Life's a beach

We had a really good weekend in Lincoln City. Thursday afternoon, I baked up some raspberry muffins and raspberry scones (my parents have raspberry canes in their yard so using the berries up makes my mom happy). Then Chris and I (and Hank) drove out to the coast after school.

Thursday night we couldn't get a lot done in the house because my dad wasn't down from Portland yet. But my mom has done a really good job of getting the cat smell out of the house. (Before he died, Grandpa D took in Jack, my cousin Jill's tom cat. Jack used the house, especially the upstairs bedrooms and the livingroom, as his litter box. It happens. Grandpa really loved Jack and it made him happy to have the cat around, but as people get older they just can't keep up on some things. Mom was able to get a lot cleaned up, but we still need to replace some carpets and pads and maybe even some flooring.)

Friday morning my dad arrived and arranged to have us all go out on a boat from Newport. We cruised out of the harbor and into the ocean. Just outside the jetties, a grey whale and her calf were swimming around. Chris wasn't too impressed. I guess floating across the Atlantic twice will do that to a guy lol On the way back in, the boat's crew pulled up a couple of pots and dumped the crabs into a box. One crab was upside down and Dad dared Chris to filp it over. Of course Chris did and the two crabs started fighting. One pulled off the other one's leg. Pretty gnarly but I guess it doesn't hurt the crabs at all.


At one point the captain said we were a mile off the shore. I look out and think to myself, "better jump in and start swimming. And if you like that, swim back. And you like that, bike from here to Corvallis. We'll have a marathon waiting for you when you get back." Which led me to think about how I should give in and get a bikini wax so I don't have to worry about shaving before I go swimming. My first thought was, "but a bikini wax is gonna hurt!"

Why can I size up an Ironman without blinking, then turn around and be completely scared crapless over a few minutes of waxing?? Chris always teases me because I'll do a marathon and I'm gung-ho for natural childbirth, but then whine and fuss when one of my toe nails had to be taken off or when I have to put hydrogen peroxide on a cut. Maybe those t-shirts and medals really do make the difference lol

After lunch in Newport, we headed back to Lincoln City and continued on the house. We were able to move all the new appliances into the kitchen, get about 75% of the house cleaned out (there's still the rooms in the basement, a few closets and some scary attic spaces left to go through), get the back yard cleaned up and yard debris hauled away, and get some of the old furniture to the dump.

The weekend wasn't all work though. One night we played my family's favorite board game, Parcheesi. Sadly, I think that's the most fun I've ever had at my grandparents's house.

My mom and I also finished a puzzle which we haven't been able to do in a long time. Back in high school, we used to put puzzles together over winter break. Now I have a cat that likes to eat puzzle pieces and Mom's too busy working with the Post Office, so doing the jigsaw puzzle was a lot of fun. We don't have a lot of time left in Oregon, so helping my family clean up the house and spending time with them means a lot to us.

Saturday morning I drove back to Corvallis for the OSU Youth Program's Running with Hat-titude 5k. Got my butt handed to me by some little kids, but overall not too shabby and none of the problems I had in the 10k. Chris and my dad still had a lot of work to do, so Chris stayed in Lincoln City and drove back after the 5k. The majority of the time we're either riding our bikes or walking somewhere, so I don't feel bad about spending a little extra for the gas.

Can't wait to get back to the beach :)