2012 Family Reunion At Bella Beach

Watching The Sunset

Case And Emerson

One October when the kids were young, sometime in the late seventies, we spent several days at the Boy Scouts of America Camp Meriwether on the Oregon Coast.  As a Scout Committee Member, I was able to rent a staff cabin whenever the camp was not being used by multiple scout troupes.  (October was a good month for finding open weekends)

We were there the weekend of October eighteenth and experienced perfect weather.  We discovered also that the conditions for finding mushrooms was also perfect.  While hiking through the forested area we found several patches of Chanterelle mushrooms.  For several years thereafter we planned a yearly outing at the beach around October the eighteenth and found the weather and mushrooms hunting to most always be wonderful.

Hurrying To The Beach

We haven’t rented a cabin at Camp Meriwether for over thirty years but we have been faithful at holding our yearly family reunion on the Oregon Coast around October the eighteenth.  Mushroom hunting has not always been part of the reunion but we have almost always been blessed with good weather.

This year’s reunion was held one weekend earlier than the eighteenth.  We have rented houses at various resort areas.  The past three years the family has rented at Bella Beach.  This was the first time for Norma and me as we have been gone for the past two years. The forecast was for heavy rain on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Our plans could not be changed but that was OK.  Each of our reunions has always been a magical time and we were sure this would not be any different.

Grandma with Dakota,Emerson,Cohen

Many of us left Portland around twelve noon.  Some left around two-thirty and the rest started their trip after five o’clock.  All of us were able to travel in the sunshine. The early travelers got settled in their respective houses and then hurried down to the beach.

It was a warm and sunny late afternoon.  The waves were high and pounding on the beach.  The sun was getting low in the sky and the shadows were long.  It couldn’t have been better.  It was getting close to dinnertime. Lis and Nathan had prepared a wonderful Potato Bar but no one wanted to leave the beach. It would have to wait while we enjoyed the sunset.

The Cousins Testing The Waves

It takes three houses to accommodate our family.  Thirty bodies when we are all assembled; however, this year Kirsten could not be with and Jake is still on his mission, so we were only twenty-eight.  There was an average of two to three families in each house; however, only one of the houses was large enough to accommodate all of us at mealtime.  So we all gathered in the yellow “Saltbox” house.  We ate the potato bar in shifts because the later groups had not arrived yet.  After the little ones were bedded down the grown-ups chatted and played some games.

The weather on Friday lived up to the forecast.  The Zariwny’s served a French toast breakfast; Kitta served a unique rice bowl lunch, with beans, avocados, salsa and Yummi sauce.  We ate Bo and Teresa’s pulled pork and coleslaw sandwiches with regular and sweet potato French fries for dinner.  The dinner dessert was furnished by McAllister and Denita.  In between we watched the rain and played games.  Later in the afternoon we drove into Lincoln City to visit a glass blowing shop.  It was an interesting rainy day activity.

Watching The Glassblowing

Saturday was a cloudy but dry day.  We drove down the coast toward Newport.  We stopped along the way to do some beach hopping.  We built some sand castles and did some “boogieboarding”.  We stopped by the Hatfield Science Center to pet the octopus.  The kids touched many other sea creatures and manipulated the wave tank.  After visiting the many other exhibits we drove back to Bella Beach for a Spaghetti dinner prepared by Tova and Jeff.  Earlier in the day grandma and grandpa served a waffle breakfast and we ate a taco salad lunch by Karen.

On Sunday we had a breakfast of funeral potatoes, fall-off-the-bone baked ham and bread pudding.  We cleaned up the three houses and deposited the keys before starting the drive home.  It was another cloudy but dry day.  We allowed the kids to spend some time on the beach before driving inland.

Glassblowing

As you can see, we were blessed with one sunny afternoon, one rainy day and one and-a-half cloudy but dry days.  So much for the forecast of three rainy days producing eight inches of water.

Octopus

Ocean View To The Beach

A Warm Sunny Day

Some Wanted To Stay Dry

Staying In Out Of The Rain

Cloudy But Dry

Mother And Son Acting Silly

Simon "Boogieboarding"

Quentin, Ali, Kyton And Toby

Kyton, Dakota And Ali

Emerson and Cohen

Campfire Smores

Kitta, Cohen And Karen

Touching The Sea Creatures

Simon Watches The Wave Tank

Cousins Running From The Waves

Down To The Beach

Ben And Zach Stacks Rocks

Rocks On driftwood 

Eating Again

Rainy Day Activity

Going To The House For Food

A Walk At Bella Beach

Bye for now,

Norma and Gary