We left the house around 11:30am and stopped off at McDonald's (a RARE treat) and each got a couple things off the Dollar Menu, then we hit the freeway heading south.
Patrick read to us from his book for a while and we listened and sang along with the radio. We turned east and aimed for the coast.
Our first stop was in Newport. We went down to the harbor and watched the sea lions that hang out on the docks there. They were sunning themselves and playing in the water. Some of them had a bit of an attitude when another sea lion wanted on the dock or wanted to "snuggle" with them. There was a large rock formation out a little way from the docks and it was covered with barking sea lions, as well. Many were climbing up the rocks then jumping back into the water. Others were playing and jumping and splashing and swimming around seeming to be playing and having childish fun with one-another. They were so entertaining to watch, we could have stayed for hours! However, after about 30 minutes we tore ourselves away.
Our next stop was the light house in Newport. It is a very unique lighthouse as it was built specifically for the light-master and his family of 7 children. It was only used for 3 years until a bigger and brighter light was built further north up the coast. The light only shone for about 7 - 10 miles while the newer one shone up to 30 miles out to sea. It was also unique because it was built only for the Newport harbor where other lighthouses were built to offer safe lighting for greater distances.After we left the lighthouse we returned north with Lincoln City as our destination. There is an area of the beach where you can drive right down to the sand. There are wonderful tide pools there with water-life in them. First we laid out the blanket and had a picnic snack while watching a couple men flying a kite and trying to make it do aerial tricks. After our snack we began searching the tide pools and beach for treasures.
The kids found a lot of shells that they wanted to bring home and I came upon a very unique and beautiful rock formation. I am SO glad I had my camera with me! 
While I was taking a picture of the rock formation a young boy came running up asking "What did you find? What did you find?" I told him I didn't find anything that I was merely taking a picture. He replied with, "Well, we found a jelly fish. You wanna come see?" So, of course, we went to see. He and his father had, indeed, found a small jelly fish. It was REALLY neat to see. 
After admiring his jelly fish, we went back on the beach in search of our own treasures. We saw a seagull with a fish, about 12 or more inches long, in it's beak. Patrick and Aaron tried to sneak around behind it as I slowly walked in front of it so we could get a closer look and so I could get a picture (that part did not happen). The gull jumped off the rock it was on to the sand. As it landed the fish flopped and wiggled and the gull dropped it just as the tide was coming in. The fish quickly found the water and begun to swim back out to sea. The seagull screamed and screeched and tried to recapture it's prey and was unsuccessful. Then the gull began to scream and screech at us, as if we were to blame for the loss of his dinner. And, I suppose, maybe we were a little to blame :). We began to walk the beach again and I quickly found a large jelly fish - which, it turns out, was dead. 
A few feet away from that I found another smaller one, which was alive. We took these to the small pool that the boy and his dad had made for the purpose of closer inspection of the prizes discovered.
Further down the beach we found many small (and some large) hermit crabs, small fish with some of them as big as my thumb and some tiny clear fish. The kids found some really long sea weed things that they were using like lasso ropes, running up and down the beach. The kids were playing "chicken" with the waves. The all 3 held hands and ran out into the water and waited for the waves to come back in. As the waves started towards them they all started running back towards the dry part of the beach. Aaron stopped to look back and see where the water was and he tripped over his own feet and fell face first into the surf. I don't know who laughed more, me or HIM! It was such a WONDERFUL day!Around 7:00pm we left the beach. Leo and Becky had invited us to stop by on our way back home so we did. Becky wasn't home, but we visited with Leo for a while. We were about to leave when Becky called and said she was on her way home and that we should have something to eat before we drove the rest of the way home. So, we did. Leo made some wonderful grilled tuna and cheese sandwiches. Patrick and I helped him. The tuna was fresh, caught and canned by someone they know. It was SO yummy! Becky served toll house cookie dough for desert. The kids thought they had actually died and gone to heaven...or at least that Aunt Becky was an angel!
We cleaned up the dishes and visited for a few more minutes, then, about 9:00 said our "thank you"s and "goodbye"s and began the journey back home. We arrived home at about 10:45pm. The kids had fallen asleep in the car and were happy to snuggle into their beds.
And so ended our "cool, family fun, bodacious, exciting, stupendous, awesome, good, silly, funtastic, memories" day together.(if you'd like to see the full album check out my 'space)
