Oregon Coast Vacation!

By now most of you probably know that we LOVE the Oregon Coast....I've talked about it here, and here. We visited the coast on our honeymoon 7 years ago, again 3 years ago with Andrew's brother and his wife, and 2 years ago with almost 2 year old Beth, and 7 months pregnant me. Each time we have so much fun, that we decided to go again this year!

I want to remember what we did each day, so I'm going to write this post chronologically. Cool? Cool.

Day 1: Traveling & Tillamook. So we left around 8 am and the 9 hr drive went pretty well. The girls played with their snacks, books, coloring books, and eventually watched movies on the tablet. I sewed together a holder for the tablet so both girls could watch it. Sadly, our tablet met an untimely death the day we returned from vacation, so this was the first and last time we used it on a roadtrip.

Both children decided to close their eyes during the pictures :)

When we finally arrived at the coast, we had a few hours till we could check in, so we went straight to the ocean!

The kids loved the beach, but it was a bit windy and the kids were tired after the drive. So we headed to the hotel. 

We dropped our things off and headed to dinner at Pacific Oyster. I'm very picky about seafood. Very picky. And I have a hard time eating seafood in the same place that they have live, or uncooked seafood  for sale....which was exactly what Pacific Oyster was. A fresh fish market with an eatery. I was pleasantly surprised though because they had the BEST clam chowder. We ate chowder at 8 different restaurants and Pacific Oyster was the BEST. 

After dinner we went swimming at the hotel. The girls LOVED it. And I loved it because it was a salt water pool. No chlorine, no stinging eyes and skin, no smell. It was wonderful! And the girls loved swimming!

The girls loved sharing a "big girl" bed. They had snacks and watched a movie every night before bed. They did really well going to bed and taking naps in a confined hotel room.

Day 2: Sight Seeing: We chose to stay in Tillamook for 2 nights because first, I got a GREAT Groupon deal on the hotel, and second, we wanted to do some sight seeing including the cheese factory which is one of our favorite places. 

We headed to some local places first and did some sight seeing. First we went to Cape Meares which included the Lighthouse and Octopus Tree.

This was the day that I got the most workout. It was a hike down to the lighthouse and a hike up to the tree. I think we walked about 2.5 miles. It was a great outside adventure!

After that we headed to the Maritime Museum in Garibaldi, OR. I wasn't sure how many "kid friendly" things they would have in the museum, but we went anyway. I was surprised that they did have fun activities for the kids, and exhibits that we were interested in too.

Andrew especially loved the 75 caliber gun they had on display. I think it was civil war era? I didn't read the description as I was chasing two children. :)

After the museum we headed to the hotel for nap time. After that we spent the afternoon at the HUGE Goodwill store that was right by the hotel. I used to do vacation shopping at outlet malls where I thought $15 for a shirt was a good deal. After having kids I stopped buying brand new things. Because when, not IF, but WHEN, the kids destroyed the THING I wouldn't be as sad if it was used, and if I got it cheap. (I wish I would have used this theory with the brand new $200 tablet that Beth shattered immediately after this trip.) At goodwill we got so. much. stuff. Rain coats and boots for the girls, a kitchen light fixture, BRAND new cleats for Andrew, twin sized sheets for Beth's future bed, sleeping bags for the girls, movies, etc. We paid $90 for 16 items. It was awesome!

After that we went to dinner, we were asked to sit up in the top section of the restaurant. I'm not sure if that's because of the "Duck Den" and Andrew's outfit....or if it was because the top section is furthest from the bar. Regardless, Andrew laughed at their "Den." Of course we tried clam chowder at the this restaurant as well....it was so so, but Ami decided she LOVED chowder.

After that, we called it a night. As adults we can stay out for 12+ hours and sight see till we run out of gas. But with 2 young children, we have to work in naps, quiet time, frequent bathroom stops, and snack and food stops. I loved the family time though. I was so happy that we were able to take the kids and enjoy 99% of the trip.

Day 3: & Tillamook Cheese Factory & Travel to Lincoln City. Visiting the Cheese Factory is the main reason we go to Tilamook (although after this vacation we learned there are more places that are fun for the kids!)

The kids had a lot of fun in the play areas of the factory. They were also mesmerized by the process of making cheese. They both LOVE cheese. So they were happy to watch each station for 5-10 minutes. I was the one in a hurry because I wanted the Ice Cream!! :)

We headed down to do some taste testing, and the kids approved!

