Tag Archives: Camping

It’s a Girl’s Perogative!

Good evening!

A lot has changed in the past 24 hours! Well, my sweetie and I were camping at the Oregon Coast and were actually planning on being there until Saturday. Well, a girl can only take so much, and Jason knew that I was getting more and more miserable, so we had decided to go home.

On the way home, I decided at the last minute that I didn’t want to leave the coast just yet, and my sweetie found us this sweet little hotel that we could stay at. So here we are: hot shower, ocean front view with sound proof windows!!! AAH!!! Bliss!! and to top it off I have been absolutely blocked art-wise! I don’t know what my problem has been, but I have found this GREAT collage book that has re-inspired me, and I am ready to create, create, create!!!

So, we will see what happens in the next day or so!

Anyway, Jason and I will be here for about 2 or 3 days (I am just LOVING this vacation!!), and then we will eventually mozy on home!! Until then I am planning on arting it up, enjoying this view and spend as much time bundled up in the great outdoors as I can handle!! I will make sure to have some pics to share tomorrow! ๐Ÿ™‚

Have aย  FABULOUS evening! ๐Ÿ˜‰

A Quick Post!

Good evening!

We are still out camping, but just barely! I am homesick and want to go home. Jason is sooooo in his element out in nature and all that I feel guilty even suggesting we go home early, except I know that he knows! I am not sleeping well, it is amazing how loud the ocean is in the middle of the night and I can’t stop having nightmares about tsunamis, crazy, I know!! Last night I slept so poorly that I literally slept from the time the sun came up to almost 4!! What is the point of camping if you are gonna miss everything!?

Anyway, Jason and I are going to try something different tonight, and if I still can’t get any sleep then I think we will be going home early tomorrow – ce la vie!! At least I am not back to work until the 19th, and honey I can vacation anywhere knowing I don’t have to go to work until then!!! HAHAHAHA!

Well, I hate to cut this post short, but my battery is running low and I can’t seem to find a place to plug in, so until tomorrow!

Have a FABULOUS evening! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Help Me Lady Gaga I’m A Pork Chop!

LOL!! Good evening!

Now, before you think I have totally gone and lost my mind, there is a story behind today’s post title! When I woke up this morning, at the camp site at the coast, I was awoken to some little kid yelling this at the top of his lungs:

“HELP ME LADY GAGA, I’M A PORK CHOP!!!

I am not sure what caused him to choose this particular war cry anthem, or if he somehow he has come to believe that Lady Gaga has recently been sainted as the Patron Saint of Pork, but man – it was just TOO funny!! It was really nice to wake up laughing!! and this has since become my anthem for the day, seeing that if it was good enough for that little kid, it was definitely good enough for me!!

Today has been a pretty good day! My sweetie made us breakfast, we have taken the girls on a couple of walks, I took the world’s L-O-N-G-E-S-T nap with our girls, while my sweetie went fishing, I spent a long time organizing my comp site “art studio”, which was fun! My husband assured me that having an “art studio” was sheer insanity, but that was alright because I am an artist – isn’t that sweet??? Uhmmm…I think! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Anyways, tonight, we are going to go forage for food – probably eat at a local restaurant, go back to the campsite, and I am sure to at least try and kick my husband’s booty at some game, or at least not try to pout when he kicks mine!! HAHAHA!!

Oh, and I hope you enjoy today’s pictures! This is how we “rough it” while camping!! HUGE tent, two queen sized air mattresses covered in oodles, and oodles of sumptuous blankets, a thick red carpet underfoot, and the tent’s mudroom turned “art studio”!! Mama can’t help that she is spoiled!! LOL! ๐Ÿ˜‰ I’m worth it!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Anyway, I should have pics of lots of art pieces in progress tomorrow – this camping trip really is all about having a mini artist retreat to just practice some of my mad-skills!! and yes, I do mean crazy! LOL! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

And We’re Off!

