Saturday, December 23
About a year ago, Mom sent me a Facebook message with a beach house attached to it. She wrote, we should do this next Christmas! I asked if she was actually serious, and she said she was. She did some more research on who was all going to go and how much money we had to get to Mom and at what times throughout the year. She said we had to agree as soon as possible so we could get a down payment on it. We had several conversations about it throughout the year.
We did get everyone on board and paid Mom the money she needed. I think it ended up being $180 or so per person (about 13 people) to stay two nights at the beach house in Ocean Shores. I got with Mom a few times and we hammered out the details as it got closer and closer to Christmas. We got together with Trish and went over the menu and divvied out who was going to bring what. We chatted with Erika a few times to figure out what she and Zac were going to contribute.
A few days before, I started getting together all the stuff I was going to bring including the presents, food, cooking supplies and my personal items. I had some ideas for games but some of them I could not get stuff together in time to do them.
We stayed up late the night before, getting the last-minute stuff ready for Christmas at the beach. I set the alarm for 9:30, so we could get up at a decent time to get more stuff done before we were gone for two days. I washed my face and got some clothes on, I ate some yogurt, half a bagel and some grapes for breakfast while we watched a college bowl game. Ben finally got up, got ready and ate some blueberry pancakes and eggs for breakfast. Afterwards, he finished getting ready, used the restroom and I talked him into going out and grabbing a few geocaches in the area because it wasn't raining.
I got a short list written out of the ones we could get in the area. We hopped into the Escape and drove out to the first one, Curbside Pick-up (GCA06N1). It was located in a community playground, Wedgewood Community Park, off of Carpenter Road. We meander our way through the roads and found a place to park near the playground entrance. We weren't going to be there that long, so we got out and looked for the geocache. Ben overlooked it as I made the find. We got our names on it, got in a picture and put it back before the neighbors wondered what we were doing.
We got back into the Escape and went to the next one, which was in the same neighborhood, just further up the road. Ben navigated me down the correct roads and we came to a dead end, where we parked. We got out and started looking for Passageway Pit-Stop (GCA8Z03). This one took us all over the place because the coords were off. We looked everywhere. We almost gave up but looked in one more place and saw it. It was a broken mini camper toy, and it needed some serious love. We made a note of it in our logs.
We got back onto Carpenter Road and followed it to almost the end where it connects to Pacific Ave. See You at the Crossroads (GCA2MF6). We decided to park at the collision center since it wasn't normal business hours and it was closed, we had plenty of parking. We got out, made our way to the trail, crossed Carpenter Road and walked the rest of the way to the cache. It was hiding near a tree along the southside of the trail. I let Ben make the find. We got our names on it and got in a picture.
Next, we went to the Lacey Train Depot for the Adventure Lab. This area has improved a lot since I was a kid. They made it look nice for the food carts, who now, share the space with the historic building, added some paved parking lots and a playground for the kids. We have yet to make it over there to try some of the food. Maybe this next summer we will. We found a place to park and made our way over to the old train station.
We opened our app and followed the easy five waypoint Adventure Lab around the property. It took us like five minutes to complete it. We saw there was a bonus cache afterward, so we input the numbers into my phone and walked to the bonus cache, Adventure Lab Bonus - Lacey Train Depot (GCAF7D5). It was on the other side of the parking lot we parked in. Since it was a short distance, we just walked to it. It was a 3D printed cone in a tree. We got our names on it, a quick photo and put it back. We walked back to the Escape.
The next one, Moon Girl Skates (GCAAHG4) was in the parking lot of the Olympic Cards and Comics building. The place was slammed! We had a hard time finding a parking spot. We managed to fit ourselves in between two cars, yes, I had to kinda parallel park. We got out and we thought it was on the fence at first because that's where the coords took us. The cache was not on the fence line. I walked over to the lone tree and there it was. Lame. The coords were super off. I got our names on it quickly because there were a lot of people going in and out of the business.
We decided to go inside and browse a little bit. I had never been there before but have driven past it hundreds of times over the years. They had a lot of stuff to look at. We talked to a person who works there for a few minutes about geocaching and then we made our way over to the thousands of board games. We found some of the ones we play a lot with our friends during our game nights.
