So last week my family gathered to Oceanside on the Oregon coast near Tillamook. We rented a great big house so every family could have their own room with bathroom. It didn't have much of a yard, but it had two levels of decks in the back that overlooked the beach. To start things out, we have a picture of the sunset taken from the deck.
The Oceanside beach has a giant rock outcropping that has a tunnel through it to get to some tide pools. Asher thought the tunnel was super cool.
There were also some caves that Asher loved. Madeleine looks like quite the explorer in this picture. The kids really liked the tide pools, especially the star fish, but we didn't get any good pictures of those.
From the beach you could look across the water at the rocks in the sunset picture and see the sea lions laying on the lower rocks. Asher loved the binoculars, but he didn't use them exclusively for distant objects. 
We also paid a visit to the Cape Mears Lighthouse. It hasn't been is use in decades, but Asher still thought it was about the coolest thing, especially since we got to climb all the way up to the top. Good thing it wasn't a tall lighthouse.
We also went to the Tillamook Air Museum. It is in a World War II era blimp hanger, which is the largest clear span wood structure in the world. They had some cockpits from old planes that the kids just loved. I didn't mind it too much either as exhibited from pursed lips, in the middle of making the appropriate sound effects for throttling up the engines.
The kids liked sharing the controls, but Asher also got a kick out of "flying solo" in the jet fighter cockpit.
Most of the planes were from the World War II era, which was actually really cool, but we really got a kick out of checking out an F-14 Tomcat.
Eventually we all donned our new "Smiths" t-shirts for pictures. For simplicity, most of the family pictures were taken on my sister's camera, but we got a couple good pictures on our own camera too. Our kids weren't very cooperative for group pictures, as you can see in this one of the grandkids in attendence. Smiles from everyone except Madeleine who is trying her best to break free from Asher. Still cute in my opinion.
Then this picture is of the girls in attendence, including my Gram who turns 90 this year.
Then there were the boys in attendence, except for my dad for an unknown reason.
Later that day we took a "hike" to Munson Creek Falls. Madeleine and Asher really liked the idea of walking sticks and they were real troopers. You can see here Madeleine was so eager to see the falls that she would not slow down for pictures. The short walk (1/4 mile) was worth the view at the end.
We played on the beach a fair amount, but me and the kids were too busy for pictures, but Vanessa managed to snap this really cute one of wind-whipped Madeleine.
And finally, no trip near Tillamook is complete without visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory. I was surprised how into it the kids were. They loved the giant mixing machine and Asher dubbed the conveyor belt the "Cheese Roller Coaster." And then of course there was the obligatory cheese and cheese curd taste testing, all topped off with ice cream cones.
It was tons of fun to spend the time with my family. We really missed my brother Scott and his family, but seeing as their son was born the day before the reunion kicked off, I guess it was excusable.
