Ocean Shores

We arrived in Ocean Shores fairly late, so we ended up just heading straight to the hotel, unpacking, and settling in for the night.  We had a partial view of the ocean, not as impressive as our view in Newport, but it was still beautiful and fun to see the beach!

The partial view from
our hotel room

The next day we headed out to explore Ocean Shores.  I have to say, there's not much that's kid-friendly in February in Ocean Shores.  We went out to the beach for a bit and flew our kites but then the rain came in so we headed back to the car.  At the other end of the beach there was a company with lots of horses. For $20, you could ride a horse on the beach for an hour. We didn't end up actually riding a horse, but true to form for Samantha, she wanted to see and touch each horse! So we asked the owners and they said it was ok for her to meet all of the horses. 

Meeting and petting each of the horses.  This girl loves animals!

 It was still too early for Samantha's nap time but the weather was not cooperating, so we donned our swimsuits and headed down to the hotel pool.  (I think it's time to get Samantha back into swimming lessons because it took her a good 20 minutes to loosen her death grip on me in the pool!  After she got more comfortable, she started to have fun.)  We spent about an hour and a half in the pool and she did not want to get out, but alas, it was lunch and nap time.

The storm coming in off the ocean.

After nap, we headed back out to explore a few shops.  We ended up at an ice cream parlor/arcade.  They had over 30 flavors there but what did Samantha choose?  Vanilla.  She's definitely her Daddy's girl when it comes to ice cream flavors! 

Racing cars with Daddy

After ice cream and games, we went for a drive around Ocean Shores - it was a stormy night, so not a good time to be out at the beach.  We ended up back at the hotel and again, relaxed and settled in for the night.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

On our way to Ocean Shores, we thought it would be fun to wander around the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, Oregon, to watch how they make, store, and ship cheese and ice cream.

Right at the entryway, there is a bright yellow VW bus decorated with the Tillamook Cheese logos, so we stopped to pose for a few pictures.

Look out!  Samantha's behind the wheel!

Say CHEESE! :)



Moo!

The cheese factory is a self-guided tour, but since it was Saturday, there wasn't a lot going on in terms of the assembly lines or machines.  We did see some people hard at work bagging up 40-pound blocks of cheese to ship to the warehouse for aging.  We watched them for a bit and since there was nothing really going on in the ice cream side of the factory, we headed back downstairs to sample some cheese and get some ice cream.

The ice cream factory floor...it was dessert-ed!  Ha ha ha! :)

The assembly line on the cheese side. 
I bet it doesn't smell very good down there.
After all, they're "cutting lots of cheese"!!  Ha ha ha! :)

Well...we thought we were getting ice cream, but Samantha had other thoughts.  She saw and fell in love with an orange striped lollipop and even though it meant she couldn't have any ice cream (only one treat :), she opted for the lollipop!  It ended up being a good thing.  We still had a long drive ahead of us to Ocean Shores and that lollipop kept her entertained for a solid 30 minutes!

After about 30 minutes of licking her lollipop in the same place,
she says to me, "Mom, there's a hole in my lollipop."
Indeed - she had licked it so much, there was a hole right in the middle!!

 It would be fun to go back on a weekday when there may be more activity on the factory floors...oh well - it was a fun first visit there!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse and Beach

After we left Newport, we decided to stop at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and Beach on our way to Ocean Shores, Washington.  Though Samantha was 2 inches too short to be allowed to climb the stairs in the lighthouse, we spent some time wandering through the Visitor's Center and then down to the beach.  I'm not sure she got a lot out of the Visitor's Center, but she did enjoy climbing on the seal statues there and walking around their lighthouse display. 



Exploring the Visitor's Center

Meeting a new friend

Since she couldn't go up in the real lighthouse,
I guess this is the next best thing!

One of the guides in the center let us know that it's perfect tide pool weather, so we descended the wooden staircases to the beach.  There was another guide at the bottom of the stairs who provided an orientation of the types of animals we'd see in the tide pools, plus the rules on where to step, etc.  We wandered around and saw some fantastic tide pools.  Again, Samantha was a bit timid so she didn't want to touch any of the animals.  We even saw some seals while we were down there.

On the stairs down to the beach

Perfect tide pool viewing

Down on the beach with Daddy

When we'd finished down at the beach, we climbed the stairs and headed up to the lighthouse to walk around.  Samantha was allowed to go inside the lighthouse, just not to the top, so we walked around on the main level there and explored a bit.

