Newport: Day TWO...Newport Pier, Oregon Coast Aquarium, Sea Hag

On day two in Newport we went for a quick walk on the Newport Pier. There were a lot of people fishing and crabbing, which was really entertaining for Cohen. He loved going up to everyone and asking them a million questions. He's such a social little guy.














After the pier, we met a friend of ours (Amy) at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Cohen loves aquariums. This one had an amazing underwater tunnel that allowed us to see some great sharks. Cohen really got into it, which is always fun.

We then headed to the Sea Hag (Depoe Bay) for lunch. I had a crab louie that looked like a crab. It was fun :) Really I just got it for the amazing shrimp and crab on it! It was a great lunch catching up with Amy.

We took a few pictures after lunch. I LOVE Depoe Bay! It's just so beautiful.

 

A quick trip to Newport...Candy, Dinner at Mo's, Ice Cream, and the Beach

After the Enchanted Forest, we headed to Newport to spend the night and get in a little more beach time before heading to Minnesota. Before dinner we stopped at a little candy shop to restock on gummy sharks. Cohen sure does love those gummy sharks and Grandma A is all too willing to support his addition.

We then headed to Mo's for dinner. This was my first time at the original Mo's. The food was great and Cohen loved the little plastic shark they gave him with his lemonade. I'm not sure where he got the idea to order lemonade, but it's now his thing. Every time we sit down in a restaurant Cohen turns to the waiter/waitress and orders lemonade. Harmizzle ordered a Marion berry cobbler, which was amazing!

 

We then stopped at an ice-cream shop so Cohen could get a chocolate ice-cream cone. The Neu's loves ice cream, and Grandpa A loves chocolate ice-cream....Cohen had no chance....he was bound to love chocolate ice-cream. 

After our sweet treat, we headed to the beach. It was kind of hike down, but Cohen insisted on going down and running in the sand. He ended up with a little sand in his eye because of the wind was crazy strong, but for the most part he enjoyed himself. :) I LOVE the Oregon coast and miss it!

Another Trip to the Enchanted Forest

While in Washington we met up with a couple of my cousins and my aunt at the Enchanted Forest! We had taken Cohen there in June of 2016 and he loved it, so we thought it would be fun to go again. Now that Cohen's older he could go on more of the rides and he loved it! He went on his very first roller coaster (the Ice Mountain Bobsled). He plastered his head into my chest the whole time, but he seemed to enjoy it. He also went on the little Ferris wheel, bumper boats, and the little train. He sure loves the train. It was kind of hard that to explain to him that he couldn't go on all the rides because he wasn't tall enough. I can't wait until he's 42' tall!

It was nice spending some more time with my family!

A surprise birthday party for Grandma Olsen!

The main reason Cohen and I made the trek to Washington was to go to my grandmas 85th birthday party. It was a surprise party so she had no idea all her family were traveling from all over to be there to celebrate with her. Her birthday actually isn't until August 31st, but we had it early to accommodate many different schedules and get as many of her grandkids there as possible. Grandma Olsen also recently moved out of her house which she has lived in for over 55 years and moved into an assisted living home. It was a great way to celebrate her birthday and have a little apartment warming party!

It was so fantastic to see my cousins again (many I haven't seen in years) and meet new members of the family. Cohen had a blast hanging with Jake (son of one of my cousins) and they kept themselves entertained throughout the festivities.

Seaside + Long Beach + Campfire = Perfect Summer Day

After a surprisingly restful night's sleep, we headed to Seaside to go to the outlet malls and out to lunch. We ended up at Pig'n Pancake, which historically has been a family favorite of ours, but this time it was a total let down. The service was horrible and they messed up Grandma's order....TWICE! I think we will need to find a new favorite Seaside restaurant.

We then walked toward the beach and stopped at the carousel for a quick ride and then to a shop to buy Cohen his first kite! We only spent a few minutes flying the kite in Seaside. We deiced to head back to Long Beach to hang out on the beach since we could drive the truck on the sand and therefore don't have to walk to long distance to the water!

Long Beach was basically empty, which was totally nice. Cohen only flew the kite for a few minutes and then handed it to Grandma, so he could dig in the sand. Grandma just tied the kite to her chair. Of course, it ended up flying off, but luckily it didn't get far and Auntie Harmizzle could retrieve it. It was a lovely couple of hours at the beach with the fam!

After a great beach trip, we headed home to build a camp fire. Cohen had been asking nonstop about when we would be building a fire to make smores! The timing was perfect cause when we tried to start the barbecue to make burgers, we realized we were out of fuel, so we ended up cooking everything over the fire. Auntie Harmizzle didn't believe it could be done, but it could! Both the burgers and the corn were delicious.

We quickly moved on to dessert. Cohen opted in to eating a deconstructed smore and seemed to quite enjoy it. Grandma made a smore with a reese's peanut butter cup which looked divine! I will log that one away for next time I do smores!

We then moved on to making Fire Pies (a creation of our friend Kelly. aka Mele). Basically, you take biscuit dough and wrap it around an aluminum foil ball on a stick and cook it over the file. Kari then put pie filling and whipped cream on top. I decided to give it a try but instead of putting pie filling in it I put fresh peaches. It was delicious! It took a while to cook the dough, but it was totally worth it!

Oh, and we drug these two water guns to the beach (on Cohen's insistence) and didn't even use them once. Just posed with them :) Luckily, they got a lot of use when we got home and Grandpa started an epic watertight.

A quick stop in Astoria, Oregon for lunch at Bowpicker's!

On our way to Long Beach for a two day camping trip, we stopped in Astoria for lunch and a little walk around the docks. Cohen learned what an anchor was and quickly became a fan of them and enjoyed easily spotting them on the rest of our beach adventures. We didn't go into the Columbia River Maritime Museum, but I kind of regret not taking Cohen. I think he would have loved it! I will next time!

Cohen did get to hop inside the museum and the hurricane simulator (luckily, a lady let Cohen join her son in it).

We grabbed a large order of fish and chips at Bowpicker's. The line was amazingly long, but we do so enjoy the fish! Dad doesn't get the big deal :)

Washington Trip January 2017: Trip to Oregon Zoo with the fam

It wouldn't be a trip to visit my family without going to the Oregon Zoo! This time my cousins joined us, which made it even more fun!

First Oregon Zoo Trip
Second Oregon Zoo Trip
Third Oregon Zoo Trip

 

Washington Trip January 2017: Date Night in Portland - Little Bird

Another food post!

After Jeff and I saw the movie Lion, we headed to a nice little French restaurant called Little Bird. We both really enjoyed what we ate. It wasn't the best place we have ever eaten, but we would both totally recommend it (for a special celebratory dinner, since it was a little expensive). I'm assuming we will never go back (unless Jeff succumbs to his desire to have their Double Brie Burger), but not because we didn't like it, but because in doing research to find out where we should eat, we found a tone of awesome places we would love to try! