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#Oregon

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A Trip to the Timberline Lodge

Last month for Emma’s birthday she decided to have an overnight trip to the mountain with family instead of a birthday party. She had always wanted to go up into the snow so this year I made it happen and we drove the two hour drive to Mt. Hood and stayed at the historic Timberline Lodge.

If you are from Oregon I’m sure you’ve heard of the lodge, which was declared a historic landmark in 1977 and has nearly 2 million visitors a year. Timberline is also the hotel that was filmed in Stephen King’s movie The Shining.

February 25, 2016 0 comment

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14 Photos That Will Make You Want to Run Away To The Oregon Coast

written by Melissa Kaylene

Oregon Coast // Lincoln City via @melissakaylene

Unlike most of those around us, we aren’t visiting the coast during Spring Break this year. As much as I love the beach we are choosing to stay close to home – opting for activities around the house like creating Easter cards (more on those soon!), visiting Sky High Sports, and tomorrow we are talking about driving over to Silver Falls State Park. It’s one of those places that are practically in our backyard and yet we’ve never been before.

Anyways, I am however, so glad that we stayed in Lincoln City for three nights last month. One thing that I love about the Oregon coast is that sometimes you can find yourself pleasantly surprised with the weather during the winter. With no tourists out and an oceanfront view – the weekend would have been enough by itself, but add in gorgeous 60+ degree weather with no breeze and it was simply nothing but a small slice of heaven on earth – and these photos don’t do it justice.

Sometimes it’s worth it to take a chance – you never know what you may find.

~Melissa

March 26, 2015 3 comments

life local memories photos pictures Uncategorized

Oregon Beach Trip + Gratefulness

written by Melissa Kaylene

Melissa Kaylene // Photos from Lincoln City, Oregon

I’ve been so excited to share some of our pictures from our beach trip last weekend with you – but first I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you for all of the emails, comments, and messages regarding my post yesterday. I had no idea I would have so many wonderful and encouraging words from so many people… it really blessed my heart today, and gave me a little extra encouragement and hope. I took today and didn’t do any work – I picked up
the house, listened to my favorite easy listening music on Pandora, and watched the kids play in the sunshine. It was a beautiful day.

I took a nap with Noah, and now I am currently sipping on a glass of Petite Syrah, sitting here listening to the radio where our high school basketball teams are playing in the state finals – the girls just won the state championship and the boys are up in the third quarter. It’s funny how I never attended school here, and moved here back in 2007 and have fallen in love with the sense of pride in our town and schools…

Anyways, last weekend we stayed three nights in Lincoln City. I had found a Groupon a few months ago for a one bedroom hotel room with a full kitchen right on the beach, and snagged up the great deal. The weather was absolutely amazing.

We left on Thursday after school, but Anika didn’t want to miss school on Friday because she had a big project due, so she ended up staying behind with our friend, and came out Friday after school…so Thursday was just Wayne, Noah, Emma, and I.

It’s crazy how exhausted you really feel when you finally get away – how you never realize the level of tenseness your body is in, and then you finally get a couple of days away and it’s never enough because you just want to sleep and do nothing for a few days!

We really did just that, relaxing until Saturday, when we drove down to Newport and visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium (I’ll have a post on that soon!) and then on Sunday we ended up driving North 101 all the way up to Astoria to visit a friend and attend a birthday party… and we stopped in Tillamook for Ice Cream at the Cheese Factory.

After staying in a room with a full kitchen and extra bedroom, it really made me realize how much more important it is for us to have something like this if we truly want to relax (and save money!) …we are just growing out of a regular hotel room, and need the extra space to relax…guess I’d better keep my eye out for deals!

Sometimes you just get lucky – like 65 degree weather (with no breeze) in February on the Oregon coast.

Have you had any recent mini getaways? Where is your families “go-to” place for a weekend away?

~Melissa

March 8, 2015 0 comment

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Living Locally: Howloween at The Oregon Zoo

written by Melissa Kaylene

Hey everyone! This past week has been so incredibly busy that I’ve barely even had a chance to say “hello” on here. On top of my normal routines Anika started basketball practice and I filled in for someone who was on vacation all week at work – so the week just flew by!

A couple of weeks ago (the day we went to see Disney on Ice actually) we went up to visit The Oregon Zoo. We always have a great time when we head up to the zoo – it seems as if there’s always something new going on or different animals that are out to be seen.

The Oregon Zoo had a Howloween event happening that weekend, which was just something to make the visit even more exciting for little ones. Kids could dress up in costumes if they wished, and then they were on a scavenger hunt to find stations that had little games and candy for them.

The weather had been pretty nasty most of the weekend, but by the time we went Sunday afternoon things held off and it was actually pretty nice outside. It was a great time to go because there were fewer crowds than normal so it wasn’t as difficult keeping track of all three kids (Like the time I went HERE).

The next big event happening at The Oregon Zoo is Zoolights! It runs November 28th-Jan 4th this year and the Zoolights train will be back this year! (HERE are some pictures I took from our visit last year!)

There’s just something about a visit to the zoo that brings back all of those nostalgic memories of our first visits when we were children. I can only hope that someday my kids will look back and recall all of the fun visits we had together at The Oregon Zoo.

~Melissa

Full Disclosure: My family and I were given free admission to The Oregon Zoo, no compensation was received. All opinions are my own.

November 9, 2014 0 comment