Squeeky Cheese is my favorite, and also the only one they don't sell online. But we did buy a few packages to bring home, I still have half of a bag left. Yum! After the cheese we went to get some Ice Cream. I LOVE Marionberry Pie, which is also only available in Oregon. :(

After Ice Cream, we got in the car and headed to Lincoln City, which was only 45 minutes from Tillamook. Our condo at Lincoln City was right on the beach, so it had amazing sounds, views, and opportunities to play. 

We went swimming at the pool and then got ready for bed. That night we brought the mattress from the bedroom into the living room so we could all sleep together, where we could hear the ocean. :)

Day 4: Lincoln City Fun. We decided to spend day 4 exploring even more of Lincoln City and the surrounding areas. We went to the outlet mall, and few local restaurants, and of course the BEACH. 

I was VERY happy that Andrew didn't drop his expensive phone in the ocean while taking pictures of the waves :)

Beth found a washed up Jelly Fish. FUN!

It was such a fun day of family time! 

Day 5: Oregon Coast Aquarium. Well. The day started off with A LOT of excitement. We arrived at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport around 10am.

But then we saw this:

WHAT? For those of you that don't know. The "touchpool" is the fun interactive area where the kids get to actually TOUCH things, hence the name. Well. It was closed. And when I asked when it closed, the information desk said "Last Night." Dang it. If I had known, we would have come the day before. Oh well! We still had a lot of fun watching the Sea Otters and Sea Lions get fed. And they had a few more exhibits for the kids than the last time we were there. So it was still a great visit.

This is a tornado simulator. Wind speeds get up to 75 miles an hour. Ami loved it, Beth took some convincing! 

The shark passage is my favorite. You are able to see fish and sharks above, below and on both sides. Creepy and amazing at the same time! The kids loved it!

After the Aquarium we went to dinner at the Chinook Winds Casino Seafood Grill. It's a nice restaurant that overlooks the ocean. They always have great specials, and they didn't disappoint. The meal was "Feast on a trio of succulent shrimp skewers (crispy tempura shrimp, coconut shrimp, and grilled garlic shrimp) paired with a tender bacon wrapped sirloin of beef, season’s best vegetables and roasted rosemary-scented fingerling potatoes. Served with house salad and warm bread with butter." YUM YUM YUM. 

I had no idea what was in this picture when Andrew first showed me.....it just happened to be on his plate when he finished eating. I guess they were happy to be spared! :) Andrew was disappointed that the steak was only 4oz, but the Special was only $20 for 2 people. Good Deal!!

Virgin (DUH!) Lime Margarita. I definitely enjoyed this as our last dinner at the coast! I was definitely reminded why I don't take my children to restaurants often, they don't understand the concept of being patient. Seeing as we ate out about twice a day, we tried to go at times that the restaurants would be fairly slow, and that worked well. 

Thursday night was our last at the Oregon Coast, so we spent it again, at the Beach. Andrew wanted to build the girls a HUGE sandcastle. The kids were happy with his creation!

That night we had an amazing sunset and we enjoyed sleeping to the ocean waves for the last time.

Day 6: Homeward Bound!! We woke up on the last morning happy, but sad that we would be leaving such a beautiful place! I was pleasantly surprised with how well the trip went, and how easy it was on the kids (and parents). We will definitely be returning to the coast in future years!

While at the coast we tried 8 different clam chowders. Typically I don't do ANY clam chowder, but the first bowl we tried on day 1 was just so delicious, that I ended up stealing the bowl from Andrew, who loves chowder. After that I had to try the rest to compare. :) We made a list (more for us than for you), but I thought I'd share it.

Chowder Rankings!

1. Pacific Oyster- Bay City, OR (Near Tillamook). EVERYONE in the restaurant had a bowl (or bread bowl) of chowder when we walked in. So, I took this as a good sign. It had creamy sauce, chunky (recognizable) pieces, and not fishy. SO SO good. 

2. J's Fish and Chips- Lincoln City, OR. I had heard AMAZING reviews about their hand cut, hand dipped halibut and cod, but most people said their chowder was sub par. I whole heartdedly agreed with the halibut and cod reviews (it is amazing, seriously), but I disagreed with the chowder reviews. We thought it was good. Not as chunky, but great flavor, fresh, and filling.

3. Lakeside Hideaway, Rockaway Beach, OR. This was the place that had the "Duck Den," so I wasn't sure what to expect when we walked in wearing BSU gear. But the Chowder was good. Ami became another taster and was the cracker dipper for us.

4. Chowder Bowl-Depoe Bay, OR. You'd think with the name they would have amazing chowder, but....not really. It was good. But nothing stellar, middle of the pack.

