Farewell Olivia Beach

Today we packed up and left 'Hakuna Matata,' our home at the beach for a few days. I wish that we could have had one day more, but it was starting to rain so it was probably good that we were leaving.

The upstairs media room which converted into a bed

Upstairs queen room

The kids room

Downstairs living room

The dining room and kitchen

(There was also a king suite downstairs that I didn't get a shot of)

The kids have enjoyed having Liam around

Pausing for a goodbye photo

We decided to pass through Tillamook on the way home so that we could visit the cheese factory. Mum always reminisces about how she had the best fish and chips ever there so we had to take her back. She does enjoy her food when she's on holiday! The road up there was pretty long and windy so I was glad when we finally stopped since I was starting to feel a little queazy.

We started with the short tour of the factory.

The kids of course had to get a picture here.

Zach also got in on the action

And so did Liam

He made a pretty cute farmer!

The kids thought that it was pretty interesting to see the cheese being cut and packaged.

The of course there were the cheese samples and then it was time for lunch. I'm pleased to report that mum's fish and chips lived up to her expectations. She then treated us all to some ice cream.

Thomas was upset that there was only one piece of

cookie dough in his cookie dough ice cream!

Josh was clearly excited by the size of his mouth!

Liam thought that grandma's hair was pretty entertaining

Goodbye Tillamook. Your cheese and

ice cream is delicious!

It was then back to the homestead, but not before first calling into the mall for some really quick tax free shopping.

A Tour of the Area

Today we decided to take a drive around the area. Our first stop was Yaquina Bay lighthouse.

I love lighthouses

There was lots of wildlife to enjoy

I love the rugged Oregon coast

The clan

Zach unfortunately was too small to climb the lighthouse steps and was very upset about this. I quickly had to leave to prevent him from getting too loud while the others made the climb. Hayley thinks that her calves may be hurting her tomorrow!

The view from the bottom to the top

The view from the top of the lighthouse

Looking down

After everyone had climbed the lighthouse and of course taken a potty break we headed down to an inlet in the bay. We were excited to see some sea creatures.

Sea Lions

Zach thought the sea lions were interesting

We then headed into Newport for a very late lunch and then headed back. We took a quick turn in the hot tub before making dinner. We decided that we would head on down to the beach to see the sunset, but unfortunately it decided to rain before we headed out. We probably should have sucked it up anyway.

The rest of the evening was spent playing games. Olivia got quite upset when she used up all her Uno cards and didn't have anymore to play with. I guess that I didn't explain clearly enough that you've won the game when you do that! Thomas truly got into the Rasmussen cheating spirit by giving himself all the best cards. sadly, our kids inherit both the bad and the good sometimes!

Lincoln City

Yesterday we dragged our tired family down to Lincoln City, Oregon. Baby Liam decided that he didn't think that sleeping was such a great idea, so poor Josh and Hayley had a pretty rough night of it. We stopped in at Elephant's Deli in Portland for lunch on the way through. When we got back onto the freeway we kind of wished that we hadn't. Traffic was horrible. We ended up taking a different route, which I'm not sure was any better. Needless to say what was supposed to be a 2 hour drive took us almost 5. We were sure happy when we pulled up to our beach home.

We spent the rest of our Friday evening doing what we usually do on Friday nights - eating pizza and watching a movie. It's always nice to do your regular things somewhere else though and the kids enjoyed the surround sound. Poor Spenser found himself in bed as soon as we got there though. He had a pretty good fever and so was quarantined from the rest of us.

This morning we headed down to the playground for a while before making our way over to the beach. The weather wasn't exactly the type of beach weather that you might want, but hey this is the Oregon coast. We didn't really expect any different.

The kids had a lot of fun playing on the playground

Thomas pulling up the load

Such sweethearts

Olivia

Zach enjoyed swinging

Mum, Josh, and Liam

Liam finally made it out and about.

He has had a difficult adjustment.

Auntie Hayley giving a needed push

There was a nice grassy area over near the playground. Spenser had taken a soccer ball down there with him so we decided to have a quick game. It got pretty competitive (especially with the Hayley cheats in our family). I was glad to have Hayley on my team since she's never afraid to play dirty if it means winning. She even gave Thomas a good shove along the way.

Zach wasn't too keen on us playing so this is

how he tried to stop play!

Once everyone started crying about how Hayley was a cheat and how they couldn't score a goal we decided that leaving for the beach was our best chance for family unity.

Olivia scooping out a good sandcastle building spot

Contemplating

Grandpa was there to help with some building

It was pretty windy for some

I know that you're wondering where you

can get hair like that too!

Sisters and baby

Zach loved shoveling in the dirt of course

Grandma also gave a helping hand

Playing in the sea

It was a beautiful sandy beach

Here they are trying to dodge the waves

That face tells me it was cold!

That face tells me that the waves got her!

Showing off the castle

Josh managed to devise some kind of game that involved sticks and running up the beach. I think that the kids put in their sticks and then grabbed them before the waves could. Whatever they were up too it kept them entertained.

With his sticks

Running away

That afternoon we left Spenser with the kids for a while and we headed down to the outlets and then to the grocery store. After dinner there of course had to be some time in the hot tub.

Hot tubing is a family favorite!

That evening we had lots of tired people lying around

The only thing to do at the end of the day when you're staying at the beach is to enjoy a cup of hot cocoa with some chocolate biscuits (cookies).