The Hayes Family Goes to the Beach

There's nothing like those hot, hazy, stifling days of summer to make you pack up the furry kid and some gin and tonic materials, and head for the coast. That, and a massive family reunion. We made a stop over in Portland first, to eat delicious Thai food, watch the mania of the Timbers' Army cheering on their soccer team, and provide cheap labor for my mother's dessert factory. Then it was up Hwy 217 and west out 26 to the northern Oregon coast. I'm not sure who was responsible for booking this family madness during the busiest weekend of the year in Seaside, but our clan joined the 50,000 other folks descending on this town of 6,188 for the culmination of the Hood to Coast Relay. Like the name says, the "biggest relay in the world" starts at Mt. Hood and winds up in downtown Seaside 200 miles later.

We managed to avoid most of the people, even when we visited Cannon Beach to fulfill Carl's dream of recreating "The Goonies". That man has a mean truffle shuffle. We found plenty of kelp to fling for Bubba, who probably ran his own equivalent of the Hood to Coast over the course of the weekend.
My Aunt Ruth found a rental to hold most of our immediate clan, and there was an amazing view off the back porch. It was just the place for sipping cool drinks, soaking up the sun, and keeping track of Hurricane Irene's path of destruction up the East Coast. Just another reason why the West Coast is the best coast.
The house was built in the 40's and had a funky floor plan with lots of unnecessary stairs.
At the reunion, shaking hands with relatives I haven't laid eyes on in years, I was bombarded with the consistent greeting, "Nice to see you! So how are the chickens?" To fulfill everyone's curiosity, here's the latest on the little feathered cluckers:

At five months old, the ladies are fully feathered and starting to figure out their purpose of producing eggs. The Fury and Erica are both laying the cutest little eggs you ever did see, while Brendina seems to be a bit slower to catch on. I did find an egg without a shell this morning, so maybe she's getting it; part of it, anyway. Carl still enjoys communing with the girls. I believe that's Erica on his lap, in time-out for trying to peck his toes.
Here they are in all their chicky glory: Erica, Brendina, and the Fury.
And us? Oh, we're just fine.