Spring Break: Tuesday

On Tuesday, we drove down to Sea Lion Caves. It was really awesome. We didn't get pictures in the cave (it was pretty dark and no flash photography allowed), but it was cooler in real life than in the pictures anyway. Before going down, we saw Heceta Head Lighthouse in the distance and watched a lot of sea lions in the water outside of the cave.

In the center of this picture, you can see a few sea lions in the water.

To get to the cave, you walked down quite a bit of stairs, then took an elevator. The elevator had a smell of dead fish, a small glimpse of what awaited us when the doors opened to the cave. Smell and all, it was totally awesome to view and listen to a cave of hundreds of sea lions, and birds, in their natural habitat.

Overlooking one of the water entrances to the cave. 

You could see lots of sea lions out there as they came and went from the cave.

We stopped in the gift shop for some sea lion key chains, a magnet, bath toys, and popcorn!

After Sea Lion Caves, we stopped at Devil's Churn State Park and went for a short hike. It was downhill quite steep to the ocean. Poor Dave got quite a workout on the way back up. Thanks, honey!

Audrey and I walked out to the tide pools.

One more stop on the way back to the condo- Beverly Beach! We camped at this State Park with the Smiths when Kimee was 11 months old.

We have a picture of Dave holding Kimee in front of this sign six years ago, so we thought we should take another one. My, how she has grown!

Audrey wouldn't get out of the stroller. Once we got to the beach, she was terrified because of her previous experience at Gleneden Beach. She cried the entire time until we got back to the car. Sorry to all the people that had to witness that. Kimee and Maddi still had fun, but it wasn't long enough.

Spring Break: Monday

On Monday, we went to the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. The kids loved the touch pools. Kimee wasn't scared to touch anything. We also got to watch the workers feed some of the bigger fish in the tanks.

After the science center, we drove to the Yaquina Bay view area and lighthouse. The lighthouse wasn't open at the time, so we just looked out over the bay.

It had been raining and it was really windy. We stopped at a lookout that had binoculars that you put a quarter in to get them to work. Kimee ran back to the van to get a quarter. Then ran back to us at full speed. As she got to the extremely slick wooden deck, she slipped and hit the deck with great force. She screamed so loud and cried for a long time. She ended up with a really bad bruise.  After we got home, this was one of three stories that she had to tell everyone of the bad things that happened on our trip.

 The Claunch kids on the overlook deck where Kimee slipped.

Then we went to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. It was extremely windy here. Seriously, it was hard to even walk. We got there a little before it opened, so we had to wait outside. We stood in a huddle for a few minutes just trying to stay warm.

This lighthouse is really cool. It is the tallest on the Oregon Coast and has 114 stairs to get to the top. Kimee didn't feel up to it, so just Audrey and I went. Audrey was such a good sport. I don't think she realized what she was doing. Just before we got to the top, she got spooked, but she was able to make it to the top. We both got buttons that say we made it to the top of Yaquina Head Lighthouse. She started crying on the way back down. I stopped to take her picture.

She cheered right up when I asked her to smile for the camera.

I am so proud of Audrey for being such a good sport!

Everyone was ready to head back to the condo for lunch, naps, and swimming!

at the beach

Our first trip to the beach was pretty exciting. Kimee hasn't been since she was 11 months. It was the first time for Audrey and Maddi. It was pretty cold and windy, but I made them take off their jackets for a few pictures.

the girls at Gleneden Beach

Kimee with Jon.

Audrey stayed away from the water, but was having a ball making a cake.

As we were getting ready to leave, a huge wave came up maybe 10-20 feet higher than any wave since we had been there (about an hour). We were all turned away from the water, getting ready to go and boom! Dave noticed at the last second and yelled, "Watch out!" Thank goodness for that, I reached down and grabbed my bag which had the digital camera, camcorder, and iTouch in it. With the other hand I grabbed Maddi. She still got soaked, but she was the only one of the girls that didn't cry. Kimee and Audrey started wailing. Audrey was terrified. Kimee was mad. Audrey lost her new beach shoes and gained a tremendous fear of the beach. She wouldn't go near it again, and cried when we did.

on our way

It's been over a month since we got home from our spring break trip to Depoe Bay. I have been putting off doing these posts because there are just so many pictures. I'm going to try to break it down a little bit, but sorry in advance for so many pictures. This is my scrapbook, so I'm putting in a lot.

