West Coast Get-away

A couple of months ago, Byron mentioned that I should get together and have a sister's retreat. At first I just thought it was a great idea, but wasn't planning on really acting it out until I realized he was very serious. At that point I quickly sent out an email to my sisters and mom to see if they would be interested. From there I set a date and booked airplane tickets. Allyson & I flew out of here on May 28th arriving in Portland that evening. Jared was nice enough to pick us up from the airport along with my parents who were flying in from California. We enjoyed sleeping over at Jared and Danielle's house - enjoying their wonderful hospitality.

Friday morning we headed over to Janessa's house to meet up with everyone else. Heather was nice enough to be our designated driver and we headed towards the ocean. We stopped off in Seaside and enjoyed eating at a Mexican Restaurant, shopping and going on a fun 6 person bike. While we were there, we noticed all of these junior high kids on these bikes all over the town. They were all having such a great time we decided to see how much they cost to rent. We ended up getting a bike that allowed 4 people to pedal at the same time. Janessa was great to be our driver the whole time as we embarked on a fun outing. A few of us switched back and forth so all could take turns pedaling. We had such a great time going down the residential streets. After 1 1/2 hours we were definitely ready to be done. Apparently some of us aren't in as great of shape as others - I was pretty sore after pedaling for a while. We ate dinner at Mo's - delicious! I was the only crazy person to not have any of their great clam chowder - I am pretty boring when it comes to eating fish. I had a delicious chicken sandwich.

We headed up to Rockaway to a cabin that somebody in Heather's ward owns. We were right next to the beach in a beautiful 3 bedroom cabin. We only paid $50 each night! Saturday we relaxed and enjoyed having no children to wake us up. We started out with a delicious breakfast made by Allyson & Janessa - biscuits, gravy, eggs, and sausage. The meal hit the spot and was so good. We talked and relaxed all morning long. We finally headed down to the beach which is literally one minute away. It was so cold and windy that we decided to head back to the cabin.

There is definitely nothing like having no interruptions from children - loved doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted! We had a delicious lunch by Danielle & I - chicken wraps - they were so good - I still need to get the recipe from Danielle to share with my family. We headed to Tillamook Cheese Factory. Unfortunately we didn't see them making anything by the time we got there, but enjoyed some great ice-cream. We headed over to Oceanside beach. The sky was so blue and not windy at all like it was at Rockaway Beach. We enjoyed walking along the sand and seeing some beautiful scenery. There was a cool tunnel that we went through to get from one side of the beach to the other. We wanted to see some starfish, but the tide wasn't low enough when we went. I have to admit that I was thinking about Byron while on the beach - how much fun it would be to walk hand in hand through the sand together. I had to send him a message to show him how much I loved him. I ended up writing in the sand a message to him and texting it. Since we didn't get any coverage while there, I had to wait about one hour to send it. When Byron finally got my picture, he loved it.

We headed to another beach and saw a lighthouse and some cool birds that are like penguins. There was also a really fun tree that is called the "Octopus Tree" from all of its branches that come out of the base.

We headed back to our cabin to enjoy dinner. Heather & Mom made a delicious meal with lasagna, salad & fruit. We enjoyed talking and then headed down to the beach to view the sunset. It was absolutely gorgeous! I took so many pictures trying to capture the sunset, and then realized that after I changed settings on my camera to "sunset" they took beautifully. Janessa had brought wood to have a campfire on the beach, but we opted out of it and made smores back in the fireplace instead.

Sunday we cleaned up the cabin and headed back down to Portland. We said goodbye at Janessa's house to Danielle & Janessa. Heather took us to pick up dad at Heather's house and then to the airport.

We had such a wonderful time together that I honestly didn't want the time to end. I was able reacquaint myself with my sisters/mom and get to know Danielle better. I LOVED every moment we had together. I have NEVER left my family to do something like this. I will have to say that getting away is such a necessary thing for a mom - everybody needs a break once in a while to help rejuvenate us and make us want to be a good mom again. After having our flight leave 50 minutes late, I was definitely ready to head home. I was so excited to see Byron outside of the airport upon arriving. I missed him greatly! I look forward to our next sisters/mom retreat - 2011 here we come!