Good afternoon!!

After a somewhat bumpy start this morning, Jason and I FINALLY have the minivan packed to the gills with waaaay too much camping stuff, waaaay to much art stuff, and waaaaay too many books!!

WHOO! HOO!!

MAN I LOVE CAMPING, er…I mean GLAMPING!!!

I will take tons of pics of our campsite this afternoon and evening and make sure to share them all with you tomorrow!!! The weather is supposed to be ABSOLUTELY PERFECT this week in Newport, so that makes me a VERY happy girl!! Faye and Sophie know that something is going on, and they are spazzing out because even though they don’t yet realize we are going camping yet, which they LOVE, they can tell that they get to go for a ride in the car because I just came back from putting their fuzzy blanket in the car, and THEY ARE EXCITED!!

Right now we are waiting for our friend, Don to get here – Don has very graciously agreed to house sit for us while we are gone, and I am sure that he will enjoy the air conditioning, and peace and quiet!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Ok, back to the whole art supply thing!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! Do you know how hard it was to decide what to limit my art supplies down to??? Well, let’s just say, I didn’t do a terribly good job, but I will take pics of what I brought and show you tomorrow, I am sure it will at least make you smile, because in all honesty, I am thinking I can’t be the ONLY girl with this problem!!! HEE! HEE!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

What else? Oh yes, I have a bag full of books – I never can tell what I will be in the mood to read, so I wanted to make sure that I had options, and we also have a whole armload of games to play together, which should be a TON of fun!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

My goal this week is to relax and recoup my energy, nap often, take lots of walks with my sweetie and the girls, play at arting A LOT, and make sure to blog at least once every day, which means a trip into town every day, which we do anyway, Papa loves him some Starbuck’s – so I think I can be accommodating!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

I think that just about covers anything, and this point if I have forgotten anything I am either going to have to without, or I am gonna have to go buy it at the coast!!

YEAH!! It’s time to go!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

Someone is Going Glamping!

Good evening!

Today I have been doing a lot of dreaming about our vacation that starts next week. My sweetie and I are going camping, no let me rephrase that, we are going โ€œGLAMPING!โ€

Glamorous + Camping = GLAMPING!!

I have been checking out a lot of websites trying to decide what exactly that all entails, but I think I pretty much have it down. You see, my sweetie and I go โ€œGlampingโ€ almost every year since weโ€™ve been married, we just never knew it!! Glamping is basically being out in nature, but not really โ€œroughingโ€ it at all, which is EXACTLY what I do, or donโ€™t do!! When we go camping we sleep in a HUGE tent, have individual air mattresses so we can toss and turn and not worry about waking the other up, we bring hordes of pillows, feather comforters, fuzzy blankets, and high thread count sheet sets โ€“

A GIRLS GOTTA SLEEP AFTER ALL!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

We stay at state run parks where there are full bathroom and shower accommodations (with hot water, thank you very much), and we are never more than 10 minutes away from town in case we want to do some shopping or want to eat to some food not prepared by us!

My husband and I LOVE LOVE LOVE our yearly outings just the two of us!! We also LOVE to bring our two four-legged โ€œchildrenโ€ along so that they can have a week of pampering too (you know it can be rough being two ADORABLE little Chihuahuas!!)! During our time away, we are able to read, take the girls for walks, play card and board games, go shell-hunting on the beach, go antiquing, used booked store scavengering, take some time to do some writing, or just take naps at various times of the day without any sense of guilt!! One of my FAVORITE things about glamping is that I get to roast a marshmallow first thing every morning!!! It is a sneaky little pleasure that doesnโ€™t cost a whole lot but ALWAYS helps make glamping feel like a super LUXURIOUS treat!!

