2-hour journey), but it's a good thing we took the route we did, as they were requiring traction or chains over the mountains.
On Thursday I went back to work, and on Friday I did my usual work-at-home thing. Mike had to literally DRAG Kieran out of the house on Friday, protesting constantly, because he didn't want to be torn away from his drawing. He has become a little obsessive artist. No scrap of paper or pen is safe in our house...he insisted on cutting up a pizza box before we could recycle it. Not only are we getting constant drawings (and increasingly good ones, too!), but also he is creating "inventions" out of every possible useuable scrap. In the past couple of days we've seen a lot of spiders and butterflies. These are all supposedly for his birthday next weekend; however, I'm not sure how we will be able to clean up the house with all these huge quantities of art projects everywhere!!
Spring break is over today, and it has been a mightily bizarre spring break in Oregon. For much of the past several days, we've had alternating snow, rain, hail (which Kieran calls "hazelnuts"), and sun! It feels like Denver!
Here are some photos of the only nice beach time we had this week...
We left Portland Sunday late afternoon, Easter, and got to my parents' beach house in Rockaway around 7 p.m. to have a late dinner. Despite all of our efforts to keep Nicholas away from the wood stove (which is the major source of heat in the house), he put his hand on the glass front that evening and got burnt. Talk about feeling like horrible parents!! We immediately flushed his hand in cold water, gave him Tylenol, and then cuddled him for awhile while he held his hand out (and called my sister for medical advice). That night his hand seemed to hurt him quite a lot, but by the next day he seemed unaffected and back to his usual energetic self. Unfortunately, big blisters formed on the pads of his fingertips, but they seem to be healing okay by now. We've tried to put band-aids on his fingers, but he protests mightily and they always seem to come off.
On Monday it was a beautiful day in spite of all forecasts of a rainy week, and we headed for Cannon Beach to take advantage of the weather. I got some good shopping in--a retirement gift for my good friend and colleague who was retiring last week, a birthday gift for my dad, and a gift for a birthday party Kieran is attending this week. And we had a nice visit to the beach. Except for a quick trip to the beach during a rain break on Tuesday, Monday was the extent of our beach time.
Tuesday the rain came and we stayed in most of the day. I actually practiced my mandolin! (Rare!) Tuesday evening my parents called to inform us that they were forecasting snow and we might want to head back that night. That sounded too exhausting and we didn't want to cut our trip short...so instead we stuck to our plans to leave Wednesday.
However, we woke up Wednesday to SNOW!! At the beach!!! On spring break!!! We packed and cleaned as quickly as we could manage, with three kids, and headed home late morning. We took the long way around the coast range, where they were projecting heavy snow. It took us 3-1/2 hours to get home (it's usually a 2-hour journey), but it's a good thing we took the route we did, as they were requiring traction or chains over the mountains.
On Thursday I went back to work, and on Friday I did my usual work-at-home thing. Mike had to literally DRAG Kieran out of the house on Friday, protesting constantly, because he didn't want to be torn away from his drawing. He has become a little obsessive artist. No scrap of paper or pen is safe in our house...he insisted on cutting up a pizza box before we could recycle it. Not only are we getting constant drawings (and increasingly good ones, too!), but also he is creating "inventions" out of every possible useuable scrap. In the past couple of days we've seen a lot of spiders and butterflies. These are all supposedly for his birthday next weekend; however, I'm not sure how we will be able to clean up the house with all these huge quantities of art projects everywhere!!
Spring break is over today, and it has been a mightily bizarre spring break in Oregon. For much of the past several days, we've had alternating snow, rain, hail (which Kieran calls "hazelnuts"), and sun! It feels like Denver!
Here are some photos of the only nice beach time we had this week...
Nicholas adored the beach more than everyone else put together--
this photo looks a lot like me when I was a toddler!
Kieran's recent obsession with drawing meant
that he had to DRAW on the beach!
The sun was in our eyes--that's unusual in Oregon! :)
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