Seaside Archives - home is where my story begins...

Summer Beach Mantle

Becca — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 14:00:00 +0000

It must be summer, because apparently I have some time on my hands. I’ve been having a lot of fun decorating around my house lately, so I decided to swap out my mantle decor for a summer look. (By the way, have you ever noticed how mantle and mantel are both used when describing that ledge above the fireplace? Well, Google says that you can use either spelling of the word. If Google says it’s true, then I’ll believe it. Everything you read online is true. Right?) Anyway, I don’t change my mantel-mantle decor too often. I usually stick with the same candle holders and antique books year-round. I’m kind of linking this beachy theme though!

I shopped the house for this look.

Well, actually I shopped the garage. Since I’m moving schools this summer, all of my teacher stuff is packing into my 3 car garage. Lucky for me, I have absolutely everything that I have ever ~~hoarded~~ collected! Ya know those shells that you collected when you were 5 and your mom said, “Why are you saving those? When will you ever need them again?” Well, I still have all of those shells. Not only that, but I add to my collection every year!

Every year, when we go to Seaside, I add a few more shells to my collection. I store those in a box labeled “good shells” as opposed to the other box that is filled with all of those shells I collected in my younger years. The good shells made it onto the display, along with those neat glass jars (below). Won’t those look pretty with a few strands of beachy looking grass poking out of them? The jars were from my son’s antibiotics after having his tonsils removed a few years ago. Did I mention that I may have some hoarding tendencies?

I love this big shell! My mom brought it home from her honeymoon, many years ago. She let me have it to add to my collection. Does that make her an enabler? You know… the whole hoarding thing???

I always brought back shells, from Seaside, for my kindergarten teacher friends’ collections too. Boy, am I going to miss those ladies! Maybe I’ll make new friends, at my new school, who like collecting shells too.

The shells that are stored in the other box – not the one labeled “good shells” -earned a spot in the glass jar. They aren’t as pretty, but they are nice vase fillers.

I’ll share a few more beachy spots in my house soon. Until then, happy shell collecting!!!

(I’m really not a hoarder!)

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Seaside Memories and Crab Chowder

Becca — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 23:45:00 +0000

Every summer my Mother-in-law rents a house in Seaside, Oregon. I’m pretty sure my kids think of “The Blue House” as their second home. We pack the car and the cargo box full of beach toys, skim boards, and bicycles, and my sister-in-law’s family does the same. For a week in August, the beach (and The Blue House) are ours.

I can’t say I’ve ever seen a more beautiful sunset at Seaside. I was lucky enough to be standing on the Promenade as the sun was going down. I think I took about 100 photos. This was my favorite.

We woke up early for a low tide walk.

Oregon and Washington beaches have so much character. You can see the dark, gray clouds off in the distance, but it was actually pretty warm as we were walking and wading in the water.

We’re not always this lucky, but we found several whole sand dollars this year.

Of course, there were the annual sunset beach poses.

(Note to self: Feed children and dads before picture time. Everyone will be happier.)

The sandcastles are my favorite part of beach days. The ~~dads~~ kids absolutely love using the beach as a blank slate. They spend time building, carving, digging, and sculpting. Often times, people walking by will stop to take pictures of their creations. They will spend HOURS on a masterpiece that will be washed away by the next high tide. But, they don’t mind. The tide just brings another blank slate. (Honestly, I don’t know if it’s the kids or dads who love the castles more!)

This year they went for the traditional castle, but also sculpted a dragon, Air Jordan, and a shark eating a mermaid.

There was a little beach volleyball, inspired by the Olympics.

(I love the filters on Instagram!!!)

One of my favorite parts of the trip is crabbing. I don’t exactly love the work of crabbing, but OH MY do I love the product of crabbing! 24 keepers this year!

I smell dinner!

I absolutely love any type of seafood chowder, but crab chowder has got to be my favorite.

Here’s my recipe:

24 steamed clams (or as many as you dig up when you’re out crabbing and claming)

Lots and lots of crab (I think I used about 3 cups, minus the huge bites that didn’t quite make it into the pot… yum!)

4 slices cooked bacon, cut into bite size pieces

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup flour

2 bottles of clam nectar

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup corn (We had corn on the cob the night before and cut some off for chowder.)

3 cups 1/2-inch cubed, peeled potatoes (precook by boiling for a few minutes)

2 cups heavy cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/4 cup minced parsley leaves

Old Bay or Johnny’s Seafood Seasoning to taste

I started by melting the butter and browning the onions. Then I added my flour, followed by cream to make a roux. All of the other ingredients followed, and I let it simmer for about 20 minutes.

I think we must have been pretty hungry because we devoured this chowder. It was thick, yummy, and absolutely packed with crab.

All in all, I’d say it was another wonderful year at the beach. Thanks for the trip Grandma! We always have happy memories.

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Using Shells as Home Decor

Becca — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 13:00:00 +0000

It’s time for a little summeritme beachification around the house. I have a large collection of shells and sand. I’ve been collecting as long as I can remember. Every time we go on a trip, I fill a baggie with sand to bring home. I’m also on the lookout for cool shells. Most often, I buy the shells at an aquarium or gift shop. When I started collecting, I remember my mom asking what I thought I’d do with all of my shells and sand. I can only imagine her frustration as I carefully packed my box of sand and shells as we moved to a new house, moved off to the dorm, lived in an apartment with no storage, and all the while having my special treasures in her garage. I saved my special collection through high school and college, and that’s when it finally came in handy. I now have 3 large paper boxes filled with sand and shells, that I store in my classroom. Every year, during our beach unit, I break out the boxes and the kids start exploring with amazement and wonder. (Shells really are amazing if you stop and think about their beauty.) At the end of the unit, I pack everything back up in the boxes, but I bring a few of my favorite shells home for the summer.

