Vacation!

Aww, and my vacation is almost over!

Sunday morning we drove to Seaside. The weather was nice. Cloudy, and a little breezy, but not cold. I had a t-shirt on, and the kids and Craig had on sweat shirts. We wandered around all day, the town was a zoo. Little did we know that Seaside would be having their annual volleyball tournament, so there were a lot of people there for that. Mom and dad came down from Rockaway Sunday afternoon and had dinner with us in Seaside. Then we drove to Rockaway to stay the night, only everything there was either booked, or way more than I needed for just one night. So, we ended up in Garibaldi, which is just up the road. I am telling you, hotels are just way too expensive. I remember when Craig and I first got married, and you could stay in a hotel for $60.00, but now everything is so damn high! I mean, jeez, it's a small town, it's a Comfort Inn, and it's not even on the water, and it's still $134.00? Oh, and then of course there is the tax. I am looking at my visa statement online this morning, and it actually cost me $151.00. Nice, eh? For one night. For one room. For one room with uncomfortable beds. For one room that had some other persons toenails on the carpet. Yum.
Monday we played in the sand for hours (or I should say, Koben played in the sand for hours. He was in heaven.)I walked the beach looking for cool rocks and numbing my feet in the water. The weather Monday was beautiful. Blue skyed, sunny, warm, and a little breezy. Stupid me actually forgot sun screen, so I swiped a little from dad since his was almost gone, and used it on my face and the kid's faces and arms, but didn't apply any anywhere else on myself, so I now have a very nice burn on my neck and collarbone since my shirt was boat necked. Let's just say it's Thursday and I'm still in pain. After we left Rockaway, we stopped at the cheese factory in Tillamook (again) and had ice cream and showed Koben the sights. Then we headed home.

Tuesday..........oh, Tuesday. Tuesday was two dollar day at the Oregon Zoo. I had planned to go that day, strictly to save money, because we wanted to go to the beach, and the fair, and Omsi. Which each can easily cost easily $100.00+. So, off we go to the zoo Tuesday morning, and I knew it would be crazy. Did I think it would be that crazy? Oh my, I can't even exaggerate. As you drive up to the parking lot, they steer you back down and around to use the shuttle parking. Only they don't actually tell you where the shuttle parking is. Instead, you resort to following the poor fool in front of you who is following the yutz in front of him. Which leads you to a lot, full of other people unpacking their cars and waiting around for the shuttle. Until some park official comes wandering up to tell you that is not the lot and you can't park there. You have to actually cross the freeway and park in a church lot. As we leave this first lot, which in itself is a challenge, as people are not bright enough to understand that the person closest to the exit goes first, and the rest file out. Oh, no, that would be too hard. So, the lot jams, since the person in the back, who feels like the shuttle may leave without him, zooms to the front of the lot, and basically makes an ass out of himself. So, finally, as we leave the lot, the park guy puts up a sign saying that the lot is not for shuttle parking. Gee, if only he had gotten there sooner.

So, we find our way to the church lot. And there is this line of people. And I don't mean a line, I mean a LINE. I really couldn't tell you how long the line was. We squeezed our way through the line. (yet again, folks not smart enough to realize you don't block the driveway to the lots, jeez, it's like a mad rush) So, we parked in row G (for Good Lord, this is going to be a long day) and had to trek down to row M which is where the line started. We got in line at 10:30, and reached the zoo at noon. As you get off the bus, you see the ticket line. Which travels up the sidewalk to the forestry center. Nice. We entered the zoo around 1:00. Ugh. Our kids were so good during the whole thing. Chloe didn't say a word (which is so unlike her, I actually wondered if she was sick) and Koben only had a couple whiny moments, which I thought was good for a kid who had no idea why he was standing in line. Once we got into the park, we had lunch, which we brought. Everyone was hungry, tired, and thirsty, and we hadn't even started yet. So, once we ate, it was about 1:30. We entered the portion where you give your tickets, and the girl said that their count was at almost 10,000. And it was barely afternoon. Jeesh, no wonder the bathrooms look like they do.
We were in the park until about 4:30. We had a nice time. It was crowded, but not so crowded you felt like you couldn't see anything. We saw most the animals. The polar bears and the penguins were not in the areas we could see them in. And I don't think we saw the leopards or the tigers (which I don't feel like I have seen the tiger the last three times I was at the zoo. Is there actually one there?) The Dino path was cute. Do I feel like they should charge you extra to see it? No. It's not THAT fascinating. Koben was so cute when we got to the T-Rex with it's big roar. He looked scared the first time. He was totally unsure about what was going on. By the third roar, he was roaring back, and I must say, his roar is impressive!

So, all in all, it was a very long day at the zoo, but it only cost us $27.00.

Wednesday we slept in and hung around the house until about one, and then we wandered over to the Clackamas County Fair. It was pretty much the same as it's been every year since I was born. We bought ride tickets for Chloe. $20.00 got her four rides, and one for me. Wow, $4.00 for 45 seconds of entertainment. Lovely. Last year each ride took 6 tickets. This year it was 8. Same exact rides. Now I will call that inflation. We left the fair about 8pm.

The fair, however, did not cost me $27.00. I'm guessing somewhere around $100.00. Now you see why we went to the zoo Tuesday. =)

Today I am having coffee and pedicures with my good friend Connie, who is also on vacation this week, and then Craig wants to go for a drive thru the Molalla river corridor, which is pretty, and runs along the river.

Tomorrow we are going to Omsi. Finally. It was a gift promised to Chloe for her birthday, (which was in May) that we just have never gotten the chance to do.

Saturday I go back to work, and Craig is catering a wedding for us in Troutdale. At 100 degrees, he 0ught to be very happy.

Sunday we are going to a bbq at Raju and Heather's. Craig is going to help them put railings on the deck he helped them build last summer.

All in all, it's been fun and relaxing. Of course, I could always use another week of vacation.

Or a year. A year would be nice.