Our first day on the coast, we thought it would be fun to take a boat ride on the ocean from Newport. We've been on this boat twice before and they do a great job, so we knew we wouldn't be disappointed.
Natalie starts out with a smile!
The beautiful Newport bridge.
Okay, so we are huge Deadliest Catch fans. This crabbing part of the boat ride was a highlight for sure! It was on a MUCH smaller scale than our beloved show, but it was still fun for Sarah to give crabbing a try! I think Frank* was so proud. He was wearing his Cornelia Marie shirt on the ride. (One of the names of the boats on Deadliest Catch - he got it in honor of Captain Phil - who passed away this year on the show. )o: )
Sarah putting the bait in! Yummy! The crew even challenged the kids to kiss the fish for good luck like the real fishermen do. Sarah actually thought about it, but decided not to.
When we left the bay and got out in the ocean, Natalie's smile faded. She was very nervous and thought we were going to drown. Poor thing. I showed her lots of things to help her feel better - the smiles on the crews' faces (meaning even though the waves seemed big to us, they were used to it and it was normal), the life boats just in case anything happened, etc. This helped her feel a little better, but she was also a little seasick. She seems to get motion sickness the easiest out of my kiddos. Poor thing. Luckily, the crew had this herbal remedy that you could rub behind your ears to help. It seemed to really help Nat and I even tried some too. I don't usually get sea sick, but when you are dealing with a sea sick child I think it can get contageous thinking about it.
Sarah and Angela on the other hand, loved the ride. Although the cold got to Angela by the end.
Sea Lions playing by a buoy. I lucked out and got one jumping!
Sarah loved being right at the tip of the bough! That was the craziest ride - going up and down over the waves. As you can see, I think she liked it! She was hooping and hollaring and cheering and cracking everyone up around us. I've got to give it to her - she's got enthusiasm!
A little picture of the contrast between my two girls' experience.
Angela was pretty happy on the boat!
When we got back in the bay, Natalie was relieved! She got into helping pull back in the crab pots!
Here's what we caught!
The captain let the girls drive the boat. Sarah got to do some real driving and turned us all the way around!
Not the greatest pictures of me, but the girls look cute!
I will hang on to this one to prove to Natalie that she did have fun on some of the boat ride.
What better thing to do after a seasick boat ride than to buy some candy at a big candy store! We must be on vacation!
Recently, I got the idea to try and go tide-pooling at the beach on a particular day when the tide was going to be really low at a reasonable time. (Usually, the really good minus tides are early in the morning.) I made a plan to head to the beach on that day. I invited our friends, the Halls to join us and one of my young women and buddies, Kaitlin. Unfortunately, the morning didn't go quite as smooth as I had hoped and we left later than my original plan. The weather also was not what I envisioned on our beach trip. It was overcast and "misting" almost the whole time we were on the beach. My idyllic pictures of the kids playing in the sand and setting up a big blanket to relax on did not come true.
Cute, soaked buddies!
Kaitlin was so much fun to have on our adventure. She's such a great sport and was a huge help! We love you Kaitlin!
Angela eventually warmed up to the beach - a very safe distance from those scary waves.
Kaitlin is an elephant ear connoisseur - and apparently these elephant ears ranked pretty high. (Saturday's Market are #1 FYI) This was our special treat to make up for the lame weather and having to do our picnic lunch in the parking lot. (Elephant ears are a northwest thing - basically huge scones with tons of cinnamon sugar, we tried one drizzled with chocolate. So healthy!)
The Hall's cute (and very wet!) cocker spaniel, Dash.
The kids discovered it is very fun to run down huge sand hills. I tried it and they were right! 
Cute, soaked buddies!
Kaitlin was so much fun to have on our adventure. She's such a great sport and was a huge help! We love you Kaitlin!
Angela eventually warmed up to the beach - a very safe distance from those scary waves.
Kaitlin is an elephant ear connoisseur - and apparently these elephant ears ranked pretty high. (Saturday's Market are #1 FYI) This was our special treat to make up for the lame weather and having to do our picnic lunch in the parking lot. (Elephant ears are a northwest thing - basically huge scones with tons of cinnamon sugar, we tried one drizzled with chocolate. So healthy!)
The Hall's cute (and very wet!) cocker spaniel, Dash.
The kids discovered it is very fun to run down huge sand hills. I tried it and they were right!