This year, I have decided to do something a little different, and that is that my hubby and I are going to use this week out at the Oregon coast as a kind of an artist retreat!! My sweetie is working on writing a novel, and I am busy honing my arting skills โ€“ as you may already know! ๐Ÿ˜‰ There will still be plenty of pampering, and NON-ROUGHING it going on, but with a focus on taking time out of the normal hub-bub-iness of our lives and just spending some quality time giving ourselves permission to just commune with God, listen to our inner-selves, and just create!

Doesnโ€™t that just sound DIVINE???

I know my sweetie and I are going to have a BLAST, and I, for one, just canโ€™t WAIT to head out!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Have a FABULOUS evening!

Perfect Weekend at the Beach!

Good evening!

What a FABULOUS time we had at the beach!! The weather was picture perfect, the family was so much fun, and there was so much lazing around – it was RIDICULOUSLY FUN!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Jason and I left Beverly Beach today to head home! It was surprising too because we just couldn’t get over how PERFECT the weather was! It was sunny all freakin’ weekend, except for the one or two hours of light rain in the wee hours of Thursday morning, which is EXACTLY what we had hoped for!!! So, after packing up, cleaning up our campsite, and giving all of our leftover firewood to a nice family who was staying longer down the way, we headed back onto the road to come home. That is when we realized it, today was the first time ALL WEEKEND, where the weather was kind of cloudy and overcast! We were leaving just in the nick of time!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

I am sure Jason feels the same way, but I can not speak for him, but what I will say is that I really needed this weekend! To just get away from it all, have some quiet downtime, spend a few days without the concept of time, without obligations or schedules, and without all of the hub-bub that comes with my normal life!!

I had a moment this weekend, one of a few actually, where I was actually consciously aware of just how blessed we were! God has tended to all of our needs, and has even seen to gift us with happiness too!! That combined with some quality time spent with family, what more could a girl want????

As I head off to go to sleep, in my own bed…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Enjoying The Ocean!

Good afternoon!

I thought I would try posting a little earlier today than I have been the past few nights!

Today has been an awesome camping day with family, just like the past couple of days have been! However today, we actually got down to my favorite kind of beach, a SANDY ONE!! These pics are all pictures of our family doing various things on the beach, more specifically, Beverly Beach! It is so handy that the our FAVORITE place to camp is close enough to just walk to get out onto the shores to play in the sun and surf!

Here is Paul, Aaron, and Gavin building a giagantic sand castle with moat, drawbridge, and flag.

Here is Taelynn, Gavin, and Alice. Alice has a towel wrapped around her – this is her attempt to stay warm!! Silly girl!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Here is Uncle Jay-Jay and little Gavin!! He is gonna be a heart-breaker ladies!!! Mamma you better keep an eye out on your son!! ๐Ÿ˜‰ The other heart-breaker in this pic has already been taken by MOI!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Sister St. Alice, no wait – that is Alice trying to stay warm!! There ain’t no saint here!!! Hee! Hee!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Here is my sweet beach bum contemplating the mysteries of life!!! Do you like the milk jug tied around his body??? That is his keeper for all of his treasures he plans on finding at the beach today!! THAT’S MY LITTLE MAN!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

This is me getting some kisses from my sweetie!!! Man, I really love that man o’ mine!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Here is Alice and Gavin, same red hair, same nose, same toothy grin!! I LOVE ‘EM!!!

Uh, Uncle Jay-Jay, you had better run, he looks small but I think Gavin is going to get you!!! GO GAVIN!! GO!!!

This is Gavin “Treasure Hunting!” He kept yelling it over and over again, “Treasure hunting, treasure hunting, treasure hunting!!” I think he gets that from my side of the family!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Here is Taelynn hamming it up for the camera!! She sure loves getting her picture taken!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Heres Aaron, and Paul’s finished sand castle! Didn’t they do a GREAT job???

Ok, well Jason and I are going to head back to the campgrounds now, so we can go join in the fun and mischief that I am sure we are going to cause this evening!! I will make sure to have more pictures to share with you tomorrow!! Seeing that tomorrow is the day that we all part ways and go home, I will be posting later in the afternoon!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!

