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!!

Newport Oregon, Part 1

After the family reunion, we started our drive down the coast. Our first stop was a town called Newport. Well, we stopped to look at a couple things along the way as well. When we arrived in Newport it was cold and foggy, but we wanted to see a famous lighthouse called Yaquina Head Light House. We had to laugh because a lot of the State Parks would say "Fee" on the sign and it was always so much cheaper than expected. Like Ecola Park that I wrote about last time was a whopping $3.00. So when we drove up we weren't surprised to pay only $7.00 for a 3 day pass.

Anyhow it was really foggy, so the pics weren't that great. There was a tide pool, but the tide was in. I will post more on that next. After we found a where our hotel was, we wen to the Newport Harbor area. Thanks to a great tip from Carla Price, we were on the lookout for sea lions. We were walking along and heard loud barking and found them. It was amazing. There was a little dock down below and there were a bunch of Sea Lions lazing around. The kids were thrilled!! We stood there for a long time just looking and laughing.

They are really quite a comical animal. Jordan said they looked like a bunch of potatoes. I think they look like slugs. They lay all over each other and bark and bark. The boys loved it. They are all males-the females stay in the water-typical:) We did see some on rocks a little further out and some jumping in and out of the water.

There was a sad one with an injury-he swam through some wire or something and it is stuck around his neck. I forget who keeps track of them, but was a sign saying that they couldn't get him still enough to get it off and he could get hurt in the process. Makes me feel sad to see all the litter in the ocean. If only people could just find a trash can!! Most of the sea lions had numbers on them so the scientists could study their movement.

This is one of the little stops we made before getting to Newport. This is the Cape Meares Lighthouse. I walked down a short path to see it because the kids were all asleep in the car. It was a gorgeous walk. I do have to say that the lighthouses in Oregon were a little boring compared to the ones we have seen on the East Coast. They were all short and white. The ones in the Outer Banks are really tall, have strips or are painted really cool. But they are always fun to see, nonetheless.

This particular light house had a red light inside, which none of the others had. It was cool because it was really right out on the cliff.
Another view of our funny friends.

Fun Family Reunion

Warning: a really long post done mostly for posterity's sake-I am making a blog book someday- so skim if you want:)

We had Darin's family reunion in a cute little town called Manzanita at a hotel right on the beach-it was literally across the street from our room. It made me a little nervous about Lanny, but we had a little grassy area out front where the kids loved to play and only had couple scary moments. The kids loved the hotel because they would just go from room to room visiting everyone in the family. We took up all 5 rooms on the bottom and 3 on the top. Most everyone kept the doors open and welcomed the kids roaming around from room to room.

We had lots of fun. We did crafts, played games, talked a lot, ate a lot, and did a couple field trips. One day we even went to the pool. It was nice because they had this big Plexiglas wind protector around it and it was heated. The kids loved that. At the hotel, Jordan was one of the ring leaders and would have the little cousins following her. She was in heaven.

One night the adults played a fun game where we were each given a plastic egg with something inside. We were read a story about the "Right" family and had to pass the egg either left or right as we listened to the story. There was money in the eggs and to my astonishment I was the big winner-I had the egg with the $50.00 bill in it!! Woo Hoo. New camera bag for me:)

We went down the the beach a couple times and it was great-despite the fact that it was cold and windy and the water was sooo cold. I walked in it a little then was done.

Spencer and Lanny on the first day. The were slow to warm up but eventually did get all wet. Our main beach day was the second day. We were meant to have a sand castle contest, but we just played and did some kite flying. Landon lasted about 15 minutes then Darin took him back to the room for a nap. But overall all the little kids really loved it.

Jordan having fun with one oft he cute little cousins, Olivia.
All the kids were so funny because they would roll around in the dunes of dry sand. We finally realized that it was because it the sand was really hot and the were warming up!! Smart!!

Landon's first experience with smores. We were supposed to have a fire on the beach but it was really windy and cold, so we improvised. Thank goodness for ovens. Lanny and Spence loved the smores, but Jordan was traumatized when she bit into it and it was hot and the chocolate dripped on her dolly....oops...