5. Soups On-Lincoln City, OR. This place had A LOT of soups to choose from. So that was wonderful. Beth kept asking for Tomato Eggplant. The guy was nice enough to give her a sample so we didn't have to waste our money on a whole bowl. She quickly changed her mind. I probably would have ranked this chowder higher, except the garlic toast they served with it tasted like FISH. Really gross Fish. So after I took a bite of it, the rest of the bowl tasted funny. Andrew tried the Dungeness Crab Chowder here and said it was good. 

6. Kendra's Kitchen-Tillamook, OR. This was a nice small restaurant that were very accomodating for our kids (books, coloring pages, etc). The chowder was good, but it didn't seem very fresh. They did have AMAZING homemade mac and cheese, which is what that kids and I both had. It was so delicious. 

7. McMenamins-Lincoln City, OR. This was a Pub that advertised as a "family place" during the afternoon and evening. We tried it out and it was Ok. I was disappointed in the service, Andrew commented that it didn't seem like our server liked his job. The chowder was thin, and didn't have much flavor. Their Split Pea soup was good, better than the chowder!

8. Mo's-Lincoln City, OR. Ok. So we know people that SWEAR by this place. They LOVE the chowder. We tried it a few years ago, and weren't impressed but decided to give it another try. Same Result. Gritty, fishy, what tasted like canned chowder. It was not good. Their home baked bread was good, just not if you dipped it in the chowder. :) 

Well, if you survived this MONSTER post, good for you! As you can see, we loved our vacation. It was a good mix of adult and family activities, pretty good food, and lots of family time. If I could change things, I wouldn't focus so much on trying food. A lot of meal discussions would start with "I'm not really hungry.....but I don't want to waste our opportunity to try something...." I came home feeling pretty frustrated that I had gained some of the weight back that I had fought so hard to lose. However, I am constantly reminded that healthy eating and weight loss (my personal goals), are a long term, ever going, goal. So, I'm not going to beat myself up. 

I hope that you all have fun summer adventures planned and that you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed ours! Until Next Time, Happy Blogging!

Nursing Pad Tutorial

Hello!! Recently I've started to chronicle my DIY adventures on this blog because in reality, THAT is what my family is up to right now! I talked about all of the fun things we've done in our house so far in this post. I am a serious NOVICE at most of this DIY stuff. But there is something I've gotten pretty good at over the past 2 years. Making Nursing Pads, and dang good ones at that!

When my 2nd daughter was born, see this post, I was all about breastfeeding! I've touched on this in a few of my other posts. Part of breastfeeding, is managing leaking milk in between feedings. Lovely right? Liquid gold going to waste? UGH. But was even more frustrating is the cost of nursing pads. I had a large supply, and lots of leaking, and so I was going through about 8-10 pairs of nursing pads a day! Which meant I was spending $30 a week on nursing pads, easily! That's more than I was spending on diapers! I knew that eventually my leaking would slow down, but until then, I was throwing money away!! I looked at reusable ones, but I was worried about size, and absorbency. So, I decided to make my own. Originally I got help from my genius mother, who is all knowing about sewing. Now, I have the pattern down and I can whip out a dozen nursing pads in 30 minutes.

I've made these for a few friends, who have really liked them. So, here's a quick tutorial, so that YOU can custom make nursing pads and stop wasting money or waking up soaking wet!

Supplies:

Fleece (any color, but I use neutrals)
Flannel (One or two kinds, I'll explain later)
Scissors
Circle to trace 4-5 in in diameter (Or larger or smaller to fit your preference!)

Fleece will be used as a barrier to protect your bra/clothes. It works well to repel moisture. If you don't believe me, put a few drops of water on a piece of fleece, you'll see!

Flannel is used as the soft side against your breast, and also as the absorbent core of the nursing pad. I use cheaper plain flannel for the inside and cute flannel for the outer layer. You can use the same kind for both if you want!

Start by tracing your circle onto some flannel to create a template. It is much easier than tracing a circle 100s of times!

Notice that one of my templates is slightly smaller, about 1/4 - 1/2 in. This is the template you'll use for the interior pieces. By making them a tad smaller, the edges aren't as bulky when you sew and they fit much nicer!

To make 10 nursing pads you will need:
10 Large Fleece Circles
10 Large Flannel Circles
20 Small Flannel Circles

(I use 2 interior layers for my regular nursing pads. I made nighttime nursing pads using 3 interior flannel layers, for extra absorbency. )

Cut out your circles and put them in 3 stacks. Then you can start assembling your pads. I do one at a time.

One Large Flannel, 2 Smaller Flannel, 1 Large Fleece. You will sandwich them together making sure that the right side of the flannel is facing out.

