Our Awesome Weekend

Travis' grandparents (mom's side) have a summer home in Netarts, OR. They have invited us to come visit them for quite a while, letting us know they have a guest house and we would be totally welcome. We have always wanted to come stay and finally got our opportunity this weekend. Travis had to go to Cannon Beach for an overnight school retreat on Thursday so it was the perfect opportunity to pick him up on Friday and head down. We got there around 3pm. I had a picture in my mind of what it would look like, but I had no idea what to really expect. The house was beautiful. it isn't directly on the ocean but on a bay that connects to the ocean. They are raised up on a hill and their living room has HUGE windows that overlook the whole bay. The view is amazing. Behind their home, is a quaint little guest house. That was where we stayed. It was adorable. It had a living room and a kitchen connected to it - all one room and two little bedrooms with a bathroom. There was a TV with full cable which Travis of course loved - lol. When I walked in, I noticed coloring books and crayons on the table for the girls, plus two little dolly's for each of them. There was a bowl of fruit on the table and various breakfast pastries on the counter, not to mention a plate of freshly baked cookies on the table as well. It has the cutest little fridge/sink/stove combo in the kitchen and I opened the fridge to find juice boxes for the kids, a container of orange juice, bottled water, and beer. There was also a couple of bottles of wine. I felt like royalty. Not only did they provide a beautiful place to stay, but all of the little touches were so personalized. I was overwhelmed. It made me think - this is the kinds of stuff our heavenly Father loves to do for us, lavish us with personal gifts. I wonder how many times we recognize gifts from Him or do we just take things for granted and never thank Him?

ANYWAY, back to the weekend. I spent most of the afternoon chatting with Trav's grandma while the kids ran around the fun new house exploring with Sherman (Trav's step-grandpa) and Travis napped. For dinner, Sherman cooked cheeseburgers - only they weren't just cheeseburgers...they had the most amazing green chili spread on them that he made from scratch. I don't really know how to describe it, other than I hadn't tasted anything like it before. He roasted some green chiles (they were pretty mild) and did some sort of magic to them, mixing them with things like sour cream, cream cheese, I think he said mayo, vinegar and salt and pepper. I felt like I was eating in a gourmet restaurant. I guess he likes to watch the Food Network and cooking is just sort of his hobby. It was amazing - and the potato salad he made, I hadn't had anything like that either. My KIDS even ate most of their hamburgers and potato salad and neither of them really like potato salad so that says something.

After dinner, we drove down to the beach so the girls could play. Netarts is right next to a place called Oceanside and that is the beach we took them, too. We brought all their sand toys so they had a ball playing in the sand. It was a beautiful night, but you could see the rain moving in from the ocean. Eventually, it started sprinkling so we left. When we got back to the house, we decided to call it a night since the girls didn't have naps and they definitely needed a bath. We bathed them and put them to bed in one of the bedrooms. I was a little uneasy about putting Mia in that big bed, because she fell out of the bed when her and I were sharing a bed once but I put pillows all around the sides of the bed so I felt like she would be okay. For some reason, I had a hard time falling asleep. I woke up at 3:30 and was wide awake. I should have gone and checked on the girls right then, but I didn't. A few minutes later I heard a thump and then screaming. I knew Mia had fallen off the bed. I went running in and automatically went to her side - she wasn't there. She was clear at the foot of the bed on Keira's side...of course, where no pillows were. Dang it! I was trying to comfort her and get her back to sleep when I noticed my shirt was covered in blood. We took her into the light and she had bitten through her lip in two spots. She also had a little bit of blood in her nose. Poor baby! She really smashed her face on the ground. So, I got in bed on one side of her and Travis got in on the other side of Keira. It was a family bed...lol. I did NOT sleep well that night but I was glad to be next to my kiddos. They seemed to sleep really well. I was on a tiny corner of the bed, trying to stay on, but it was good for the kiddo snuggles!

Saturday, we got up and Sherman made a fantastic breakfast...of course. Then Trav's Aunt Colleen got there with his cousin Sean. All of us but Colleen went to Cape Meares and saw the lighthouse. The day turned out beautiful! We thought it was going to rain all day but it didn't. It was completely blue skies. After we came back from the lighthouse all of us girls went to a tea house. Trav's grandma raved about this place and had asked me if I thought my girls would like it. I told her they would love it. So, she treated us to lunch there which was AMAZING - little, fancy sandwiches, scones, and to DIE for desserts. Not to mention, the tea was delicious. The girls got their own fancy "kids" plates and they brought them strawberry lemonade in fancy tea pots. There were hats and scarves and gloves that they could dress up with. It was so much fun.

We came back and took naps - the girls took AWESOME naps. We brought in Mia's pack-n-play. I'm REALLY glad I decided to bring it, just in case. She slept really well in that and I think she felt a lot safer being closed in - and we didn't have to worry. By the time Keira woke up it was almost dinner time. Mia was still sleeping and Trav's mom and sister, Meghan had just gotten there, so I came up to the house to say hi. Mia woke up just in time for dinner. Sherman outdid himself again and made prime rib, macaroni and cheese with like 5 cheeses in it, green beans, bread with this bruschesta stuff that I could have just eaten by the spoonful. It was so delicious. After dinner, we just all sat around and drank red wine and chatted. It was fun to hear old stories. Travis, Sean and the little kids went downstairs and watched the Disney channel. I think I went to bed before Keira that night - lol! I finally took Mia to bed I think around 11. Travis and I slept in one room with her in the pack-n-play. Meghan slept on the couch in the guest house and Ronna slept in the other bedroom with Keira.

Sunday morning Trav's Uncle David, his fiancee and two sons showed up. We were up at the house around 8:30 and no one was up. We wore his poor grandparents out! We chatted and drank coffee for a while before Sherman came out. He was surprised to see us all in his living room. He made buttermilk pancakes and bacon for breakfast which were awesome, of course. I got to work on cleaning up our stuff and then we were all going to the cheese factory, then we were heading home. When we got there, though, it was SO crowded and it had rained most of the morning so there were huge puddles in the parking lot. Travis and I decided to opt out on the factory. Keira was upset but we went to another little cheese factory down the road and they had a little petting zoo. The girls had fun with that. They were definitely tired and we needed to get them home. We stopped at a little mom and pop place for lunch and even though it was 4 when we got them down for naps, we didn't hear a peep out of them. We had a great time.