Family day!!

Last Saturday we decided to take a day *off* from yard work and house work and head over to the Oregon Coast. I had bought a Groupon for the aquarium several months ago and had blocked out this last weekend on purpose to use it. I know if I don't get something on my calendar, it will likely not happen because time is going by too stinkin' fast.

We got up early, started our morning off with a Starbucks visit, and then headed south down I-5 so we could cut over to Newport through Albany and Corvallis. We'd never been that way before but it was a great drive.

Emersyn is not a huge fan of the car. We took our car versus our van to save on gas mileage and it was a bummer to not have the DVD player to keep Emersyn occupied. We had books and toys for her but I could tell she was just tired of sitting in her seat. We are hoping to take a road trip shortly after Everett is born that would be about 10+ hours long....we'll have to get a little dvd player for her or something if that ends up working out.

Ultimately we survived and arrived in Newport at about 1pm!

It was slightly rainy this day, hence her jean jacket. Ems was for sure the most fashionable girl at the aquarium, don't you agree?

This is a popular exhibit in Newport and the line was super long to buy tickets. Thankfully, we had pre-paid for our tickets so we didn't have to wait at all!

Overall, I give the aquarium a B-/C+. I was glad that we had gotten in with discounted tickets and that Emersyn was free because she's under three. It's not something I would have been happy about paying full price for. I was kind of disappointed because I felt like half of the things there we can see locally at our zoo, like the sea lions, otters, seals, etc. The indoor stuff was cool too but not mind blowing cool. I think Brett and I can be kind of tough to please with things like this because at Emersyn's age there is SO much we can do with her for free that she loves just as much so it's hard to decide what's worth spending money on. Anyways, I don't regret going by any means, I just don't want to give a glowing review and I'm not sure that we would go back at this point unless our kids were older and another Groupon presented itself. :)

After we did all the exploring that we could at the aquarium we headed north to Lincoln City to eat at one of our family's favorite resteraunts, Mo's.

This was taken last Fall when my family was in town. See how happy everyone looks? We love Mo's. :)

Emersyn and Twinnie enjoying the view of the ocean from our table.

Twin continued to enjoy the view while we ate our delicious dinner of clam chowder, salad, and clam strips. I know, clam strips sound so weird and they kinda are but I love them! It's my dad's fault, he loves them too. Emersyn had chicken fingers which she normally doesn't eat but I told her she could dip them in ketchup and she was sold. She's very into dipping.

After dinner we went over to the outlet malls, where we decided we shouldn't really spend any money until we get our kids' rooms more organized. Hard to know what you *need* when you aren't sure exactly what you have. We went into one store and then turn around and left. We headed north to Tillamook to look at the cheese factory and enjoy their amazing ice cream for dessert.

Someone REALLY liked their ice cream. :)

Originally I had wanted to stay overnight at the beach but logistics prevented this from happening and it's just as well. It was fun to be able to have a full family day but then be productive the next day (see the post below about our nursery progress).

I can't wait for our family days to include a sweet little boy!! Won't be long now.... :)