Pacific Northwest Day 5

We first headed over to Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area for the lighthouse and the tide pools.  On the path towards the Yaquina Lighthouse, Camden picked some flowers and surprised me with them.  What a sweet boy! 

 

After walking around the lighthouse, since we couldn't go inside, we climbed down the stairs to the tide pools.  We had checked the tide tables before we came to make sure we were there at low tide.  The tide pools revealed a vibrant ocean floor with lots of sea stars, green anemones, and purple sea urchins. 

The tide pools on Cobble Beach below Yaquina Head Lighthouse

Ciera, however, was more interested in all the round, black, basalt rocks called cobbles.  She loved how round and smooth they were and kept trying to find "heavy" ones.   Camden liked rummaging around in the cobbles for smooth pieces of driftwood to take home.

 

We then headed to Beverly Beach to play in the sand.  We did make a sandcastle, but Camden obliterated it before we got a picture.  He said he was waiting and waiting to be able to smash it.  He only wanted to help build one so he could have fun destroying it.

Pacific Northwest Day 4

Ciera is fascinated with kites and asks us to fly a kite quite often.  Since the Rockaway Beach Kite Festival was underway, we thought it was a perfect event for the kids to enjoy.  Ciera loved the assortment of kites, especially the tiger kite.  We do wish it had been a little less windy (some people couldn't fly their kites because of it), but it was still fun. 

These ball kites were bouncing like crazy in the wind.

We then stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory for a tour and some delicious ice cream.  Camden loves to watch How It's Made on the Science Channel, so he was excited to see something like that in actuality.  Since he is so intrigued with how things are created and how things work, it was fun to indulge his curiosity.

Pacific Northwest Day 3

On our drive from Klamath Falls to Depoe Bay we stopped at the Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon to help break up all the driving.  Even though the Safari Drive Through (1 1/2 hours to drive through all of it) looked like a lot a fun, we only wanted to visit the Safari Village to enjoy our break.  It was free, had a place to eat, had a playground, and had lots of areas to explore.  I was surprised at how many different animals you could view for no charge (over 300 according to their brochure, although we didn't see quite that many).  There was even a little push-cart for Ciera to ride in that was also free, which she absolutely loved.

We couldn't leave without taking the train ride.  Camden was a little disappointed that it was slower than the one at Hogle Zoo.  He did have lots of fun pretending to shoot storm troopers and walkers (Star Wars) throughout the ride.  Ciera was thrilled with it.  She kept saying "train ride" and wanted to sit all by herself.

Once we arrived at Depoe Bay, we let the kids watch a movie while we unpacked.  Then we visited Devil's Punch Bowl (formed by the collapse of the roof over two sea caves) and grabbed some dinner.  Back at the timeshare, we enjoyed the view from our windows and played some boardgames.  I loved leaving the sliding door to our bedroom open a little (we were on the top floor with an enclosed balcony) to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean and the waves crashing up against the rocks and to smell the fresh sea air.

Devil's Punch Bowl

Devil's Punch Bowl

View from our room

View from our room

Pacific Northwest Day 2

We went and explored Crater Lake today.  It is the deepest lake in the United States and has an amazing deep blue color (my pictures don't do it justice).  It was formed by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama.  Camden has been fascinated with volcanoes off and on for the last couple of years.  This is one of the volcanoes featured in a couple of his volcano books.  It was wonderful to be able to see it in real life.  When we first arrived, it was snowing and we could hardly see the lake.  The weather cleared up a little after we ate lunch up there, so we went for a drive around the lake to admire and enjoy its beauty and try to get a few more pictures.  Camden loved Wizard's Island (a cinder cone volcano that erupted after Crater Lake began to fill with water), because it was a mini volcano inside a huge volcano.

I couldn't get them to look up, because they didn't want the snow to fall in their eyes. :)

Wizard's Island

After being way up in the mountains in the snow, the hot tub on our deck beckoned to us.  The kids love it when we have our own hot tub to soak in and "make bubbles."

He was winking at the camera.

Pacific Northwest Day 1

We arrived at our timeshare in Klamath Falls today and were amazed at how beautiful the area is.  We have never been to this part of Oregon before.  We want to come back and stay longer since we were only here two days this time.  Plus, we always love the timeshares where we can have our own private chalet.  After a day of driving, we explored some of the trails that meander all through the resort grounds and then hit their playground. 

Last Day of Preschool

Camden had his last day of preschool!  He loved going to Learning Dynamics Preschool, and is so excited to go to his new school in August.  He often pretends to be his preschool teacher at home and teaches Ciera and a slew of stuffed animals as his students.

This was taken his first day of preschool.

Too cute!

She was just too cute sitting on the front porch to not take any pictures.  Plus, she matched everything so well!

Playing peek-a-boo