Our weekend at the coast was, in a word, perfection.  Leisurely walks on the beach, evenings spent lounging around the house with my family, falling asleep to the lull of the ocean and waking to the sound of Elise’s chatter downstairs…  I had forgotten how beautiful the Oregon Coast is, and savored every sandy moment spent there with my family, from my morning jog to our sunset stroll.

Elise is quickly moving from baby-hood to little girl-hood, but maintaining all of adorableness.  She is curious, funny, affectionate, and has us all wrapped around her cute little finger.  She is also totally smitten with her Uncle Shane, and spent much of the weekend nestled into his lap.  Whenever any one of us asked if we could help her with something (“Elise, can I read you a book?”, “Can I brush your hair?”, “Can I change your diaper?”), her immediate response was, “I want Uncle Shane to do it!”  And thus, we all got to see a side of Shane we never knew existed – he’s actually a diaper-changing, hair-brushing, toddler-snuggling genius.

Some of my favorite weekend moments were spent just hanging around the house, eating, lounging, and laughing.  We took advantage of the fresh, local seafood offerings and pickup up a couple dozen oysters from Barnacle Bill’s for an appetizer on Friday night.  Mitch gave Shane his first-ever shucking lesson, and the two of them slurped their way through oyster after oyster.

After our dinner of fresh salmon and roasted veggies, my dad and I grabbed our cameras and headed across the street to the beach to catch the sunset.  The misty glow of the horizon and the interesting topography of the low-tide beach made for an incredible evening walk.  I could so get used to this…

Still sorting through the rest of the weekend’s photos – more picture-perfect memories to come…