We got onto College and made our way down to the Chambers Lake Natural Area and found a place to park. There were a couple other people out and about walking their dogs. We walked the short distance to Take Your Time and Explore (GCA778Y). It led us to a large Maple tree in an open area. You could tell the city, or the community takes care of this area because there wasn't a lot of overgrowth. Ben reached up and grabbed the container out of the tree. We got our names on it and then put it back before someone saw us.
We walked back to the Escape and made our way to Wonderwood Park, a place I've been to many times for caches over the years. There was one, Honoring wasurf's Community Celebration (GC9RT6A) that we needed to get. We came here a few months ago and could not find it. The coords were really bad and we were looking at the wrong tree the entire time. This time, I was equipped with a better hint. We walked to a tree that we didn't look in and there it was. So dumb. Ben needed two others in the park, so we walked to those, so he could find and log them. Signal's Scout (GC9CY9Y) and For The Love Of...Wonderwood Park! (GC3VV10). He was able to get his name on those before we went home.
We got home, did some cleaning, made nachos as a snack and Ben played his game for a while with Josh. I had him do his laundry while he was playing his game. I watched the Bengals lose to the Steelers and then the Bills barely beat the Chargers. I was still doing well in Fantasy Football. I was hoping Kevin would lose.
It approached dinner time, so I had planned to have one of the Hello Fresh meals. Over the past several months, I've been borrowing the recipe cards from Erika and Zac, and it seemed to be going well. I made a pasta dish we've had in the past because we thought it was tasty. I spent some time making dinner and Ben and I ate together and decided to open Christmas presents we got each other after dinner.
This year, we decided to make a list of 5-6 things that reminded us of one another. For example, colors, beverages, snack foods, something comfy, something to do together, etc. Plus, we had to find a container to put it all in. We chose laundry baskets because we would have to replace the ones Doug would be taking with him when he moved out at the end of the month. I thought we did a pretty good job.
I spent more time making sure I had everything for the beach, and we ended up going to bed around midnight.
Sunday, December 24
Ben and I woke up around 9:30, got ready, I made a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon bits mixed in, a half a bagel and the rest of the strawberries as we watched our game with the Titans. Then I started cleaning up the house, I did some vacuuming, we packed up our duffle bags with the clothes, shoes and toiletries we might need, I went to Walmart for two bags of ice, came home, put the stuff into the coolers with the ice and set them aside.
We ended up pulling off a 20-17 win against the Titans. From the way we played, I wasn't sure if we were going to pull it off. We cannot convert a third down to save our lives...that and can't score in the red zone for some reason.
We had several bags and boxes of stuff all over the house while I waited for Mom to arrive at 2. Once she got here, we started putting things into the back of the Expedition. This is where playing Tetris as a kid came in handy. We were able to put most of the stuff into the back and some stuff in the middle seats. Some of my personal belongings like my bag, pillow, shoes and blanket had to go into the back of Ben's Edge. Dad and Grandma were going to meet Ben at the house with their stuff so they can drive over with him since we were not going to have any room.
We left at about 2:30 and headed to the freeway interchange in Tumwater. The traffic wasn't that bad which was nice. Mom said she would like to stop somewhere to get a snack at some point. I told her let's get going before we stop somewhere. I told her we could stop in Elma, and she said that was fine. We hit a few construction zones starting near McCleary going all the way towards Montesano where we had to merge into one lane.
We got to the Elma exit, and I pulled into Burger King's drive thru. Mom got a small cheeseburger and fries and for some reason it took forever to get the food. She handed us our food and didn't put napkins in the bag. Lame. We got back onto Hwy 8 and continued west to Aberdeen. Mom made me eat most of the fries.
The traffic still wasn't too bad until we got into Aberdeen, where it is more congested. She had me stop at the Walmart so she could get a couple more options for drinks. I didn't need anything. We left, made our way through the rest of Aberdeen, through Hoquiam and got onto the highway to Ocean Shores. I was so glad I didn't have to follow anyone.
We rolled into town and Trish called us telling us that their car full of people had arrived. Mom gave out the wrong address, so we had to call everyone to let them know where the correct one was. Everyone else was on their way. Mom and I stopped by the Oyhut Bay a Seaside Village office to check in. The lady showed us where our house was. We backed into the driveway and started unloading our stuff. Trish and the rest of the carload arrived shortly after and started unloading their car.
