The Lighthouse

On the second day of our Oregon trip, Seth and I decided to go check out one of the nearby lighthouses. We ended up at the Coquille River Lighthouse just outside of Bandon. We were going to go to the Cape Arago Lighthouse, but somebody pointed me in the wrong direction. I'm not sure who it was...SETH.

We were able to climb to the top of the lighthouse and check out the view with the tour guide. Apparently there was a family that lived there for a bit and took care of the place. The mother would row her kids across the river/inlet everyday to take them to school. Way cooler than riding the bus.

After the lighthouse tour we walked along the beach and dipped our feet in the freezing cold water.

Seth taking his shoes off...

Awe... look at Seth's cute toes!

After our walk on the beach, Seth showed me the trick to putting your shoes on without getting sand in them.

After our beach trip, per recommendation from the lighthouse lady, we drove into Bandon to check out the town. It was a cute little place with tons of touristy shops and a boardwalk. We bought some fancy chocolates and did a bit of window shopping then headed for home. It was a great day.

Oregon Trip: Tide Pools

I know you'll all be shocked to know that Seth and I took a break from all of our house junk and went camping on the Oregon coast for a week! It was a much needed vacation and we had such a great time with Seth's family.

On the first morning after our arrival, we decided to do a ranger guided tide pool tour. We were a bit skeptical of the "guided" part as it's usually kind of boring and too structured, but it ended up being our favorite part of the trip! We got to wander around the tide pools looking for different sea creatures and ask all the questions we wanted. The best part was, only four of us showed up so we got a private tour!

Looking at a small crab

We saw tons of these sea stars in all different colors. The white dot in the middle on top is it's butt. See! I learned something!

Group shot of the adventurers

We found one sunflower sea star... much bigger than the other sea stars and tons of legs!

The underside of the sea star with all its sucker feet

Seth with a half-dead crab

More to come!

Learn From My Fail

Seth and I spent Memorial Day weekend sanding our parquet floor. It was in pretty rough shape after years of neglect. There were scratches and uneven edges covering the entire floor so it required a lot of TLC to get every bit of it smooth and ready for the finish.

We rented a big orbital sander from Lowe's to do the main parts and bought a small hand sander for the edges and such. After sanding the floor with three different grits of sandpaper (36, 50, and 80 for those who are curious), the floor was finally done. It already looked so beautiful. We left for the night to let the dust settle and planned to come back the next day to vacuum and apply the finishing coat.

The floor after it was all sanded

On Tuesday evening just as I was about to leave work, Seth sent me a text. Included in the text was the following picture:

While sanding the floor we'd unplugged the fridge so it wouldn't suck the dust in. Unfortunately we didn't realize that the ice maker was full. After sitting there unplugged for over 24 hours, the ice in the ice maker melted and leaked out onto the floor. With no protection at all, the floor absorbed the water and buckled in several places (you can see the worst of it there in the center of the cabinet). Swears were uttered by both parties.

As of last night the floor was still drying out. We're not sure if we'll be able to get the tiles to lay flat again and/or if they'll be too damaged to use. Here's to hoping. So, in closing, if you're planning on refinishing your floors, make sure the ice maker is empty before unplugging your fridge. Eff.