Josslyn's 6th Birthday!

While staying in Pacific City, Oregon we had no WiFi, so our blog updates are a little behind.  It however allowed us to read lots as well as watch the first season of Weeds, which we loved! Most places we have stayed at have not had TV's or TV's that work well, so this was our first time actually watching TV on this trip.  It's all good.  Anyway onto our posts.

For Josslyn's 6th Birthday we surprised her with a day at the Aquarium in Newport Oregon.  When we finally arrived she couldn't stop smiling.  

This Otter, also known as Judge, was adorable!  So friendly.  

Autumn loved the seals.  

Pretty Jossy. :)

In the tunnel of sharks.  Auty seems to be a little nervous.

Joss and Erik in the Hurricane Simulator.  It went up to 70 mph.

There was a little fish market for "kids" to play at.  When I turned around I couldn't stop laughing when I saw Erik wearing the kid's apron, weighing fish with Joss.  

Auty and Joss managing the fish market.

After the Aquarium we took Joss down to the Historic Bayfront in Newport for some lunch.  It was very cute!  Full of adorable little stores and restaurants, as well as a working marina.  

Newport, Oregon Bayfront

Joss so excited to blow out her candles on the brownies she requested as her birthday cake this year.  

Here she is blowing out her candles as hard as she can.  LOL!

A Drive Down the Coast to Newport, Oregon

Taft, a cute little beach town!!

The Taft beach was full of driftwood!  People were building fires near the driftwood and just camping out for the day trying to catch crab.  

You can barely make them out, but there are seals lining the shore of the beach across the way.  Figured it was probably not a great place to swim, considering the number one food for sharks was everywhere!

Down the road a little ways we stumbled upon many amazing views!!

We probably stopped every two minutes to check out the views..

Love those two!!  Although this was right after Joss shoved our car door open, imbedding our door edge into the door of the car next to us.  Ugh!  The owner's of the car saw everything and did not look very happy.  We decided to install the child lock on her and Auty's door so they can no longer open the doors from the inside.  Oops!!

One of my favorite views!!! 

Fourth of July

Whalen Island

Went for a Fourth of July hike at Whalen Island, hoping to find Bald Eagles.  

Did not have any luck in finding Bald eagles, but did end up hiking on an amazing trail.  

While Auty napped in the stroller, we were able to hike down some beautiful paths that eventually led to the ocean

Beautiful!!!   Saw some people clamming and camping out near by. 

Joss said she found a little Christmas tree farm that she wanted to check out.  :)

Auty's awake..

Playing in the sand and looking for clams.

One minute you are walking through what appears to be a forest full of moss and dense vegetation.  The you come upon what appears to be the dessert, where the dirt and rock paths turn to sand.  Pretty neat!

Love the moss..

After our hike we decided to drive along the coast and find a place to eat..  The views were amazing!  We also ended up seeing a Bald Eagle!!!  Pretty amazing!

We also saw from the road people riding on the dunes..  Looked like fun!

Pacific City House!!

Our house for the next 10 days!

The guy that owns this house is a huge surfer.  He actually left us wetsuits and surfboards to use.  I think the water is a little too cold even with a wetsuit.  But am hoping to give it a try before we leave.

Living room.. nice and open...

Our backyard.. Reminded us a lot of Nantucket..  

First day in Pacific City, Oregon

The Oregon Coast!!!  The first thing we saw when we drove up to Pacific City was this beautiful Haystack Rock at Cape Kiwanda.  The third largest monolith in the world!!

To the right of the monolith is a HUGE dune that you can climb up.  Tons of people all day climbed up and down it.  Some running down the dune, others rolling down it and still others sand boarding down it!!  Great fun!  

Here is Auty sitting at the bottom of the dunes...

And here Joss and I are climbing up the dunes.  Believe it or not, it was so much fun climbing the dunes. Not to mention the views on top were breathtaking!!!!

Here is one of the views we saw at the top.

Here is another view of looking out over Cape Kiwanda.

On the other side is a beautiful rock formation with water running through the center of it. The water ran all the way in to a cave making loud crashing sounds.  Loved it!

Exploring....

Never thought we would be able to go in the water..  But the day we arrived the water was actually a warm 65 degrees!!  Unheard of apparently..  Kids just went in the water clothes and all and had a blast!

So much to see and explore!

The Cape at sunset, a walk from our house!  

Feel very lucky to see such a beautiful place!!

A perfect ending to a perfect day!

Last few days in Portland....

Good Bye Portland, Oregon.....

Saying good-bye to the hens.  They really enjoyed seeing the hens everyday and taking care of them.  Joss had a blast looking for eggs every morning.  

Here is Joss finding her last two eggs before we left for the coast of Oregon.

Erik working on the cutting board he has promised to make me for years now!  :)

Sassy Jossy...