The spiral stairs leading up to the top of the lighthouse

Visiting the rooms in the lighthouse



Yaquina Head Lighthouse

We had a long drive ahead of us so we started our trek North on the Pacific Coast Hwy...a beautiful drive!

Just another day at the beach...

For Valentine's Day and our 10th Anniversary, Ed and I decided that we would take a family trip to a place that we love - Newport, Oregon.  Now, I'm sure there are some that would have taken the opportunity for a weekend getaway without the kids.  Well, we waited so long for Samantha, we don't want to miss a minute, so she came with us! 

We had a blast!  It took most of the day on Valentine's Day to get there because of a couple of stops along the way and we hit some rush hour traffic in Portland, but we got into Newport that Thursday evening.  Our hotel room had a stunning view of the ocean!  We went out and got a pizza (heart-shaped, of course) for dinner that evening and just laid low for the rest of the night.  Samantha had her own queen-sized bed and was loving it!!  By morning, she was laying sideways in the bed, sprawled out and surrounded by plush pillows.

The view from our room

That next day, our anniversary, we decided to go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium there in Newport.  The Seattle Aquarium is embarrassing compared to this aquarium!  Now, "Finding Nemo" being among Samantha's favorite movies, she was wide-eyed and loving every bit of the aquarium.

We saw tide pools, and though it was permitted, she didn't want to touch any of the animals there.  We saw starfish, anemones, crabs, so many colorful and beautiful sea animals.


Samantha at the controls!

Looking at different types of crabs with Daddy.

Exploring the tide pool

 Next we went to the shark tunnel. It's a tunnel pathway where you're surrounded on all sides by glass so you can see the sharks and other fish swimming by. We even saw a couple of divers in there cleaning. 

Watching the tiger shark swim.

Watching the divers.

 We saw sea otters, turkey vultures, sea birds and there was even a fun kids area where there were sandboxes.

With the sea otters

In the aviary with Daddy

Samantha on the rope bridge in the kids area.

Playing in the sandboxes, she was allowed to take home
a trinket so she opted for a sand dollar and a shell.

Outside the aquarium by the pond. 
(I love this picture!)

After a quick stop at the gift shop where Samantha "adopted" a sea otter stuffed animal later named, Otto, we headed back to the hotel for lunch and then to play at the beach.

After lunch, we went to the beach to build sandcastles in the 64-degree, perfect weather and then went back to our room for a late nap for Samantha.  We watched a beautiful sunset from our balcony and then settled in for the night.

Playing in the sand

Walking on the beach with Daddy

Building a sandcastle with Mommy.  She was adamant
that it have a tunnel under it!  :)

The finished product!

The Yaquina Head lighthouse as seen from Agate Beach

The start of sunset...

 

And the finish to a wonderful day!

First Ferry Boat Ride

Ed took the week off of work so we decided to go do something as a family.  We live in an area where, because of islands and peninsulas, there are lots of ferry boats.  We drove down to Edmonds today to do a walk-on ferry boat ride.  It was Samantha's first! 

When we arrived, we had barely missed one sailing so we purchased tickets for the next sailing and wandered around Edmonds on foot for a while.  The weather wasn't the best, but we were bundled up and thought to bring umbrellas.  We ended up stopping for lunch and window shopping a bit.  Then we raced back to the ferry docks just in time to catch our scheduled ferry.

Not actually the boat we were on, just passing on the water...

Samantha was so excited to go on a boat ride.  She wanted to go out on the decks and look at the birds and other boats on the water, then go back inside and sit on every bench and look out the windows.  It was pretty cute. 



The sun peeked out for just a bit on Samantha's first ferry boat ride!

 

Loving the big winds out on the water!



Getting in to Kingston

We didn't walk around on the other side, just waited in the terminal so we could re-board. 
 Anyway, she had a blast on the way back to Edmonds too!

Afterwards, she totally crashed!  As boring as it may sound, it was a fun day!!

The look of a successful outing!  :)

In Love With Autumn

Today was a beautiful Fall day!  It's my favorite time of the year.  I love the changing colors, the crisp mornings, the clear sunshine - not a fan of the impending months of gray and rain, but hey, you take the bad with the good, right?

Anyway, we were out in our front yard and I captured these gems:

Peek-a-boo!

Samantha loves playing outside!

Contemplating climbing the tree...
(can you see the gears turning??)  :)