Thanksgiving Weekend at the Coast

A four day weekend is always a good excuse to do something fun. I decided it was a very good time to hang out with friends. I made dinner for Liz and Dori the evening of Thanksgiving, which was a lot of fun. Dori and I headed to Waldport the following day. We rented an adorable little house right on the beach with a great view! Our goal was to get away, sleep in, and relax. Mission accomplished!

We took a few nice long walks along the beach. The dogs had a great time running around. Poor Flash was chased down by Niamh each time he moved. (He then got revenge by running circles around her back in the house while she was trying to sleep.) We also spent some time exploring the Cape Perpetua area. There are a lot of nice hiking trails. However, we stuck to our mission of taking it easy, so we walked a few of the shorter trails. We took in amazing ocean views and enjoyed the sun. Yes, sun in Oregon in November!! (Proof that miracles do happen.) In the evenings, we spent lots of time chatting and catching up. We also brought some of our favorite foods and really good wine. It was an excellent weekend!

Devil's Churn at Cape Perpetua

Cape Perpetua Trail

The fog rolls in at sunset

Amazing to see the sun

Belly Rub!

Niamh pretends she's back on the track and Flash runs for his life

1973 Honda 350

Emmet and Dad made a motorcycle trade a few months ago. Emmet brought home Dad's 1973 Honda 350, which Dad bought right after he returned home from Vietnam. Dad ended up with Emmet's 1986 Honda Rebel. It seems both are very happy with their new bikes. Emmet's been busily disassembling the 350. (Hopefully he can remember how it goes back together!) Dad's been cruising around on the Rebel. Here's the current state of the restoration....

The skeleton

Gas tank and side covers repainted

Home Improvement

Here are a few photos of our master bedroom renovation. This project was supposed to be finished by Christmas. (Christmas 2007!) What started out as putting in a hardwood floor, ended up being a complete remodel. We moved into the spare room, shut the door to this room, and pretended it didn't exist. We've made some great progress over the past few months, and it's finally coming together.




Here is a "before" photo.

Under the carpet was particle board, then a layer of misc bits of wood. So, we had to strip everything down to the floor beams. Lucky Emmet got to crawl around on the ground and insulate the floor.

Dad came to Oregon for a weekend to help us, which was great! Here's a "demolition" photo.

With all the blown in insulation and three layers of dry wall removed.

New insulation is in, and Emmet’s working on dry wall.

Dry wall and plaster complete. Hardwood floor installation in progress. It’s starting to look like a real room again! Oh yeah we also installed new windows, and had a door to the backyard added. More photos coming soon…

A Few Photos of the Kids...

Stretching Sammy
Yawning Niamh

Oscar and Murphy

Peaceful Allie - Although still ready to strike at any minute
Niamh and Oscar
Oscar catching a nap on my laptop
Best Buddies


Not sure what he's looking at

Flying lion
Hours of fun with boxes from Costco