 

Hanging Out a Yaquina Bay Light House!

Good evening!

Today is day 3 of our camping trip on the Oregon Coast, and we are having some serious fun!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

This morning we got up and all got together for a breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes – I almost felt as if we were at IHOP!! LOL! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Taelynn, Aaron, Jason, and Gavin

Aaron, Gavin, & Taelynn

After breakfast the kids headed over the the playground with Uncle Jay-Jay and Alice and I proceeded to head back into the tents, Alice, so she could ward off a tummy ache, and me to help calm my girls – too many kids, waaay too much attention!! HAHAHA! That is the price they pay for fame!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Alice, Paul, Gavin, Me, Taelynn, Jason, & Aaron

After accidentally falling asleep while reading, I awoke to find that everyone was gone!! DARN-IT!! I didn’t want to miss anything!! That is precisely when Jason walked up and we decided to take the girls for a walk and then get our Yahtzee on, I think we officially tied, which is a good thing bbecause neither one of us wants to hear about it the whole rest of the day!! *WINK!!!*

Aaron

Gavin

Taelynn

Finally Alice, and her brood got back from their trip to the candy store into town (WHOO! HOO!), and we got it together, took the girls for another quick walk, and then decided it was time to go get some serious picture taking, and playing done over at the Yaquina Head Light House!!

Jason dropped me off a ways up the road so that I could take pictures while I was walking down to where everyone else was waiting. Then We proceeded to walk down the 100 steps or so to get down to the waterfront. The beach there is a rocky one, which is a bit different for us than our average smooth sandy beached, but it was beautiful!! and muscle shells were plentiful, so the kids were happy to start collecting them!!!

What a GREAT day! I am have sun-kissed cheeks this evening, and everyone is happy, and having a great time playing games before dinner!!!

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Day Two Camping at the Oregon Coast!

Good evening!

We have had such a lovely day today. This morning, at about 4 in the morning, I am only guessing at the time seeing that we have no clocks or actual knowledge of time while we are out here, I hear a light pitter pat on the outside of our tent , and then it gets increasingly faster and faster until I realize what I am hearing, it is raining. I LOVE it!! It is not the oh-my-gosh-we-are-going-to-be-soaked kind of raining, but a nice light rain that just makes everything nice and damp when you wake up in the morning! It was very pleasant!

After dozing back to sleep, until the sun finally made an appearance, I got to do some nice quiet reading while my sweetie toodled around our campsite, setting up this, whittling that, and pretty much just have a good olโ€™ time!! After our respective quiet time activities, we decided to leash the girls up and take them for a walk around the camp grounds. That was fun, and the girls are getting better and better at being leashed, and not freaking out when strangers walk by! I can tell that they are having fun too!!

For lunch today, since Jason and I have had some trouble with our wood being too green to burn, we decided that we would head into Newport for some lunch, and we made it to the Chalet Restaurant. They have THE BEST fried chicken sandwich with sweet and sour sauce that is just DELICOUS!! My mom and I used to love sneaking away for some quality conversation together and we would go and partake in this delightful, but albeit sinful sandwich creation! I have been telling Jason about it for years, but this is the first time that he has ever had the opportunity to eat one, and his verdict is that, โ€œit was excellentโ€. He can be a man of few words, but how right he is!

Ok, so back to the camping! Beverly Beach has some of the most intriguing trees I have ever seen. I am not sure what kind they are, buy their trunks are all gnarled, and mangle-ey! They look like something out of a Grimmโ€™s Fairytale or something. They are quite breathe-takingly beautiful. I have live in Oregon for more than half of my life, and I have never seen anything quite like them before. That is what the majority of the pictures that I am sharing with you today are of!

Well, my sister, Alice and her family, all got here later this afternoon! I wasnโ€™t sure they were going to make it, and I am like a worried mother-hen when they are on the road, I just want everyone to get here safely and soundly so we can start having fun together!!! It was so good to see everyone, and especially to see how big our nephews have gotten since last weโ€™ve seen them, which was last Christmas!

