Our July Travels part 3 continued

This is more of our time in Depoe Bay.  I'm working my way through the trip on the blog, trying to post in order. These pictures are from our trip to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  This is a great aquarium, and they have wonderful indoor and outdoor exhibits. There was a 15 foot Anaconda there due any day to have babies.  It was a huge snake! I took some video I will need to try and post.  The aquarium also has a "Passages of the Deep" area which is a huge tank with a tunnel going right through it, so when you go in you have sharks all around you, including beneath you. 

Passages of the Deep.  This was one of the larger sharks.

Reagan thought she had to plaster her face to the floor to see the sharks swim beneath.

August loved this sunken ship, and wanted his picture taken in front of it.

Me and the kids in the shark passage.

We also loved the Puffin and Sea Bird exhibit.  The puffins were very cute!

The hands-on tank is always fun.

The jellyfish are beautiful to watch.

This tunnel shows how the alligators dig this type of tunnel in the swamp.





Back at the house, Reagan wanted me to take a picture of the stuffed toys her brothers won for her at pizza.

 Scenery. Even if we did nothing else besides sit at the house and stare at the ocean from different angles, it would be the perfect vacation for me! I run upstairs, downstairs, to the living room, deck, on the rocks, to the right and left, to capture all these pictures.  So beautiful! Grandpa and Nana probably think I'm a nut! Can you blame me??!

The kids really wanted Grandpa to take them on the rocks: no Mom and Nana allowed.

Cute backyard boy and girl.

You should see how many birds attempt to cram into this birdbath-it is funny stuff.  Nevermind the water all around, we want our turn in the birdbath!

This was our last meal before we headed up to Cannon Beach.  This was so much fun, and we were so happy we got to do it.  BBQ'd hot dogs=delicious! It truly felt like camping.

Nana was the behind-the-scenes camera person, so I got to be in several pics. with the kids.  Thanks, Nana!

 After lunch, the kids scrounged up the last of the marshmellows from the day before. 

One last trip to the rocks before heading out.

Oh, and trying to take a picture of huge cool-looking kites while driving is probably not the best idea, so don't try this at home, but they were huge! I think it was a kite festival or something.

Our July Travels part 3

Leg two of our journey took us to Depoe Bay to visit Grandpa and Nana.  The trip over was a short drive and we drove in to a beautiful day on the Oregon Coast, and two smiling faces!  The kids weren't there for 30 seconds and they had already convinced Grandpa that it was time to feed the birds.  It is their favorite thing to do there, and I think they could do nothing but that all day long and probably be just fine!  And the birds get nice and fat when we visit, I'm sure:-)  Second thing they do is split between jetting down to the basement to play with toys, drink gatorade and eat animal crackers with Grandpa, and then running upstairs to climb around the bunkbeds they have set-up for them.  As for me, if you know me at all you know that I head straight for the windows to stare at the ocean, or outside:-)) Since the day was gorgeous, Robin, Matthew and I headed down to the rocks. 
Typical of the Pacific Northwest, the following day was much colder and grey, but made for the perfect movie day, so we went and saw Cars.  The kids loved it!  They say they want to buy the movie when it comes out.  The theatre was not crowded and really cute and cozy, just perfect for us.  The next day was beautiful again, and we planned a full day of fun.  We started with a trip to the beach, and the kids played in the sand and water, followed by lunch and a mid-day campfire with smores galore...yummy!  Then we took the kids to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and then to pizza...whew!  A full day, but completely fun!!
Check it out:

Arrival day.  We love the soft squishy grass they have.  It is almost like walking in moss-very soft!

It doesn't get more beautiful then this!

So sweet! Matthew and Nana.

I could just grab a chair and book and sit here all day. 

30 seconds in and feeding the birds. Yes, I was serious about that!

I was going to feed this to the birds, but I can share it with you if you like.

Alyssa loves all animals.

Nana took this picture on a walk along the rocks she took with Matthew.  He liked the individual time.  That is hard to come by in our large family!





Oh man, this Monopoly game veered from the traditional version a bit, and took us for quite a loop! 

This beach is located in Lincoln City near Mo's.  Great beach!

The sand here is so soft, we were all sinking in it.  It was fun to squish our feet into the sand:-)

Mo's: a good place to eat.

 Reagan stopped for a snack, then she was ready to play!

What is that?

There was a whole sand bar full of sea lions? across the bay (you can see them in the distance).

The boys loved this baseball set.  They played it at the beach, they played it at the house.  Great fun for them!

Squish, squish, squish:-))

Sandy feet!

Looking out at the ocean from the beach.

 Alyssa likes to collect feathers.

We couldn't get Reagan to look at the camera for a photo of the two of us, but these are still very cute!

Smores!!!!!

This made it feel like we were camping on the beach.  The kids loved the campfire so much, that the next day they collected wood and we roasted hotdogs and ate them around the fire for lunch.  They were delicious! I know this will be an activity the kids will now want to do each time we come for a visit!



This was day two at Depoe Bay, our movie day.