I put one pin in the center to keep all the layers in place until I can put a few stitches in.

Set your sewing machine to a basic straight stitch. You will want to sew two curved lines (kinda like a baseball) to hold the pieces together. I've done straight lines too, but the curved ones help the pad cup better to the breast.

Once your lines are finished you can trim off any excess from the flannel or fleece around the edges, and finish them! I usually sew the curved lines on all the pads first, trim them, then finish the edges last. It seems to go faster this way.

I use a zig zag stitch on the edge to finish it and prevent fraying since these will get used, and washed often. It might take a few tests to see how wide you want your zig zag, and how close together you want your stitches. You want to stitch right on the edge so that you are enclosing the top and bottom layer completely. If you have a different stitch that would work for this, go for it!!

You can do two passes if you feel like the first one didn't get close enough to the edge, or the stitches were too far apart. After you are done, tie your ends, trim any excess thread and you are done!!

Cute baby shower present, hospital gift, or just to make for yourself! My mom and I originally made 30 day time pads, and 12 night time pads. I used these for the entire time I nursed, which was 18 MONTHS! I talked about my breastfeeding journey here. So I can tell you they hold up well, and I plan to use them again when we have more kids.

I wash them normally with the rest of my burp rags, baby blankets, baby clothes. Every few months I would do an extra soak with Oxy Clean, just to refresh them. They are super absorbent, easy to make, comfortable to wear, and much more cost effective & environmentally friendly!

I hope you found this tutorial easy to follow, and if you have any questions, please let me know!

Until Next Time, Happy Blogging!

Part 2: Making our House a HOME!

After our kitchen transformation (see the post here), I knew the next project I wanted to do, and I promised Andrew it wouldn't take as long as the kitchen. I wanted to increase our storage in the laundry room. Really, really bad. This is what we had:

Clearly, it was lacking, considering we had stuff piled on the dryer all. the. time. And the shelf, although it was great, was clearly not able to hold everything we needed! So, I looked on a few other blogs, and got some ideas. But I ended up just copying what we already had. I knew I wanted two more shelves, so I just had to figure out dimensions and where to place them. 

We ran to home depot, which is only 3 minutes from our house, AWESOME! And I was instantly discouraged. I didn't want to spend $100 on two shelves. I looked and looked to find something that could be cut down to the length we needed which was 75in wide! They didn't sell anything that was 150 in long that would work. :( So I figured I'd need to buy two 8ft (96in) boards and cut them. The only problem was finding something that was 15 1/2 in deep. I found the pre finished boards that are used for home shelving, but it was $25 for 8ft. No thank you! I didn't need pretty shelves, just functional ones. 

I was at the end of my rope. My kids were reaching their "we'll be good in the store" limit, actually they were past it. And Andrew was trying so hard to find something only to be shot down with my "It won't work" glare. Andrew found the perfect solution! He found 3/4 in MDF board, which is similar to plywood. Our current shelf was made from MDF and it held up just fine. The great part was a 4 foot x 8 foot board was only $19. They cut it down to our specific measurements (LOVE Home Depot), with extra for another project, and it was awesome. I found great brackets to install the shelves, and we headed home. 

Andrew sanded the front edge of the board to match the current shelf, and I started painting. Painting was the longest part of the project since I wanted to do 90% of the painting before we installed.

While the shelves were drying, we measured out the side supports, which were 1x2 boards. And put those up. I decided I wanted the distance between the shelves to be 12 in, 16in and 12in. I knew I wanted a larger shelf for taller items. And I also knew the top shelf would keep canning jars on it, so I didn't need it to be very tall. 

We installed the side supports, and brought the now dry shelves in!

After setting the shelves on the side supports, we measured and installed the bottom supports. With all the supports, we tried to hit at least one stud, and use heavy duty anchors for anything going into dry wall. Each shelf should easily hold 100-120lbs. The only shelf that might be asked to hold something close to that would be the top shelf, canning jars, even empty, are heavy! 

After we got those up, we were done for the night. We were so proud, because this project only took us 2 hours, and the longest was the drying time for the painted shelves! The cost was also awesome, for the wood, brackets and paint we used, it's an estimated $25! Seriously awesome.

Here is the finished and organized picture!

I LOVE side by sides:

So much more storage space!! I also added another touch on the opposite side of the room. (It's a tiny room, but it's on the opposite wall). When we moved in we salvaged a cabinet door during the remodel. I painted it with some chalkboard paint, but never got around to using it. Now...it serves as my "Honey-Do-List."

