Astoria/Cannon Beach

One last place we had to see before officially moving Tyleigh out of Washington was Astoria, Oregon.

Oregon is such a beautiful state. Aside from the crazies in Portland, the landscape there is unlike any place else I've ever been. 

We HAD to see the Goonies House!

It's hard to believe this movie was filmed here in 1985! 

Someone obviously lives in this house and keeps it up, but it was in nearly perfect condition!

You know Rod had to do the Truffle Shuffle! 

Ty wasn't quite sure what to think of us!

I love the bridges all throughout Oregon and Washington!

This is the Astoria Column.  It's a 125 foot monument that honors the history of the Pacific Northwest. You can't see many of the details in my picture, but it was really beautiful!

There were elk everywhere!  Tyleigh said she saw a big herd of them on Cannon Beach, 

which is SO cool!

Cannon Beach - Haystack Rock.  This is a super famous rock formation - and was also in Goonies!

The elk were right in the middle of the green spaces off the road. They were huge!

We went to dinner in Longview - this is the same place Tyleigh's adventure in Washington started, so we felt like it was appropriate to say our goodbyes here as well.

What an adventure it's been!

We tried . . . Tyleigh's 18th Birthday

Rod, Carsyn, Braiden I decided to drive up to Washington to surprise Tyleigh for her 18th Birthday.  

Dang i-phones and apple watches.  She suspected we were coming. We turned off our location, but Carsyn forgot to turn off her watch. Tyleigh pretty much knew the whole time. 

It was so fun to watch her play in one of her college games! 

She is so freaking tough!

It was an extra bonus to get to see Mika and Lauren as well!

Lucky for us, Ty's birthday fell at the same time as the Squirrel Fest in Longview!

Yes, that's a real thing. 

"Squirrel Fest is the first of its kind on the West Coast and in the Mount St. Helens region! We’re nuts over this celebration in honor or our furry friends and so are our 3,500+ guests we reconnect with annually. Longview is known for its Squirrel bridges near the Civic Center and we’re excited to invite you to celebrate with us! With a wide variety of nutty activities, Squirrel Fest offers something for everyone. Located at Longview Civic Center Park, the event features local vendors, performances, children’s activities, delicious foods and more!"

The guy in the picture was so funny! He was so excited to see Lower Columbia College soccer players and wanted to give them a special tour of the train and get a picture with them.  Apparently these girls are a BIG deal! 

We couldn't pass up getting squirrel pictures!

Some of the local gardeners were giving away produce. 

Tyleigh wanted to show us some of the beautiful places she had been. We hiked to Beaver Falls in Oregon, which is right on the border of where she lives. 

She was right- it is gorgeous there!

Everything was SO green and lush!

This picture doesn't even do justice to the size of this slug! They were all over the ground!

Leaving Ty behind again was so hard and emotional, but she is going to do great things in Washington!

We wanted to show Carsyn and Braiden Multnomah Falls on the way home. It's really an incredible waterfall! If you look closely, you can see people on the bridge, which tells you how huge the falls are!

Happy 18th Birthday, Tyleigh!  We love and miss you!

Tyleigh goes to College!

Nothing could have prepared Rod and I for sending Tyleigh away to college.  Wow. 

Grandma and Grandpa came to say their goodbyes to her. 

Annie new something big was going on. 

Dax is clueless as always. 

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love these girls.

All the girls in a picture one last time before Tyleigh moved. 

We loaded up Tyleigh's car and Rod's truck and started the long journey up to Longview, Washington. 

I was crying before we even started our drive, and admittedly continued to bawl the entire drive up there. I had no idea how hard letting go of my girls was going to be. Especially my baby who has literally been my shadow most of her life. 

We stopped at Shoshone Falls in Idaho to stretch our legs.  It was beautiful!

Mika and her cute parents met us up there.  

We took the girls to campus so they could figure out their mailboxes. 

Harlan came with us to show the girls their new apartment. 

Marcelo, Rod, and Harlan were trying to figure out the best way to set up their room and beds. 

We decided to take the bunk bed apart and put the girls side by side. 

(I may not have been the only one in tears - Ty's cute little eyes are swollen too.)

This is the first and only refrigerator Tyleigh will ever be taller than!

Her bed is so high!

Day one of her new home!

Getting it all put together and it looked pretty cute!

The Nutty Bridge just made us laugh every time we drove under it.

Almost done!

These three high school friends/teammates are now college roommates/teammates. 

Putting away her official new gear!

Lauren, Mika, and Tyleigh . . . these cute girls were the only thing that gave me any comfort leaving Tyleigh!

Leaving Tyleigh was scary, emotional and so hard. When Rod and I were leaving Washington without her, we drove past this sign and both sobbed.

We had to document the squirrel statue!

This is the student housing building Tyleigh lives in! It's for the athletes of LCC.

Rod and I cried the whole way home (12+ hours of tears). 

The next day, we got an upset call from Tyleigh. Someone had bashed in her back window with a traffic cone. They didn't steal anything. Just destroyed her window. 

I told Rod we were going to get her NOW.  This situation was not helping my nerves at all.

Thankfully, Lauren's mom and coaches were there to help her. 

Week one was a rough start for all of us, but Tyleigh grew to absolutely love 

Washington and grew so much while she was there!