Oregon Coast

Beverly Beach Camping

Posted by Lisa Eirene

I used to go camping all the time. Growing up, we went backpacking as kids with my parents. At the time I didn’t like backpacking–it was a LOT of work! But looking back at those experiences, they were pretty amazing things.

Michael and I really want to give Logan lots of experiences we had as kids–like camping. BUT we are both old. Like dang, the idea of camping in a tent, sleeping on the ground……….I just don’t know. Over the weekend we did go camping (in a YURT!) and it was fantastic!

If you’ve never camped in a yurt, I highly recommend it. It’s a fun experience and keeps you out of the elements a little bit, which is a nice thing in Oregon when you can’t really guarantee what the weather would be (even in August). The downside is that you have to book them very far in advance. I think I booked our yurt 9 months ago.

We stayed at Beverly Beach about 20 minutes north of Newport, OR. It was a REALLY nice park. We’ve never been there before. It was really nice. Since it’s early in the season, it wasn’t too packed. It was pretty quiet.

The yurt was nice and had electricity for charging stuff 😉 and a heater–which was nice because it was pretty cold at the beach over the weekend.

On Friday I had the day off work and took Logan to daycare for the morning so I could go to the gym and the grocery store and pack the car. Then Michael got home after lunch and we hit the road. It was perfect timing, too, because Logan took his nap for most of the drive to the beach!

We unpacked and got settled and built a campfire. Then Logan was raring to go to ride his bike. Logan and Bella were super excited exploring our little campground. There weren’t a ton of people there. There were probably like 40% full–most of them were RVs but there were quite a few tents!

Logan had SO MUCH FUN. He was excited about exploring everything. He helped me pick up twigs for starting the fire. We could hear the frogs in the ponds arounds us (you can hear them on video on my Instagram if you want).

It was a weekend full of BBQ’ed hot dogs, s’mores and getting super dirty!

So…the downside? I thought I was super smart and got dry ice for the cooler. Except we discovered that the beer and eggs…basically everything…froze! So Michael went to the nearby store to get unfrozen stuff. We had eggs and sausages for breakfast on Saturday.

Then I took Bella with me for a run. We ran around the campgrounds and explored the different camping loops and then headed down to the beach. We ran on the beach and it was a really nice run! I was slow after being sick the previous weekend, and Bella is not QUITE coordinate to run but she did well. 😉

I got back to the campsite to find Logan napping. LOL

After my run I showered (the showers were REALLY nice and hot, so that was good). I took a short nap–unplanned). Then Logan woke up and we drove to Newport for lunch. We ended up at Rogue Brewery. I got a sandwich that was a little too much of everything–so big you couldn’t even take a bite–with a bowl of clam chowder and Michael got an AMAZING burger with caramelized onions and fried cheese curds on it plus beer. 😀

Logan’s lunch was a grilled cheese sandwich with fries and it came on a frisbee! (Which we ended up playing with for most of the afternoon back at the site.)

Then it was back to the campsite. Logan wanted to take another nap so he and Michael went to sleep and Bella and I went for a long walk on the beach.

Saturday night we had dinner and s’mores and then to bed fairly early. One of the downsides of a yurt is that there is a skylight, which does NOT make it toddler friendly! Logan was up at dawn both days. Needless to say we were both tired.

On Sunday we had breakfast and then packed everything up and went to the beach for a bit.

It was a nice day. A little gloomy but the sun was poking out of the clouds. It wasn’t as cold as it was on Saturday. Beverly Beach was nice and not too crowded and not windy at all. So it was a good beach to play on.

Logan and Bella had a blast playing in the sand (and getting even more filthy than ever). It was such a nice, relaxing, chill weekend where we were able to unplug a little bit. We didn’t have great service, so it kind of forced us to unplug. It was fun to just hang out as a family and do nothing!

After the beach trip, we headed home (with a pit-stop in Wilsonville for pizza for lunch). I hosed both Logan and Bella down immediately (ok, not really, but they both had very soapy baths to get the filth off!). We unpacked, Logan and I went grocery shopping and then I got to go swimming. It was nice to have a little me time to unwind. It was a fun, awesome weekend, but a lot of work! By Sunday night Logan was SO overtired he could barely make it to bedtime. 😉

I think we are going to try and go camping (IN A TENT!) this summer. I think Logan will LOVE it. 😀

Christmas at the Beach

Posted by Lisa Eirene

Over the weekend our family had a nice little getaway. My family is pretty big (on my mom’s side) and we used to do a summer camp out party and then a Christmas party every year. This year my cousin Di organized and coordinated a fantastic new Christmas party!

She found a giant house on the beach in Rockaway, OR. It was a giant house, big enough for the majority of people to stay there. I think there was something like 4 or 5 bedrooms (several rooms had bunk beds) so tons of people could sleep there.

We decided to rent a house in Rockaway with my parents. Our house that we rented was on the north side of town, the other house was south but it was literally 7 minutes to drive to the party, so no big deal.

You can see pictures of the vacation house we rented on my Instagram. It was really cute! It was big with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, the garage was converted to another bedroom/playroom. There was a fenced yard for Bella (fabulous) with a fire pit and picnic bench. The decor was super cute and kind of modern/retro. Check out the photos I took.

Plus, there was a GIANT closet stuffed full of toys for kids of any ages! Logan had SO much fun playing with the toys. What a great surprise!

Our house was one block from the beach, too! We had easy access to the beach. The weather was perfect this week–sunny and not windy and fairly warm. It was in the 30’s in the mornings, though!

We all arrived at the house Friday afternoon and then went for a walk on the beach. It was gorgeous and we basically had the beach all to ourselves.

After Logan went to bed, my Dad and Michael went to pick up pizza and Caesar salad for dinner and the four of us had pizza (Michael and I had beer from Buoy) and we played card games. It was so much fun!

Saturday morning my parents played with Logan and Michael and I went for a run. It was a very cool, cold morning but the sun was out and we warmed up pretty quickly. The sun felt nice! We ran around the neighborhood and by the beach. I ended up running around 2.75 miles. Then while Michael was making his famous mac n’ cheese for the potluck, my dad and I went for a long walk on the beach while Logan napped.

Bella was LOVING the beach! I have some cute videos on my Instagram if you want to see.

After lunch on Saturday we packed up the stuff we needed for the party and went down to the party house.

Here is a video of the BIG house everyone else was staying in! It was huge and right on the beach! It had a hot tub and a fabulous view. Lots of room for a big group.

How nice is that deck?! What a cool place to stay in the summer time. The party was fun. My cousin brought her 14 month old twins so Logan had a BLAST playing with his little cousins! It was so cute!

Logan is all about giving high-5’s and fist bumps. 😀

Logan did so good. There were a LOT of people (30? ish?) and he was a bit shy and unsure at first but he warmed up and had so much fun. It was so cool to see him spending time with family we don’t get to see often.

How cute (and hilarious) is the below photo?! HAHA

There was a potluck dinner. After dinner my dad and I took Logan back to the house we rented because he was fading fast. My dad stayed with the baby and I went back to the party for the white elephant gift exchange.

This is the gift I brought for the gift exchange. 😀

Have to say, the sweater might be the best gift!

Then a bunch of us went down to the beach for a bonfire. Nothing better than that!

The next morning we had breakfast and packed and then went for one last walk on the empty beach.

I didn’t want to leave. I love the beach. We checked out of the house and headed home. Rockaway is about 2 hours from Portland. Logan slept for a good chunk of it, which was nice.

Home to unpack and I went swimming. It was a great weekend!