The White House: Astoria Trip

Time is looming over us with how little we have left here in Oregon. So we took a quick trip to Astoria to check out all the to-do's about it. It was an on again off again rainy day which was very fitting for Oregon of course. (Funny how being out in the rain doesn't bother me so much anymore after moving here.)

We left right after breakfast and Ruby snoozed the whole way - side note - Both kids caught a small case of the croop the week before...seriously? Not fun. Ross got treated right away, but when we took Ruby in, I had to give a little extra encouragement in giving her the dexamethazone she would need to kick in that night so she could breathe better. Funny how we moms get when our kids get sick. So Ross and Rubes had little leftover coughs. Ruby slept the whole way to Astoria - two hours which was GREAT for her. Ross even took a little snoozer too. Our GPS took us a non-highway route saying it was faster. It may have been faster...but it was WAY windier. I got a massive headache and was borderline nauseous while by the end Ross was complaining about his tummy too which convinced Daddy to take the turns slower. While the route was nauseating, the view was GORGEOUS. The trees were EVERY color and there were so many cute little houses and farms along the way.

We were going to go out for lunch when we first got there, but my stomach was still recovering so we headed of the Astoria Column first. We packed the kids up the stairs and got a good view from the top. I handed my camera to Steve to take a picture of me and Ruby, and when he reached out to grab it I noticed his hand was shaking quite a bit. I looked at his face and he had this nervous attempting-to-reassure-me-he's-fine grin.
"Are you okay?," I said.
His reply, " Yeah I'm good."
"You feeling the heights a little bit?"
"Maybe"...."You ready to go back down Ross?" (asked a little too excitedly)

There were bridges everywhere - so pretty! This bridge actually takes you into Washington.

The column - 164 steps - woohoo baby! I strapped all 22lbs of Ruby on me, Steve lugged Ross's 33lbs, and we made it!

Both Steve and Ross were a bit nervous here

It was windy if you can't tell ;)

Can you tell Steve's a little nervous? He has Ross pinned against the wall as far away from the railing as he could get. Haha!

When we got back to the bottom he then said he could just visualize his top being too heavy, thus throwing him over the (rather tall) railing at the top (which he also entitled "the ledge" since he felt there wasn't enough space up there either). My husband is adorable.

Fun family pic!

Cute boy in a bear hat on a green hill.

We grabbed our magnet for our signature collection and found a delicious restaurant called the Bridgewater Bistro my friend Marci recommended. The setting was beautiful right on the docks with some sweet toys for Ross to play with. We got their fish 'n chips, clam chowder, and a grilled cheese sandwich with fruit for Ross (I know -he gets his own food these days). DELICIOUS. Their ciabatta bread was THE best too. Ross and Ruby behaved really well there and were even complimented on it by a few strangers (a proud parent moment). They had a fireplace with couches and a glass window in the floor you could look down (which had a skeleton). Ross kept wanting to run over and look at it, or sit on a couch and gaze into the fire (how old is this kid while he ponders the wonders of life while staring into a fire?). We practically licked our plates and then decided to head for the Goonie house. It was pouring again, but no big deal.

"Hey You Guuuuyyys!!!"

The Goondocks

These were some SWEET bird feeders. There were all sorts of birds hanging out there.

I preferred these two birds the most.

We found the house, but also found someone lived there so you could just look at it from the outside. Still awesome - and even more so that they publicize that house in Astoria. Hilarious.

The authentication

Oregon fall colors rock!

While we were walking back down to our car we heard some sea lions roaring so we decided to track them down. We found them, and they were HUGE! Also - there were barges everywhere - another sweet part of Astoria.

So the sea lions are the blobs across the water just before the boats. This was as close as we could get.

Having fun!

Gotta have some Daddy Daughter love :)

Ross wanted to go to the zoo so we told him the sea lions were our zoo portion of the trip.

By this time it was around 4 and so we decided to check out the Columbia Maritime Museum. It was pretty sweet looking, but $12 per person. Since it closed in an hour, we decided to save it for another time to visit. We were also disappointed to find out the trolley was also closed. More reason to come back!

Ruby had some issues keeping her socks on...we saved her socks about seven times that day from being lost.

Evidence that she has no socks

She really didn't want them on! But it was chilly - and she wouldn't keep her blanket on either. Hence the grumpiness. Oh yeah - and she didn't get her second nap.

We took a walk around the docks and decided to head home stopping in Seaside for a little beach taste.

Steve was obsessed with these barges. He kept saying, "I just can't believe how big these barges are!"...."Stace, seriously - these barges are HUGE!"..."Look at those barges!"... I think he kind of thought they were cool or something. :)