Newport Oregon, Part 2

More fun in Newport.

I added these pictures at the last minute, so surprise surprise, they are out of order. They are of the boys and I at the tide pools. I mention Spencer playing the drums and Lanny making me nervous. Read on below:)I don't know why, but Spencer loves wearing his hat this way....

There are 2 lighthouses in Newport-one on the north end and one on the south. This is the one on the south. I thought it was interesting because it is more like a regular house. It was called the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. It is the second oldest standing lighthouse structure on the Oregon Coast.

After we finished at the aquarium, yes, I know this is backwards, we went to the tide pools at Yaquina Head. We were happy that even though the tide was starting to come back there was still plenty of time for us to explore. We saw so many fun things:sea stars, sea urchins, sea cumbers, little crabs, muscles and seals and sea lions way out on the rocks.

It was a nice walk down lots of steps. This is of Landon walking up. He almost made it all the way back up but slipped on a step and wanted to be carried a few steps, then got back down.
This basically sums up how Lanny felt about the whole thing. He did have fun playing on some huge rocks after we had been there a while, but absolutely hated walking on the stones-it wasn't a beach, so we had to walk on rock the whole time; which proved to be a little precarious carrying a squirmy, unhappy 2 year old!

This was really the coolest thing ever!! I really, really, really love the ocean, so I could have stayed there all day. I was driving Darin nuts taking pictures, though. At one point he told me to stop and pay attention to my children....oops....

There was tons of drift wood, which was the only thing you could take away with you. Why anyone would want to take something out of the water is beyond me, but anyway Spencer filled up his little hands with lots of sticks. He climbed up on top of a huge rock with some sticks and pretended he was playing the drums. Lanny got up too, but made me so nervous I had to get him down. (pics at top.)

Jordan and Spencer were so cute and held hands most of the time.
This is a bed of mussels. On the way down to the tide pool, there was a sign saying not to walk on them. It was hard because they were all over.
I was just sooo amazed at what we were able to see at the tide pools. It was so fun to see the living, breathing animals in their homes. When you would put your finger in the sea urchins-the green thing in the pic-it would grab your finger with its tentacles.

We got up bright and early in the morning to go to the Newport Aquarium. It is pretty famous and the lines can get pretty long, so we were there just a few minutes after it opened. I was glad because there were definitely very long lines by the time we left. It is pretty famous because it is where they used to have the famous killer whale that was used in the movie Free Willy. It is an excellent aquarium. We really loved it.

We saw this picture and Spencer was the only one who would have his picture taken with it. It is a Japanese Spider Crab. There is a picture of the real one we saw in the collage below. The thing was huge!! But really cool.
Fun creatures we came across.
Very interesting fish!!
All the animal displays had the most beautiful colored glass sculptures. The were from a local glass maker. There were glass makers up and down the coast as well as shops selling stuff made from the Myrtle tree-which is only grown on the Southern part of the Oregon Coast. It was really beautiful stuff but costs an arm a leg:) Look at the stingray in the glass dish in the picture, and there is a shark underneath it. .

Here are some more of the fun creatures we saw at the aquarium. I was so pleased with how well my camera took pictures through the glass.

Spencer decided he could be brave and touch a sea star. They had a touching pool and it was divided in two parts. I asked why the sea stars (starfish) were on one side away from the sea cucumbers and a couple other things. The volunteer told me they would eat all the animals on the other side. Apparently they look so nice and cute, but are quite the voracious eaters!!
The kids loved this tunnel they could crawl in and see the fish. I even went in with them-way cool.
Here's a face only a mother could love:)
If you are ever on the Oregon Coast, I highly recommend staying a bit in Newport!!