Family Vacation

We spent a wonderful long holiday weekend out on the coast with the whole family. My mom and dad drove down from Montana, and my brother and sister-in-law flew up from California. We were all together for the first time in quite a while and it was great.

I planned this trip a few months ago after my mom’s breast cancer diagnosis when it really hit home how much we all need each other. We all see each other a couple times a year at least, but rarely are we ALL together at once. I know I really needed to see everyone and I believe they all felt the same. My mom is doing really well these days so she was in good shape to make the trip. We are planning on making the Family Vacation an annual tradition and there was lots of talk of where we will go next year!

I could spend hours re-living the whole trip here but I’ll just hit some highlights and then let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Jon and Bri could only stay the first couple of days, but it was very good to see them. They are awesome. They were in Portland a couple of days before we headed out to the coast so they got to walk around and check it out. They rode our mountain bikes with me on an 11 mile run and that was very cool. I hope they can come visit again soon.

My parents are the most adorable couple ever. They are so sweet to each other and still hold hands and all that after 30+ years of marriage. They take good care of each other and have an amazing relationship. They have a great sense of humor and are really fun to be around. They inspire me in so many ways. :)

 

The coast was SO beautiful. It’s pretty rocky where we were which made for really neat crashing waves and lots of little tidepools. We spent a lot of time down there watching the waves. We even saw some whales!

I did lots of yoga over the vacation- some by myself in the morning, some with my mom (which we do all the time over Skype, but it was cool to do in person), and I even took my dad through a sun salutation! I even did some yoga on the rocks by the shore and Zach took pictures. So cool!

Zach and I ran on the trails and beach two days and it was amazing. The weather was cool but sunny and we loved every minute of it. The second day we even jumped in the freezing cold ocean at the end of our run!

Zach cooked the whole family a delicious dinner the first night and made several yummy meals over the next couple days. We ate very well thanks to him! We drank good local beer and delicious wine. We mostly cooked at the rental house but we ate out a couple of times and enjoyed amazing fresh seafood.

One of my favorite parts was a hike I took with my mom up to a lighthouse. We drove down there only to discover that to really even see the lighthouse you have to hike about a half-mile up the mountain. It wasn’t a super challenging hike, but I wasn’t sure my mom could swing it. Zach and my dad headed up ahead of us and my mom and I took our time climbing up. I held her hand the whole way and encouraged her along. We rested a couple times, but kept going. I was so proud of her when we reached the top. It was like watching someone finish a race! Zach and Dad were there to snap a picture. It is something I will always remember.

Other than the lighthouse, the other activities we did included watching the Fourth of July parade in the cute little town, driving up to Newport on the last day for lunch and sea-lion watching, whale-watching and hiking along the coast. We spent most of our time hanging out at the rental cottage visiting, playing Pictionary, and relaxing. Zach and I spent one afternoon at the gorgeous spa. So relaxing. In general, this trip made me feel very much at ease. After all the anxiety and worry of the year, these few days with my family really set everything right in my head and heart. We are so lucky to have such a strong and loving family and I’m so very grateful.

Ok, picture time! We took a LOT (um, like over 600) so I have to do some real editing. I ended up putting them in an album since there are over 50 photos. It’s my first time doing that, so I hope it works ok.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Enjoy!

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