No horses

Saw this sign on our weekend trip to Mount Hood. Made me laugh :)

Vacation-ending beach trip

Brad and Sarah helped me celebrate my last days of summer break with a relaxing trip to the coast.

We ate yummy quinoa salad, chili dog grilled cheese and cupcakes, lazed about, napped, chatted and read. A perfect beach weekend.

And of course, we went for a run! 

I did 8.07 miles on the Bayocean trail.

Loved all the warning signs:

We had to refuel with cheese samples and ice cream in Tillamook:

Sarah had to get home, but we stayed an extra night. Then we drove home in the first rain we've seen in quite a while. Huge t-storm near McMinnville. Glorious!

:)

Niagara Falls

Toronto being just about 90 minutes from Niagara Falls, we decided to take the trip and see what all the fuss is about. Traffic made the drive a little longer, but we finally arrived to find a large, beautiful park on one side of the road and the massive falls on the other.

Loved this sign where we parked:

Don't let the sneakies plunder your car!

Several spillways along the top of Horseshoe Falls:

For Tim M... First Student Canada!

I am happy to report that no one went over:

The mist coming off Horseshoe Falls was intense - much more than I was expecting:

My trip to Canada is now complete. Seriously.

Either this guy is huge, or Eryn is a midget. Hmmm....

Maid in the Mist heading into the splash zone:

American Falls and the international bridge into New York:

The "walk" signals in Ontario were awesome. The guy looks like he's strutting :) The light-up signs did that, too:

We walked all over, including a trip across the bridge back into the good 'ol U S of A:

American (left) and Horseshoe falls (right) in the background:

Never thought in a million years that I would... but a once-in-a-lifetime chance was too good too pass up (if you don't know me, I have a very severe water phobia):

Dad is SO excited: (I put my camera in a plastic baggie to keep it safe)

Horseshoe Falls from the river:

VERY wet!

American Falls from the river:

Had to do the little hike up next to American Falls:

Better go back to Canada:

And, lastly, a Mountie Moose... of course :)

Next up, a race and some Blue Jays :)

Weekly Wednesday: Back-to-school shopping

Eryn completed her master's degree last year but enrolled again this summer to work on her teaching endorsement so she can be a head school librarian. YAY!!! Her intense summer schedule meant that we missed out on most Weekly Wednesdays this year. BOO!!! But her courses are done for now, so we drove to Lincoln City for some back-to-school shopping! (All three of us head back to work next week. BOO!!!)

After driving past a million times, we finally decided to stop at the Otis Cafe:
The place is tiny inside. We sat at the counter, right in front of this sign. Yes, you walk through the kitchen to find the restroom. Very strange.
Perfect:
Eryn and I spotted the giant pancakes on another table and decided to split the garden sandwich and a pancake. The pancake was very tasty, but I did not like the syrup - tasted very fake. The sandwich, complete with homemade spicy mustard, hit the spot.
Mom opted for a breakfast combo, which she really enjoyed. I helped myself to a couple bites of her toast!
We found some good deals at the outlet mall. But the biggest jackpot came when Eryn decided on a whim to try on some kid-sized clothes. BINGO! She fit perfectly in the Old Navy Girls XL - which are even less expensive than the adult clothes - like shirts for $5!!!!!
She decided to embrace the fact that the clothes fit, despite the "youth" label on the inside, and loaded up. Awesome.

I had just seen this sweet Slap Chop infomercial, which is a remix of the original commercial:

Totally sold by the cool music and creative editing, I stopped at the Kitchen Collection store and picked up this:
And a tiny pan for Brad to make egg sandwiches :)

After a full day of shopping we fueled up with Mo's clam chowder and shrimp salads. YUM!
Now we're ready to go back to school... maybe... we'll see.
:)

Gas

We sat across from this sign at last week's Mariners/Cubs game in Seattle. Because I'm known to be more gassy than others, both Mom and Eryn thought it was hilarious :)
:)