Spring Break 2014

*Warning* LOTS of photos in this post! The Oregon Coast is SO beautiful and it was hard to narrow down the images!!

Spring Break 2015 is less than 3 weeks away for us - so I decided it was about time to finish editing our Spring Break trip from LAST year!! We spent a week on the Oregon Coast! A very relaxing trip and a great place for families and kids of all ages (our girls were 12, 12, and 2 at the time)! We drove to Portland the first day (I think it took us about 7 hours) and stayed the night with our dear friends, the McMurrays. They moved to Portland in 2013 and we were excited to see them in their new surroundings. Now, when I think about them (and miss them) at least I can picture where they live. Makes it feel like they aren't so far away. We spent the next day exploring Portland before heading to the coast in the afternoon. Highlights include a trip through Powell's Books, eating a Voodoo Doughnut (45 minute line!), and walking through some of the shops on NW 23rd (somewhat limited shopping due to 2 year old in tow!).

By the time we made it to Rockaway Beach it was dark and we couldn't see much or our surroundings. We woke up the next morning to a thick fog, but it was actually quite warm. It was one of those great lazy mornings with all the time in the world to explore. It was perfect.

We found the perfect "emi sized" playground right next to our beach house too. Just one small play structure, but she loved it.

Hailey and I convinced Hannah that we needed to do a beach photo session for her. I'm so glad we did it on this day as it turned out to be the warmest day of the week and the fog made for such an amazing back drop. I blogged my favorites from this session a long time ago - see more here.

Love my photographer and dancer so much!

This was our "home" for the week!!!

We woke up to a little bit of rain on our 2nd morning and decided to go check out Short Sand Beach. This beautiful spot is an easy 1/2 mile walk from the road and stroller friendly. So GREEN!

Rockaway is right on the Oregon Coast and sits about 30 minutes south of the Cannon Beach area and about 15 minutes north of Tillamook. It is tiny, but quaint. We walked through the entire town in about 15 minutes! There are several kite + trinket shops. :-)

We made a couple of trips to Cannon Beach during the week and made sure to stop at several of the viewpoints along the way - so beautiful! We loved the tide pools at Haystack Rock and of course chowder at Mo's!

A friend told me about Hug Point - the perfect place to stop and watch the sunset! Another beautiful evening and fun place to explore!

We spent an afternoon in Tillamook. We toured the Tillamook Cheese Factory followed by ice cream cones! This was Emily's first ever cone! We then went on a short drive to find the Cape Meares Lighthouse and Octopus Tree.