Vacation in OR/DE/MD

Well, our vacation has almost come to an end. Tomorrow, we will have been in the U.S. for a whole month. And tomorrow, we all start school.

Yesterday, we moved into our Oakwood apartment. Although we've had a wonderful time on vacation in Oregon and Delaware, I will admit that it's been hard not to have a home, a place to organize all our stuff. We have been living out of suitcases for 4 weeks and I am kind of done with that.

After two whirlwind days in MD during which we registered the kids for school, visited doctors, and other fun stuff like that, we headed west to beautiful Oregon, my husband's home state. Our family has a tradition (5 years now!) of renting a huge home in Sunriver, a beautiful planned community/resort area with miles of biking and walking paths, a bunch of pools, and an amazingly peaceful vibe. We all love it.

My son learned to ride a bike in just one day. In the DR, we didn't really have anywhere to ride, so we never bought him a bike. By the time we got to OR, he was ready to learn so he could participate in the B family run/walk, with t-shirts designed by his cousin, E!

My kids are just in love with their Alaska cousins, who couldn't be sweeter to them, despite the age differences. Their aunts (D's sisters) are pretty awesome, too.

During all my visits to Oregon, we've never spent more than a day on the Oregon coast, so I jumped at the chance to explore it some more. We invited my dad, stepmom and siblings up from California, and we traveled up the coast together, stopping at little towns and attractions along the way. I still need more time on the OR coast!

We made our first stop for seafood at Mo's Seafood house. Clam chowder is big on the OR coast, so we tried it at almost every restaurant.

Here's the whole gang.

The beaches sure do look different from the ones in the DR. The kids loved exploring the tidal pools with their Aunt D and Uncle Z.

Beautiful Cannon Beach, with Haystack Rock in the distance. Loved this town and beach!

We visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory, one of my favorite places on earth. I don't know why really- it's just fun. You can watch the cheese being made and packaged, try samples of their delicious cheese, and of course, BUY it!

But the very best thing about the Tillamook Cheese Factory is Tillamook ICE CREAM! The Marionberry Pie (it's an Oregon thing) ice cream was seriously to die for. I want more.

After all that excitement, we flew back east and left for Rehoboth Beach (my high school beach hangout) the very next day, where we spent the next 5 days with my mom, father, brothers, aunts, and cousin from NY. The weather was gorgeous, though definitely not as hot as I'm used to in August.

We rented a pontoon boat one morning.

My pop with his sisters

I just love this photo (below). My kids used to be afraid of my brother's enormous black and tan coonhound, but they have finally learned to relax around this gentle dog.

The waves were intimidating after the DR, but we made a valiant effort, with help from Uncle J and Grandpa.

Rehoboth's boardwalk has a great amusement area for kids and grown-ups, too. The family had a great time on the bumper cars!

We came back last week to attend the "meet the teacher" events at the kids' schools. And we've been shopping like crazy for my Caribbean babies who don't have any cold weather clothes!

I'm really grateful we had these 4 weeks of family time before jumping into Chinese!