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Happy Birthday, Bruce

   

Bruce's birthday this year was more of a low key birthday  than last year when he had four different celebrations for turning 70.   Another year has gone by already and here we are celebrating again.  This year, we went to Seaside, Oregon; one of our favorite spots to go to for the past 35 years.  We have lots of wonderful memories here and still love going to Seaside whenever we get the chance.  This year, Lauren was able to join us since she now lives in Portland which is only an hour and a half away from Seaside vs. the three and a half hours away for us.  We spent the weekend in Portland and then drove out to the beach for Bruce's birthday on Monday.  She was a great host in Portland and we had a wonderful barbecue at her house similar to what we've been doing all summer.  I guess she inherited my genes...

She and her boyfriend, Dustin, took us out to many of Portland's finest eating scenes and there are many.   They live in a very cute neighborhood with lots of neighborhood restaurants so I can say that we were well fed on this visit.  They have a huge backyard with an apple tree

                         

so I made an apple pie for dessert, of course. 


After dinner, we sat around their campfire and I played my ukulele and Dustin played his guitar.  It was such a fun day and a lovely evening.

We also learned a new sport while we were in Portland called disc golf. They play it a lot so they took us out to one of their favorite courses and it was really fun.  It was a beautiful park called Pier Park.  

You play it like golf except you throw a frisbee-type disc instead and there is a target where you aim to hit it in as few throws as possible.  There are obstacles, of course, in this case - trees.  But they thought it was best to take us to this course instead of the one with blackberry bushes...

We enjoyed it a lot; lots of laughs, too.  Throwing a frisbee is fun plus walking around in a beautiful park - it's a great way to spend the day.  And guess what Bruce got for his birthday present?  Some golf discs!  Now, we can go play here at home, too, and there’s even is a course close to our house. 

After the weekend in Portland, we headed out to the beach and we found a great spot to celebrate Bruce's birthday that was an authetic Italian bistro called Nonni's.  With their homemade pasta dishes and desserts, they also provided us with a complimentary round of amaretto shots to add to our celebration.  It was a very quaint and home-y kind of place that was perfect for a birthday dinner.  The food was excellent and our server was also very fun.  



Cheers to another birthday!  


It wouldn't be a trip to the beach without going out on the beach and we did a lot of that.


Amazingly detailed sandcastles here

 
and beautiful evenings.




It was a wonderful birthday weekend celebrating the birthday boy who is still young at heart. 






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