It got crazy with all the stuff we brought. I definitely overpacked with the kitchen stuff because I wasn't sure what would be available to us. Every rental/Airbnb/Vrbo has been different. We walked around to see where all the bedrooms were and what configurations they all were. We set up Erika and Zac in the "loft" with their dogs, Grandma and I got the queen bed upstairs, Ed was with Doug in the bunk bed, Ben brought a cot and slept in the living room, Mom and Dad got the king room downstairs and Trish, Amy and Jean shared the other king bed upstairs.
Mom and I got the fridge organized and once everyone arrived, we started dinner. Tacos! We figured tacos would be the easiest Christmas Eve dinner for twelve people. I got it started. The pots and pans were definitely worn out, but they worked for what we were going to use them for. The stove was gas and luckily, I've had experience with Trish's stove at her house. I got the ground beef going, Grandma and Mom got the cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and onions out, Grandma helped with the rice, and I got the black beans going in the microwave. They all just needed to cook.
Once the two different kinds of rice were cooked, I mixed them together in the many bowls in the drawers, we had to do some math for the seasoning and water ratio for the ground beef, and I put the beans on the table once the microwave beeped. We got out all the taco shells, sour cream, salsa, tortilla chips, plates, forks and once the beef cooked out, told everyone that dinner was ready.
Everyone came roaring in, grabbed their food and found a place to sit since not everyone got to sit at the dining room table. That was one of the things I didn't like about the house. I had two tacos and a handful of chips while I sat at the table and ate. I listened to the weird conversations that were being had around the house.
We put the food away and Trish nominated Amy to do the dishes. Why? Because it builds character and Amy needed to contribute in some way. She wasn't too happy about it but did it anyway. Some of us played board games while the others relaxed and hung out in the living room. Later, we decided that everyone got to open one gift for Christmas Eve. I got some camping stuff from Mom. We hung out some more, I helped Mom assemble the casseroles and then I decided that I needed a shower, so I took a shower in Mom and Dad's bathroom downstairs.
Some people went to bed while others loitered around a little bit longer. Everyone was in bed by midnight. I set my alarm for 8 a.m. while I watched a couple videos and posted pictures to Instagram.
Grandma's electric blanket was too hot.
Monday, December 25
I was tired but got up just before my alarm went off at 8. I had felt Grandma get up earlier and Erika, Zac and their dogs got up super early and tapped danced in the living room. It was too loud to and hard to ignore, even with the bedroom door closed. I went and found a bathroom that wasn't occupied and did my bathroom stuff. I take my silicon ring off when I do and set it down on the counter to where I can see it. I went downstairs and Mom had already put the casseroles into the oven. She was cutting up fruit and some of the muffins. People were making coffee and hanging out. Mom made sure to remind everyone to wear Christmas jammies. Most everyone did except a few.
I spent some time putting the dishes away and got some out for breakfast along with forks and spoons. I grabbed a coffee mug and dumped chocolate milk into it. Yes, I wanted to be fancy. I piled some food on my plate and found a place at the table to eat it. There were many conversations being had while everyone ate breakfast.
We put the food away, did the dishes with Mom and then we gathered up everyone and sat around our tiny Christmas tree and gobs of presents. I was Santa this year and I tried giving everyone at least a present to open in front of everyone before giving them another to open. Mom wanted to do it this way because we never get to see what people open when everyone is opening them at the same time.
It soon got old because people stopped being patient, so I handed them out quicker. Once we were done with presents, everyone put them away and we took a family picture.
We settled in a bit, I got the ham prepared put in the cooker, and we tried getting the TV to stream our football game, but it just didn't want to connect, so we got onto a previous guests Amazon account and tuned on the Barbie movie. I watched most of it and then noticed it had finally stopped raining. I wanted to get out and explore. I convinced Ben to go out for a few hours and go geocaching. We took a few minutes to get ready and made sure we had our rain jackets and waterproof hiking boots just in case. I realized I hadn't been wearing my ring and immediately panicked. Where did I leave it?! I remembered taking it off when I washed my face in the upstairs bathroom...maybe? Did I leave it in Mom and Dad's bathroom when I took a shower last night? Did I drop it? Is it wrapped up in my clothes? I looked quickly in all of those locations and found nothing. I was pretty sure I set it down near the sink when I washed my face that morning. Hmmm.
