Newport with the Christensen Family

Even before we were considering the residency program in Corvallis, my parent booked a week long vacation in Newport.  It was so nice that it worked out for us to be here and enjoy some vacation time with my family.  Brad was only able to take a day off of work, but the kids and I stayed in Newport all week with my parents, my brother Nathan and his wife Lauren, and my brother Lee.

My parents came a couple days early to spend some time in Albany before going to Newport.  The kids both received a coupon a free pound of blueberries as part of the library's summer reading program, so we took Grandma and Grandpa to a U-Pick blueberry patch in Corvallis and got a little carried away.  We ended up not being able to store all the berries in the freezer, so we made blueberry syrup.

This is a picture of our home in Albany.  I've had a couple people request that I post a picture.  

I have also been searching the internet for the perfect blueberry scone recipe, and I think I found it.  We made these the morning after our blueberry picking.  We made them again for the rest of the family up in Newport because they were so tasty.  

Visiting the tide pools by Yaquina Head Lighthouse.

Ellie and Christian's favorite beach game was locking people up with a drawn circle in the sand.  Here is a picture of Lee playing the part.

We went to the beach Monday morning while others in the group went crabbing. We found a tent erected from drift wood.  The kiddos had so much fun pretending to camp.

Brad, my dad, Nate, and Lauren went crabbing in the bay on a little boat on Monday morning.  They brought in 15 good sized crabs for us to cook up and eat for dinner.

Ellie and Christian inspecting the most recent captive.

We went to the Aquarium on Tuesday with out Brad.  I haven't been to the new aquarium in Utah, but this place was so so so much more fun in comparison to the old aquarium in Utah.  When we walked into the first room with a fish tank, Christian just stopped in amazement and whispered "fishies like at Grandpa's house!"  He really loved the fish.

Ellie has always had a thing for crabs.  She was so excited about these giant spider crabs.  They just creeped me out. 

enjoying a tank full of fish.

Jelly fish

Ellie also loves seals. We made sure to catch the seals and sea lions at feeding time where they did tricks for a fish treat.  Ellie was pretty mesmerized.   

A "must see" for Ellie was also the octopus.

Silly Lauren and Christian

a walrus friend

the kiddos and me

a group photo in front of the shark's teeth

We also visited a couple light houses along the coast.  This is the fam after touring one of the houses.

Ellie loves the ocean.  She had so much fun wading in the cold, cold water.  She wasn't afraid to go out deeper and deeper even after she got pretty wet.  

We had so much fun with my family while they were here. We also enjoyed a day trip to the Tillamook Cheese factory in Tillamook, OR and then to Portland to see the rose gardens and eat out of food carts for lunch.  Grandma and Grandpa stood in line for 30 minutes or so to get everyone Voodoo donuts.  We also enjoyed eating at Mo's, "the" seafood restaurant in Newport.  It was so good to see so much of my family.  As silly as it seems, the almost 2 months that we have been in Oregon has been the longest stint away from my family in my whole life, so it was sure nice to fill my bucket up while they were here.  We probably wont have any more visits until baby comes in November, so I  was glad for the visit.