This may seem like a wierd pic to put in, but it has a story. We were doing crafts one day in Darin's Aunt Coleen's room and all of a sudden we hear a "bang" and one of the little girls walked right into the door and bounced off-obviously thinking it was open. She was okay after a minute of comfort then a couple minutes later we heard the same thing, only louder and stronger. This time it was JORDAN!! She practically ran to go back to our room and bounced right off the door onto her bottom. Darin's Aunt decided they needed to tape a piece of paper on the door so the kids would know it was closed! This is Lanny trying to get in.

Spencer and Landon with Papa. Notice the pants and long sleeves. While the rest of the state of Oregon was having a massive heat wave of record numbers, it was downright cold along the coast. We were so thankful that Nana brought us a huge bag of clothes that Darin's sister, Darcie, had left with them so we had lots of extra pants and long sleeves. Poor Landon drown in his, but the were perfect for Spence:)
One of the popular outings we did was the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was cool seeing how they made the cheese. We also LOVED the ice cream and "squeaky cheese" as I call it, or commonly known as cheese curds. They were pretty good...almost as good as WI cheese:)

This is how Spencer felt about the whole thing since he was so rudely awoken upon our arrival in Tillamook. He insisted on riding in the stroller the whole time, which luckily Landon didn't mind. Well, actually it was more of a challenge since Landon goes where ever he wants. One time we lost him and Darin's sister just happened to find him coming down the stairs from the second level when she went to buy something. I was a little freaked out, needless to say. You have to watch that kid like a hawk!!! He disappeared a couple of times during our trip, but always turned up close nearby.Two of the little cousins watching cheese being made. It was really interesting to watch how they did it. We all decided that it had to be a very boring job-doing the same thing over and over again.

We had a photo session on the beach after a big family dinner on the last evening of the reunion. It was fun, but windy and the sun wasn't too cooperative. We did get some good shots-here are a few of my favorites.
Our cute family. Landon wasn't too thrilled with the beach and the wind. He has yet to warm up to the beach in general so we have to work on him because Mommy and his big sister would be beach bums if they could....well, not along the cold Oregon Coast!! A few of us wanted to revolt against always going to the West Coast and relocate the reunion to the Outer Banks, but I don't think we had any takers....too bad...they would LOVE it-playing on the beach when it is actually sunny and warm...what a concept:)

All right Westerners, don't get me wrong-I did love the Oregon Coast but I prefer to be at the beach when it is warm- that's all:) Darin's Mom and Dad a.k.a. Nana and Papa...oh, I could say tons about these folks. We love 'em so much and the kids were thrilled to see them. Sure helps when Papa hands the kids 25 one dollar bills and makes them think they're rich!! Thanks for all your love and generosity Nana and Papa-we love you tons!! Nana planned the reunion and did a wonderful job. You can rest for a few years now, Nana!!
Here is Grandma Andrew with her 14 great grandchildren. This is Darin's grandma she is one AMAZING lady. She's 87 and quilts-we have lots of her creations in our house with my favorite being our matching Christmas stockings, still does her visiting teaching every month, did volunteering at a local school-she's just the coolest lady. We were thrilled we could see her, as she had a setback before the trip and probably really should have stayed home to rest. She insisted on coming and we were so happy she did. After the last couple trips out West, Jordan always asks about her-she even asks about her on our Sunday phone calls with Nana and Papa. We love you, Grandma Andrew.
This is Darin's sister, Darcie, and her two boys Caleb and Aiden. We loved seeing and playing with our cousins and hope they can visit us next summer.

We had such a fun time and were so happy to see all our family. Look forward to 2011!!

(East Coast...East Coast....East Coast....East Coast....East Coast.....East Coast.....East Coast.....East Coast)

Okay, maybe my attempt at a subliminal message won't work for the family members in the West, but I won't give up trying!!!

More beautiful sights-Oregon Day 2

This blog is totally driving me NUTS!! I still can't type on top of my pictures without it getting underlined. I am so obsessive-compulsive and want to type before the pictures....UGH.