We hopped into the Edge and headed to our first one, Let's do Launch, Lower Menard (GC7AWPM), which was just down the road from the house off of Marine View Drive. It was at a small boat launch area. We pulled in, up and around to where to coords were pointing. We both got out and searched. We found the small bird house. We signed our names, got a picture and put it back. We got back into the Edge and drove to the next batch of caches.
We drove northwest of Marine View Drive to the Coastal Interpretive Center and parked along the side of the road at a bridge for Mount Olympus' Hump (GC8YNP1). We thought it might be down below, but it wasn't, it was above the canal. Ben made the find. We went back to the Edge and drove to the next cache.
Salal (GC8A3ZA) had over 130 favorite points so that is where we went next. It was on a small nature trail on the backside of the Coastal Interpretive Center. We found an empty gravel lot near the cache and parked. We both got out and walked the short distance to the cache. After seeing where the coordinates took us, I knew where the cache was. I let Ben take a few minutes to find it. Once he did, he was impressed by the clever craftsmanship of it. We got our names on it and put it back carefully.
We drove the short distance up the road we were on to Sing a Song of Sixpence TB (GC7V666) and it was located on the outskirts of the Ocean Shores Community Club. No one was there so we parked in the lot and walked to the edge of the property. It was a sad wooden box hanging from a tree. We opened it up and was disappointed there weren't any TB's inside. It seems like there never are these days. We carefully opened it, grabbed the logbook and wrote our names on it. Then we carefully put it back.
Ben saw some disc golf goals, so he grabbed his disc out of the Edge and threw it at the goals. It was hard because of the wind but he did it anyway, lol.
After a few throws and putts, we got back in the Edge and drove to another cache with a ton of favorite points. Post Hole (GCV82X) was an older cache, from 2006, and it had over 170 favorite points. I navigated Ben towards Bill Ellis Park along Mt. Olympus Drive. We were the only ones in the park and there were bunches of geese. I told Ben to watch where he stepped because there were many piles of goose poopies everywhere. We were led to the dock. I told Ben to look for something that doesn't belong because I caught it immediately. He found it after a couple minutes of searching.
We went back to the Edge and checked our map for the next cache. Along the way I stopped at the Interpretive Center for a photo opportunity and to stop for Ben to find Dock by a Bay (GC6N688), one that Mom and I found a few months back. I let him search for it underneath the dock. He found it with some friendly nudges, signed his name and we went back to the Edge.
Today's Launch Special (GC78PTY) was at a small parking area with a trail that led you to a kayak boat launch. We didn't have to leave the parking area. I noticed it before Ben did. It was a fake pine cone just hanging out, ready to be found. We made the quick grab, got our names on it and put it back.
We drove out to the next one which was inside of Cabana Park at the Ocean Shores Community Club Park. Pondering Perkins Pond Pathway was near the parking area. We didn't have to walk too far into the trail. You had to be in the right area to spot it. I could see how cachers would miss this one easily. We were lucky to spot it right away. Ben wrote our caching names on it, and we put it back exactly how we found it.
I found Trustee Pole (GC6QN72) that last time I was in Ocean Shores with Mom. Since we were driving by it, I let Ben get out and find it. He had to be careful of the deep ditch puddles on the side of the road.
Our last stop of the evening, since it was getting dark, was at an ocean access trailhead off of Ocean Shores Blvd. There were two geocaches, Do Not Dispose (GC6YPBW) and Wave Watchers (GC9BMJ4). The first one, took us a while to find a trail to the cache. We had to walk 150 feet down the trail to find an access point. Once we did, we followed the faint geo trail to our prize. It was zip tied to a branch of a tree. The log was soaked.
We walked back to the main trail and headed towards the ocean. Along the way we noticed someone had put decorations on a few selected trees to the beach. I thought it was pretty cool.
We got closer to the coords and finally spotted where it could be hiding. We walked past a couple who were walking their dog, we exchanged Merry Christmases with them. We got to the top of the small hill and crossed over to the bench where the cache was hiding. We got our names on it, took a few pictures and then walked down onto the beach to enjoy the view.
We started back to the Edge. Mom called along the way to tell me that the ham was done, and she turned off the cooker to let it cool. I told her we were on our way back. Doug and Dad had just gotten back from visiting the Fain's, who had moved to Ocean Shores within the last five years or so. Ben and I got back to the house around 4:30.
