Home From the Sea

We had a good few days at Rockaway on the Oregon Coast with Jill, Isaac and Irene, and kitties, followed by a fun family picnic hosted by my sister Ilene, and Mike, in Vernonia, Oregon.

 On the way down Tom and I stopped for lunch in Astoria at the Wet Dog Brewery.  It was warm enough to sit outside and watch the trolley go by.

 The rain came as we were finishing lunch, and continued lightly most of the rest of Wednesday.  But we all went for a beach walk anyway.

Thursday morning, and Friday too, we called in at the Garibaldi Bakery for morning goodies.

 The kids had already done the Tillamook cheese Factory, so we went to the Blue Heron, for the petting zoo and fun shopping and tasting.

 Back at the cabin, the tourist train was making steady runs along the tracks right by the cabin.

 Inside the cabin, sleeping soundly, were Isaac's cat Sandy and her litter of days old kittens.

 Irene's cat, Mr. Whiskers was there too.

We finally got out to the beach.  Jill and Isaac walked to the north jetty.

 Irene and I played on the beach with the tide way out.

 Irene loves the surf!

 The rest of us drove the 3.5 miles to the jetty to pick up the winners!

Friday morning the fog persisted and we did some shopping.  We finally got out on the beach in the afternoon in the warm fog. There was surfing, water play and digging.

 Remains of the day.

 Evening camp.

Saturday morning was busy as we packed up and cleaned up and headed inland to join up with my extended family  for our annual Norquist Family Picnic in Vernonia.

 We were happy to have our cousin Kathy join us,  and our brother and sister-in-law Don and Sheree and Brent, Janelle and Pete out from Boston and New Orleans.

 My sister Ilene, the hostess, created a fun family game for the kids, with family history questions.  Prizes were 50 cent pieces.  Some kids got a little coaching from the back row. 

A good time was had by all!

And now we plan to stay home for a while!