Anyhow, our first stop in Portland before we made our way to the coast was the temple. The above picture is of the doors, which I thought were soo pretty. The whole place was gorgeous-the grounds, architecture, the whole thing. We loved it so much. We walked around the whole thing. You can see it over the tree tops when you are almost to it-kind of like DC-well not as huge, but it is right on the freeway-only thing that separates it is a fence. Good thing it isn't like the freeway in DC.

I didn't know much about this temple and was so surprised. It is simply beautiful. I took lots of pics. Because of the grounds, it is a little hard to get a shot of the whole thing-it is surrounded by trees.
The stone work is so pretty. Very ornate and just so cool. Click on the picture to really see the detail.


Our second stop was Astoria. It is where the Columbia River enters the sea. Very cool and historic little sea town. We went to this place called the Astoria Column. I am still not sure what the purpose of the structure is, but it was cool.

Jordan and I walked to the top, and in so doing, I realized that there is a correlation between the increase in my age and the increase in my fear of heights!!! Jordan was cruising up the 150 odd steps and I was practically crawling-especially the closer to the top we got. I was worth the trip, though, because the view was so amazing. My legs were a bit on the rubbery side when we got down. Spencer was too afraid to go up and so Darin stayed at the bottom with the boys. Landon tried to go up the steps numerous times, but Darin caught him and brought him back. I know he would have got half way up and wanted to be carried the rest of the way.
A view of Darin and the boys from the top. Darin and Spencer are the duo on the left and Landon is the tiny spec in the in front of them.
A view from the top.
Jordan when we made it down safely.
Jordan and I at the top-it was very windy.

After we left Astoria, we worked our way down the coast to the town where Darin's family was having the reunion. We stopped and looked a couple cute little sea towns-one is very famous called Seaside. We then found a really awesome state park called Ecola State park. Incidentally, I cannot believe how much of Oregon is a State Park or National Forest!! You can't drive 5 miles without seeing signs for a State Park.

Oh, and the whole state is also one huge RV park!!! I still laugh at how many RV parks we passed-one every few miles and all of them full. We did follow a lot of RVs on the road, as well. Funny. But I did get to the point where I wished I had been riding in one so I could lay down....

Anyhow we went to Ecola State Park. There was a fabulous lookout area. There was a lighthouse way for out on a big huge rock and the scenery was awesome. It reminded me of the beach where they filmed "The Goonies." Isn't there a huge rock in the water in the end part when the ship comes sailing out of the cove-I swear it was filmed there. It was soooo pretty.

This is the one I think was in "The Goonies."
Lighthouse way out on a rock.
More of the coastline. Sooo gorgeous.


I loved this tree. If you look, you can see a big rock in the background. My attempt at a cool shot.

The views on the drive up to the lookout were enough to make me happy....well, I really loved the lookout as well.

Look at this tree...simply gorgeous!
These flowers were everywhere. I loved them. The pic doesn't really do it justice. They were all up and down the coast. Some individual ones, and some big groups of them. We read the name in a flower book in one gift shop, but I forgot it.
We made it to Manzanita where the family reunion was. The whole reason for the trip. The kids were so excited to see all the family. We had a blast...more on that in the next post!!

Arriving in Oregon

We arrived in Portland early in the afternoon, so we had some time to take in a few sights. We drove straight to these waterfalls: Multnomah Falls, not far outside of Portland. It was a really pretty drive. It was amazing because from the airport, you don't really see much "city" because there are so many trees. We finally saw the downtown area, which has a cool sky tram thing we wanted to try. There was also a cool building we think was the convention center. We also went over a really big cool bridge.

Already off on a tangent....So Darin researched and these falls are considered a "must" in Oregon. They are so pretty. It is actually 2 falls, but in some pictures it looks like one. I was taken in by the beauty...the earth is amazing. It was so worth the time to go look.

We walked up to the bridge to get a closer look at the falls. Jordan ran ahead of us the whole time, meanwhile Landon took his time to look at all kinds of things at his eye level. I didn't mind walking with Lanny because I took lots of pics. It was sooo pretty.
I loved this log at the bottom of the falls. So Beautiful!