I got my rain gear and boots off and got into more comfortable clothes and continued to look around for my ring. I could not find it. Then Amy handed it to me and basically implied that she was "teaching me a lesson" for leaving it on the counter. That little turd took it off the counter when I went up to look for it. I will have to get her back for that someday.
Mom, Grandma, Trish and Ben helped me prepare the rest of the stuff for dinner. We made the mashed potatoes, gravy, put all the stuff into bowls and Ben carved the ham. There was a lot of food. I hoped we ate most of it. Dinner was served around 6:00 and some of us ate at the small table, some ate in chairs, and some ate standing at the kitchen table.
Once we were done, Mom, Grandma Karen and I did the dishes and Ben finished cutting up the ham. We had no idea where we were going to put the leftovers. We were going to have to be creative with the containers that we did have. Everyone just wanted to chill so we did for the rest of the evening. I tried getting people to play some of the games that I had planned but we didn't end up playing them because no one was interested. Some people enjoyed the game room though.
Dad and Doug decided to go home, so they packed up their stuff and crammed it into Doug's tiny car and headed out. The weather was a little rainy and it would take them at least an hour and a half to get home. We had them bring home some of the boxes so we could get some of the clutter out of the living room and we would have more room for stuff in our cars when we left the next day.
Mom and I started packing some of the stuff up into the bags we brough to lessen the load of stuff we would have to do the next day. I got in a quick shower and made sure I had my ring with me, just in case Amy decided to steal it again. I got in my comfy clothes and wrote in my notebook.
As bedtime approached, Ben slept on his cot in the living room again and Trish decided she didn't want to share the bed with Jean and Amy again and opted for the couch. I stayed up until at least 11:30 doing random things. I got ready for bed and crawled into the bed I shared with Grandma. I was on my phone until about midnight.
Tuesday, December 26
I slept until about 7:30 because once again, it was loud downstairs with everyone and dogs making a ton of noise in the living room. Ben came upstairs and snuggled me for about a half hour until it made me sweaty. I eventually got up, used the restroom and got ready for my day. I made sure I had my ring when I was done washing my face. I went downstairs for breakfast.
I grabbed some yogurt, granola, fruit and a bagel. Everyone else ate the third casserole Mom made for breakfast the day before. So, everything I bought for breakfast that morning, I was going to have to take home and eat quickly. Ugh. Next time, I am not doing that.
Afterwards, we started cleaning up and packing up everything. I went upstairs and got all of my belongings put together. I came downstairs and started helping with the dishes, packing up the food and making sure everything got put into bags or boxes, we got creative. It sure was hard planning and packing food for 12 people. We were going to have a lot of leftovers to bring home.
Everyone got their stuff packed up and put into their cars. We started loading Mom's Expedition and Ben's Edge with boxes, bags and belongings. I was going to drive with Mom and Grandma was going to ride with Ben since there was plenty of room.
We made sure everything was taken out, packed up and we had to leave the garbage behind because their garbage can wasn't emptied out before we got there.
We drove over to the office to check out, I took a few pictures of the truck, and then we headed to the beach - the same trailhead Ben and I went to the previous day. We walked along the coastline - the tide was high, took pictures and then walked back. There was a lot of sea foam.
Ben and Grandma headed home, Mom and I went to the store to grab some ice to keep the stuff in the coolers cold. We also stopped at the quilt store because it was actually open, the internet said it was closed. Mom didn't find anything she needed so we left and went home.
We encountered some bad driving, but the ride home was pretty uneventful. We unloaded our stuff, made sure Mom and Grandma had their stuff and they went home. Ben and I unpacked some stuff, did a load of laundry and since it wasn't raining, I decided to take the recycle to Hawks Prairie. It had piled up again. I also wanted to get a geocache or two. Ben went with me.
We stopped at the recycle and then drove up to Meridian Neighborhood Park to grab Pooch Station (GCAF63D) and then a little further north to get one more, Simply Electrifying (GCAF3XK). Then we drove home after getting the mail.
Ben went to go take a nap, while I worked on logging my caches from the day before and this afternoon, watched college football bowl games and put some stuff away. I ate some leftover taco makings as a salad for dinner.
I needed a shower, so I took a shower, Ben got up, took a shower, he ate food, we talked to Trish, folded clothes, put them away, I watched more college football, blogged, then got ready and went to bed. The last couple days I didn't sleep very well so heading to bed was very welcoming.
Next Adventure: Nicole's 40th Birthday Party
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