Mortimer Family Vacation- Seaside, OR (August)

We took our first "just us" family vacation to Seaside, OR this year. Vacationing with 3 kids under 4yrs is a bit challenging but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. At least the accomodations were nice so when we were waiting for napping kids it was comfortable. Mike grew up in Tillamook so we took the kids there one day to see all the sights. Here they are at the Octopus tree. It wasn't as cool as I remembered it. I had only seen it once before. I was in high school and went to meet Mike's family for the first time in Tillamook. Of course Mike took me to all the touristy spots. Things are so much more impressive when you are young and in love!

We met a nice couple from New York or Boston (I can't remember) that took our picture.

Driving by Tillamook HS we couldn't resist taking a picture of the lawn mowers that some kids had driven to school and parked in the parking lot. Classic Tillamook!

We went to the cheese factory and didn't meet any nice couples to take our pictures so Mike set the camera up on a fence post across the street and set the timer. We have an hilarious set of pictures showing various states of us chasing the boys to try to get them into a picture. It is classic!

And when it was all said and done we were so small in the pics that you couldn't even see us. Oh well, it made a great memory.

Daddy time on the beach.

Looking for seashells...who would think you'd find a crab buried in the sand on the shoreline? Huh, go figure.

The boys went crazy at the arcades. They didn't know the difference between games when money was put in and games when no money was put in so we had a lot of cheap entertainment. We would just stop by the arcade and let them go at it for an hour or so while we watched.

They loved the Carousel!

I think this might have been the first time I put Josh in a swing. He loved it!

A hermit crab crawling on Jake's hands at the Aquarium...if you can call what they have at Seaside and aquarium. Definately not worth the money!

Say cheese!

The first day we were at the beach we ran from the waves. Jake thought it was fun but check out Ben's face. He played along but I think he was a bit freaked out.

Dad tried to show off and make a big sand castle but it was a flop so he ended up shaping a cowboy boot out of the sand. A cowboy boot? Yup. Should've taken a picture of that!

Mortimer written in the sand.

On the way home we stopped in Portland at Malibu Speedway. Jake barely passed the height requirements to ride in the "nascars".

But after one lap around he was a bit sick. He stuck it out for one more but I went a little too fast the second time around and I felt so sorry for him. He got whipped around and his helmet fell over his face. He was so excited to ride those cars and in the end he walked away sick as a dog and crying. He tried to tough it out but it was a bit much. Ok, parental reminder that some fun things just need to wait.