A few weeks ago I went to our brand new Hobby Lobby and found some small glass bottles. My kids and I filled them with sand from my collection. This picture shows sand from two different beaches in Hawaii and one from the Bahamas.

On my way home from Hobby Lobby, I stopped by my favorite store, Goodwill. I found this shadow box. It was meant to be! I had the little bottles and a box full of shells waiting to fill this perfect little shadow box. My kids filled it up and we hung it in the family room.

Then, I moved onto other parts of the family room. I filled my wire basket with shells and pulled out a few of my Seaside photo books.

I saved a few of my big shells for the side table in the family room. The conch shell was a souvenir, brought back by my mom, from her honeymoon in the Bahamas. Another Seaside photo album and a few more shells finish off the beachy look.

See, mom, those collections I had as a kid really did come in handy!

What do you collect, friends? What do your kids collect?

Happy Beachification!

Linky Parties

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Crabbing With Kelly in Rockaway Beach

Becca — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0000

I promised I’d share more of our adventure in crabbing and clamming, so here it is. I wrote a little about the educational value on my other blog.

When we were in Seaside, Oregon, last month we tried something new. We headed down to Kelly’s Brighton Marina, in Rockaway Beach. We rented a boat and took the boys crabbing and clamming. We decided not to bring the little girls along, mainly because we didn’t think they’d have the patience for it. (They really would have had a blast too!)

We took the boat over to a beach which was filled with clams. They weren’t the type of clams you have chase and dig quickly for. These clams were just sitting in the sand. All you had to do was move the sand a little, and there they were.

We all loved the little inlet. This is a view of Kelly’s from the beach we went to.

We easily dug our limit of clams in about 20 minutes. Over 200 hundred clams! Can you believe it?

They cook and clean the crab for you right there at the dock. We bought a few extra, to be sure we’d all have plenty of crab to eat.

The nice guys who work there were very helpful! They explained everything to the kids (and grown ups). Let me tell you, we had NO idea what we were doing. They showed us how to drop and pull crab pots, the best spot to dig for clams, and just spent time chatting with us.

I love this next picture.

Doesn’t it remind you a little of this picture…

Yah, we were just that awesome.

Next came the cooking. We stopped by the store, on the way home from crabbing, to get ingedients for clam chowder and to buy butter. Lots of butter. There is nothing better than crab dipped in butter.

Everyone had a hand in preparing the meal. From cleaning clams and shelling crab, to chopping potatoes and steaming clams, we all had a job.

Here’s the recipe I used for the chowder.

Ingredients

10 pounds small clams, scrubbed and rinsed, steamed and opened clams (discard shells – duh!)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup finely chopped onions

2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 5 cups)

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/4 teaspoons salt, or to taste
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1or 2 bottles of clam nectar (1 for thick chowder and 2 for thinner chowder

3 tablespoons flour mixed with 1/2 cup water (to thicken)

I chop the potatoes into small bite-size cubes and boil them for about 8 minutes, until they are soft. Then set the potatoes aside. I melt the butter in a fry pan and saute the garlic and onion, just until soft. Then, put all of the chowder ingredients into a large pot and gently simmer, covered, to allow the flavors to come together. Place the pot over low heat, being careful not to let boil. If it’s too thin, you can always add more of the flour/water combination to thicken it.

This is the BEST Seaside dinner I can imagine! We will definitely go back to Kelly’s next year. (Although, I’d like to go again in September or October. They guys who work there say that’s good time to go crabbing.)

Good times. Good memories. Good food.

Happy crabbing!

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Seaside Trip, 2011

Becca — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +0000

We just returned from our week at the beach. Every year my mother in law treats the family to a week in Seaside, Oregon. Our family of 4, my sister in law’s family of 4, and Grandma LOVE this trip. It’s something we look forward to all year.

It’s not usually a warm, lounge at the beach, type of vacation. Washington and Oregon beaches are pretty cool, temperature wise, but there are so many fun things to do. (I’ll be sharing a few of our adventures during the week.)

Aside from bundling up and walking at low tide, we love to just stroll on the beach.

We love collecting sand dollars. It’s amazing how many you can find at low tide.

There are several swing sets on the beach, which makes a good excuse to take a break from walking and just sit and enjoy the view.

My kids absolutely love to spend an afternoon building sand castles. Then, we wait for the tide to come in, and watch the ocean swallow up our creation.

Walking the Promedade is something we do every day. The Promenade is a three mile walkway, right along the beach. The kids ride their bikes, scooters, or skateboards.

The adults walk and pick out the house we’d buy if we won the lottery.

I love to look at the beautiful yards and flowers.

You’ve just gotta love the view from the Promendade.

You can see, the skies are a little gray, but no one seems to care. People play, search for shells, and just enjoy their time at the beach.

Doesn’t this look relaxing?

Every year we try to rent the same house. The owners call it Big Blue. We just call it the Blue House. It’s just a short walk to the beach. It is the perfect house for us! It has a nice yard to play games in, a fire pit in the back, and a quiet street for the kids to ride bikes. Oh, and the kitchen in HUGE! That’s a big plus for us!

This is the house we LOVE to rent. If you are interested in checking out the prices, here is the link to the rental info. If you click on the link, it will take you on a tour of the house. You can see all of the rooms and how adorable it is!

Thanks for a great trip, Grandma!

I can’t wait to tell you about our crabbing adventure!

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