We are so excited to go to Oregon and see the ocean!

We stopped at Mulnomah Falls just before getting to the Portland area.

Still beautiful in the rain.

Packing for trips is always a stressful thing for me. Wondering for sure what you will need and use. Not wanting to pack to much. Not wanting to leave something behind that you might really need. And so on. I started packing really early for this trip. As soon as I bought all the Easter stuff, I packed it, along with swimming stuff and diapers. One bag was already to go weeks before the trip. I made lists and packed stuff as soon as I knew we wouldn't need them before the trip. Despite all this effort to be organized and prepared, I forgot something really important. I got out my camera to take the first picture, and boom, my Nikon battery was dead. I couldn't believe I didn't charge it (a charge lasts a really long time) or bring a spare battery (I have 2 extras) or even bring the charger. I was quite devastated and actually started to cry at the thought of not being able to take pictures on the trip. Luckily, with cell phone and GPS technology, we found a Best Buy not too far out of the way and forked over a small fortune so I could take pictures. It was worth it. But, I was so mad at myself, it took me a long time to get over it.

Mother's Day

"Happy Mother's Day!" Audrey has been saying this several times a day since preschool on Friday. She was quite surprised that it was still Mother's Day today!

We had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. We were able to spend time with both Dave's mom and mine. We took Grandma P. out to lunch at IHOP on Saturday. We had a lovely visit and yummy food.  My mom came over for church today and Sunday dinner. How lucky we are to have our parents and so much family nearby.

Kimee woke up early this morning to make me breakfast. It was so sweet. She got out my favorite cereal, washed some grapes, and had a cup of gatorade all set up on napkins on the table by my laptop. Then she came in and got me. What a sweetheart. Thank you, Kimee, I love you so much!

The girls both made me gifts at school and they were so excited for me to open them. Especially Kimee, who worked really hard on this ceramic soap dish. She has been talking about this surprise for weeks!

 
It was so cute to see Audrey and Kimee sing their mother's day songs in church. Audrey has been singing, "Mother, I Love You" all week. After church, we took our annual Mother's Day pictures.

Maddi was really tired, so she was not happy. One of these years, we'll take the picture before church!
I feel so blessed to be the mother of three beautiful, smart, talented girls.

Blog Book

I just have to say that I finally finished, ordered, and received my blog book for the year 2009. We got it in the mail just before Maddi's birthday. I absolutely love it and I'm so proud of it. This is what I have been blogging for. I am so happy to have a record of all the stuff that has happened over the past year. It was a fun and eventful year and I'm glad that I won't forget all of it.

On the same note, I finished Maddi's first year book and a smaller book of our Depoe Bay trip (both through iPhoto, so they were easy). I am happy with what I have accomplished, but now I should be done for the next year!

P.S. I love to show them off, so come on over and take a look!

Spring!

The first grade took a spring field trip and I got to hang out with Kimee for a lot of the time.
I have such an awesome job!

We went to the Vineyard Garden Center and looked at plants and animals there.

Then we went to the Bean Museum. But my camera battery died, so I didn't get any more pictures!!

We have spent a few Saturdays out in the yard getting things cleaned up. We love working in the yard as a family. One Saturday morning we were out working for a while. Around lunchtime we called it quits. Later that afternoon I was looking for Kimee. She had been working away at this often overlooked spot back in the corner. Surprise!

If you can't tell, on the left is the "flower" bed that was full of weeds. On the right is the pile of weeds Kimee pulled. WOW! She is such a hard worker when she wants to be.

In late winter, some deer came and ate the tops off of our tulip plants (before they bloomed) in the front yard. We are so happy to see that some of them survived and bloomed!