Smiles in There

Thursday, July 23, 2009

More from the Aquarium

Who's that nutcase in the background? He thinks he sooooo funny!!! :)

They've always said the coral reefs are full of color. Most of the reefs I've snorkeled are no where near this pretty. Too many human contaminations in the wild!

Breccan could pet this fish. The lady said that was actually pretty unusual, that that particular fish was pretty darned fast. It would just sit there, though, and let Breccan pet it.

This is a collage made out of trash that was picked up in two hours time on a certain beach in the Newport area. Very sad that people have so little respect for the wild.

Hanging out on the beach at night

They haven't been drinking, if that's what you think!!! LOL

I love this picture of Jaron and Kaisha.

I love this picture of me and BayLea too, even though technically it's a terrible picture! It's impossible to get a decent shot with a point and shoot camera at night!

We went whale watching one afternoon. Jody and Dana were going to come too, but when Dana saw the boat, which was a raft type thing with a motor, she wouldn't get on. But the boat was actually VERY stable and comfortable. We had a great time. We saw Vinnie, a Gray whale. I have now seen a gray whale, orcas and humpbacks in the wild. My favorite by a landslide are the humpbacks. I love them. But seeing the gray was a great experience as well.

These are the barnacles that live on the gray whale. The single one (if I remember right), only lives on the gray whale. So if the gray whale should become extinct, so would this particular type of barnacle. Web of life!

There's Vinnie's back.

This was taken in Blue Whale Cove (I think it was called that). It was named this because a blue whale washed ashore here about 10 years ago, or so.

A little sea otter. There were 50 or 60 of them in this little cove.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Just hanging out in Oregon pictures

These pictures are from just our time together. They may or may not be in order.

We're not sure what Dana is doing here! LOL

Kaisha did BayLea's hair...it was really cute, but I was afraid it would cut off all her hair, like the braids did we had done in Mexico last spring, so we took the hairdo out the next morning. It really was cute on her and Kaisha did a great job!

It was soooooo cold...about 58 degrees some times. Of course, the kids really didn't care. BayLea and Breccan still wanted to play in the water. The adults all had jackets on, shivering on the side.

We went into Newport to eat and to see the Oregon Coast Aquarium one day. We ate lunch with Jill, Scott, Aaron and Lacey. They didn't have a table big enough for all of us, so Breccan and Aaron sat together and Lacey and BayLea sat together and the ADULTS sat together and actually visited!

The restaurant was The Whale's Tail...not that great. Don't really recommend it!

Breccan thought it smelled really bad in Newport. We were right near the fisherman's pier, and it smelled like fish. Breccan walked around with his nose plugged, asking "What does that smell like?"

Here we all are stocking up on candy! A favorite of the kids' was the candy cigarettes! I didn't know they made those any more, but I totally remember walking along our street as a kid, with one of those candies hanging from my mouth!

Then we got to the Aquarium. It really was cool place. As I always say, I'm not totally into aquariums, although I LOVE the ocean and ocean creatures. But I'll tell ya what, the kids love these places.

These little puffins were hilarious! We got there just as they were feeding and instructing which was cool.

I totally LOVE this picture and the next one of the kids in the shark mouth. so cute!

This is the type of scuba diving equipment that they used to wear. Amazing. Totally heavy and dangerous!

That's Aaron, although to me he looks like his dad!

Oh my gosh, my kids love the touch tanks.

These crabs are hilarious...and HUGE!

I have more pictures from the Aquarium that I'll add later.

On the way back up to Depoe Bay, we stopped at the wine tasting shop. Good wine. Loved it.

I love this picture of BayLea and Daddy walking along. BayLea ran up to her daddy and grabbed his hand. Sure wish those other goofy people weren't in there!