I was instantly in love with how green everything is. There is moss growing on the trees and it is so cool. Oregon is simply gorgeous!!
The boys found a fun tree on our walk down the path after seeing the waterfall. There was a little pond area at the bottom with lots of people playing in the water, which was freezing. The kids wanted to play, but unfortunately for them we had no towels. Next time:)
Next we went the The Bonneville Dam and a fish hatchery. It was cool because they let you drive up this close. We drove by the huge locks as well. The had a visitors center with windows to watch the fish going up the fish ladders. Darin laughs at me because I didn't know what a "fish ladder" was.
The fish hatchery was really cool as well. There were ponds with tons of fish one sturgeon who was 70 years old, 10 feet long, 450 lbs, and he was HUGE!! It was so beautiful-the grounds and flowers were so pretty. We also saw the coolest water fountain we have ever seen-there was a statue in the middle and spouts on all 3 corners. The kids loved that they could all drink at the same time!!
Spencer loved that he could get his own drink. This is that last shot in an awesome series I shot of him drinking.
The had a couple ponds of baby Salmon. Here they are trying to jump upstream. Fascinating-we stood there forever just watching them jump.
We made it to our hotel and were so tired. The kids were overtired and immediately started jumping on the beds. Before long the front desk called (twice) to tell us to pipe down. Apparently the people in the next room were trying to go to bed...at 8:00pm....whatever. It took a while, but finally we got them quiet and went to sleep.

I got home and there were 911 pictures on my memory card-after deleting some on the plane!! (good thing I have an 8mb memory card) I have since deleted quite a few since seeing them on the computer. So don't be surprised if my future posts about the trip are overloaded with pics:)

Whew, we're exhausted!

We're back and I am tired!!! Luckily we are all alive and the children are in one piece....after yesterday's plane ride they are lucky to be alive!! We left Portland yesterday and happily left behind temperatures in the 90's and 100's! Luckily it wasn't that hot on the coast and we only spent a couple days in the heat! Although, when we did get off the plane and walked outside the humidity hit like a brick wall...didn't have that in Oregon. I took out my camera to take a pic of the boys crammed in the stroller and the lens fogged up!!

Anyhow just our luck, we had bumps in our return trip-2 delayed flights, lots of gate changes, two absolutely rotten children. (I do still love them-but it is a good thing we have a month before we have to get on a plane again-I may have recovered by then.) We finally arrived at BWI at 2:00 am!! Luckily our baggage came quick and we got to our car pretty fast. Unlucky for us, Spencer screamed the whole way home. He kept yelling "want to go home" and "blankie...I want my blankie." It was with the dirty clothes since he threw up all over it. I was just sooo happy he didn't do that on the plane-both the yelling and barfing:) It was going on 3:30am by the time we finally had the kids in bed and laid our heads on the pillows. We had watched lots of lightning on the plane, but luckily the downpour started after we got everything in the house!

Darin just told me that in the 10 days we had our little car...I would have called it compact but the rental company called it "intermediate"....we racked up 1400 miles!! WOW!! We don't have any plans for a road trip in the near future-needless to say:) We also realized-well I think Darin agrees-that 10 days is a little long for little ones and staying somewhere different every night is very hard on the kids. We did stay in one hotel 3 nights for our family reunion, but a different one each night after that. We would walk right in and the kids had images of trampolines instead of beds!! The first night in Portland we even had noise complaints and the front desk called us to keep it down.

We crammed a lot in on our trip and I fell in love with the state of Oregon. It is sooo beautiful. I had heard that before, but you don't see it until you are there. Anyhow, here is a quick rundown:

Bonneville Dam and fish hatchery-outside of Portland
Multnomah Falls (waterfall)
Portland Temple-simply gorgeous!
Astoria
Tillamook Cheese Factory
lots of beaches
Newport Aquarium
tidepools
lots of lighthouses
lots of scenic views
California Redwood trees
Oregon Caves
A couple zoos-one was a drive thru safari
Crater Lake

We were happy to be home. Darin tried to get back on schedule and woke up at 9:00 this morning, but the kids and I slept until 11:30. We are hoping that it will only take a couple days to get back on schedule. We have swim lessons in the morning...wish me luck!!