"Hey You Guys!!!"

During this last week I was having a conversation with my mother-in-law about all the fun things to do in Oregon, and she mentioned the Sandcastle building contest in Cannon Beach is always so much fun but they always find out about it after it's over on the news. So I thought, "hmm, maybe I'll look online and see when it is because I would love to go." Well I found out it was today, so we were happy it didn't pass us by! Although last night I was a little worried we wouldn't be able to go because Dave had a nasty migraine and we didn't know if the weather would hold up, and who knew if Samantha would sleep through the night and keep Dave up all night. So I figured if he didn't get a full night's rest after a long work week then we wouldn't go, and if Samantha woke up at all during the night, we wouldn't go. I guess it must have been meant to be because Dave woke up happy and feeling good, and Samantha slept the entire night!
It took us just about 2 hours to drive to Cannon Beach which is close to Astoria, and it was a beautiful drive so it didn't feel very long at all. The only thing I was still worried about was if it was going to rain all day. It was just a little windy and chilly when we got there, but it warmed up quickly. We parked by Mo's restaurant because we knew we'd be hungry when we were done and walked on the beach about 1 1/2 miles to where all the sandcastles were. On the way was the historic Haystack Rock which was beautiful (and featured on the movie "Goonies") so of course we took a bunch of pictures. The beach was beautiful and they were letting cars drive up and down the beach for a couple of hours before the tide got too high, but we were happy walking. Wow! Those Sandcastle sculptures were amazing! I guess there are people that do stuff like that for a living, and you could tell by how awesome, and creative some of these were. I took pictures of all the really good ones. I loved the one with the lions, and alligators, and there was this cute "traffic jam" sculpture with cars and peanut butter and jelly. The Frankenstein sculpture was cool too. There were a ton of people there, and there was even a couple getting married on the beach. It was very cute but I think that bride was probably a bit chilly in her strapless gown.
So we stayed there for a couple of hours and then walked back to eat some good food. MMMMM....Mo's....famous clam chowder, blackened shrimp skewers, and fries! And Dave had the cod fish and chips which was also very tasty. Mo's is one of those places for me where once I find something I really like, I can't get anything else because what I have is so good! For all you Utahn's, coming up here just to eat at Mo's is worth the trip...and hopefully hanging out with us is too :)
After eating we drove through Cannon Beach town and it was a cute, touristy-type place with fun shops. I could have walked up and down those streets for hours if we had more energy, but it was fun just driving through. It was a very fun place to visit and I'm sure will be back there often.
Samantha started doing something new today too. This morning before we left to go to the beach, Dave had her up in George and Nancy's room. Nancy had this doll that she would give hugs to and say "awww, give the dolly hugs," or something to that effect and then Samantha would take the doll, give it a hug and say "awwww." It was really cute and very funny! She's also into this head shaking thing lately which I don't know where she learned. She loves to shake her head all the time. The other night she was having a conversation with my brother-in-law Jeff and his baby Eric who was sitting on his lap. Samantha was standing next to them talking to them and shaking her head at them expecting them to understand, and then out of nowhere Eric lets out this huge scream right at her, it was hilarious. It was like they were communicating with each other with Samantha babbling and Eric spitting and sticking out his tongue, but no one else knew what they were saying except them! Hilarious!