Awesome right? Well, that is all about our laundry room storage re-do! It was a pretty quick project and I'm so happy to have it done! Now, I have extra space in my garage and pantry where all of the canning jars, kleenex, and paper towels were being stored. 

I hope you guys are finding some fun projects to do! Until next time, Happy Blogging!

Part 1: Making our House a HOME!

So the last post I showed you some of the projects we were working on. After completing those, I decided we should just keep going! There were so many things I didn't like about this house when we bought it. But Andrew (and our Realtor/BFF Kristin) reminded me that cosmetic things can be changed! Easily. But it still took a long time to make the changes we wanted. 

Before we moved in we did some demo, and I talked about it here. And then after we moved in we did some painting upstairs, and had to wait a 6 months for landscaping, and I talked about that here. And since then we've done a few small things like this, and this. Really, we have accomplished so much in this house, but there were still things we really wanted to change. 

 Counter Space. Although I had more counter space in my house than we did in the apartment, it was only by a tiny bit. I always wanted to extend the counters, but that would be spendy. So, we decided to  built an island/extension. I showed you a picture in the last post, but here is the island in action!

It may not seem like a lot to you, but it cleared off the edge of the counter to the right, and the cupboard that all of the pots and pans were jammed in. So, then I was able to take the juicer, toaster, and food processor and hide them in a cupboard. Which made my counters much less cluttered!!

After doing the island project we realized just how much we didn't like the cupboard color. Now, this has been an issue since day one. The floor, cupboards, counters and walls are all the same basic brownish hue. This is part of why we painted the island cream, because we wanted something different. We also have a granite top buffet on the other side of the kitchen that is the same cream color (a GREAT Christmas present from Jana & Jake!). 

I did lots of research about changing the cabinet color. Since I come from a painting family (My grandfather and father were both painters), I knew I could handle some painting, but I didn't know what kind of paint. I knew I was going to be touching the cupboards a hundred times a week, so I wanted them to hold up well. I came across a BUNCH of blogs that did Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations. Not to be confused with Rust-Oleum Cabinet Restorations, Wood Refinishing Kit. There was nothing but boring wood on the cabinets, I definitely didn't want to restore them, but transform them!

We purchased the kit from Home Depot for $80, and had the dark base tinted to Espresso Color. I went back and forth about this color, but I am SO grateful we did it. We watched the DVD twice, and read the instructions thoroughly. We knew the hardest part was going to be the dry times. Some coats required 12 hours of dry time! We tried to plan it so that we would always be busy. Here are some pictures and steps we took!

See, cluttered counter tops! And boring colors. It was our house, sure, and I was proud, but it was BLAH. Andrew took off all the doors and drawers, and I taped up everything. I used blue painters tape, which was a mistake. It always seems to bleed. The Green Frog tape does better, but I forgot :(

Messy cabinets! Another organization project to come! I taped inside the cabinets on the areas we would see, and then taped everywhere around them. While I started the "de-glossing" step inside, Andrew started on the doors and drawers. "De-glossing" just consisted of rubbing the cleaning agent all over the doors to ensure no dirt or dust remained and that the "Bond Coat" would adhere correctly.

This was pretty tedious, but we were told by other bloggers that it was the most important step, don't skip or skimp! It was recommended to let the doors dry for 1 hour after that. Then we started the first "Bond" or Paint coat. It had ok coverage, but I knew we'd need another coat because the kit recommended it.

This was the end of the first night. We started around 8pm and finished around 1am. The following day we had arranged for the girls to go over to my in laws for a play day, and we are really grateful we did, it was a long day! Each door required 2 coats on each side, with a 2 hour drying time in between coats. The inside was fast since it was much less wood to cover and only one side. 

After the 2 coats dried, we did the "Glazing" process. You paint on a glaze and wipe it off to achieve the "desired look." It brought out the wood grain and made the cabinets look like they were expensive replacements, instead of just old cabinets we painted over. It's a long process, since we had to glaze both sides, and each coat had to dry for 8-12 hrs, but I was glad we did it. After the glaze we did the final top coat. Honestly, I didn't see a huge difference after the top coat, but it says it helps to protect the cabinets, so we did it! After the top coat its recommended to let the cabinets, doors and drawers dry for 12-24 hours. We did, and then re installed them. And now we have THIS:

How about a side by side comparison? Yes? OK!

I LOVE it. What a nice contrast! And I know you can't see it, but the counters are so much more organized! 

Although it  was a long, long, long project, it was worth it. With supplies the cost was around $115. Good deal for a complete kitchen makeover. AND we have enough left in the kit to do our 3 bathroom vanities that are the same blah color. Wahoo! 

Well, until I post about our next project....Happy Blogging!!