We spent the evening playing at the park, roasting our hotdogs over the open flame, while the kids all kept playing musical chairs while trying to avoid the campfire smoke in their faces!! LOL! ๐Ÿ˜‰ Then my sissy , Alice, and I ended up making a trip into town so that she could pick up some last minute, forgotten items for their campsite. Sounds familiar, I did the same thing yesterday โ€“ there must be something in our genes that make us similar that way!!!

Anyway, I am off to go have some more and sโ€™more fun with my family โ€“ HAHAHAHA! Get it?? Ok, no worries! I have no plans to quit my day job!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

We Are Officially Camping!

Good evening!

Well, we have made it to Beverly Beach, and after a couple of hours futzing around, we finally made camp! WHEW!!! I love our version of roughing it!! We have two queen size air mattresses, fully loaded with all the trimmings!! Comforters, fuzzy blankets, high thread count sheets, and goose down feather pillows. The works!!! Does that make me spoiled??? ๐Ÿ˜‰

That is alright, I will take spoiled any day!! I work hard for this mini vacation!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰ Anyway, Jason is totally in his element, being my outdoorsy man and all, and our two girls are shivering and not really sure what to do with themselves yet, but as soon as they saw that the tent was up, they knew EXACTLY where they wanted to be (they have camped with us enough times)! They want to be snuggled up in bed!! Thatโ€™s my girls!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

I just LOVE camping with Jason!! He is such a hoot! He is constantly making me laugh, and he lives to be of help, so he likes babying me, and I like letting him! He is pretty much in charge while we are camping, which is almost a complete role reversal from our normal, everyday lives. Maybe THAT is why I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! Thank you, Honey, for taking such good care of me!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

We werenโ€™t planning on it, since I did bring so much reading material from home anyway, but Jason decided that since we WERE AT THE COAST AFTER ALL, that we just had no choice but to go to our favorite little used book store in Lincoln City. It is Robertโ€™s books, and to say it is little?? Well, not so much! It is actually HUGE, and I could literally spend all day there looking for all sorts of reading treasures!!! So when he suggested it, I had a fleeting moment of but, honey, I already have all of these books, and then stopped myself mid-thought and said, โ€œSure! Why not?โ€ and so we stopped!! Thank you, Love, for knowing what mamma really needs!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Anyway, we are out camping, but forgot a โ€œfewโ€ things, of course, and so we have driven the 15 or so miles to the nearest Wal-Mart to pick up those โ€œneededโ€ supplies! I am sitting in the car, keeping the girls company, or are they keeping me company? It is hard to say! It is starting to drizzle outside, which is fine โ€“ we knew it would, so we are absolutely prepared, being true Oregonians and all!! You have to be ready for any and all chances of rain!!

Work went pretty well today! I had gotten a HUGE assignment done and off to my end user today, which made me feel good. It has also given me the freedom not to worry about the office so that I can just relax, stay in the moment, and just enjoy our trip!

My sister, Alice, and her family will be joining us tomorrow a little after 4 pm. I canโ€™t wait!! I really miss seeing my adorable little nephews!! They know all about their crazy Aunty Chrissy and her ever-present camera. It is something that my family just pretty much humors me with, because I am almost constantly taking their pictures!!! I think they secretly like itโ€ฆIโ€™m just sayinโ€™! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Anyway, we are going to head back to the campgrounds, and take our girls for a nice walk, before crawling into bed so we can get up nice and early in the morning!! That is one of the BEST perks about camping โ€“ it is perfectly acceptable to live without the presence of clocks of any kind. Time is an illusion, one that quickly becomes a non-factor when we are on vacation together!! Oh, SWEET BLISS!!!

Until I chat with you again tomorrowโ€ฆ

Have a FABULOUS evening!!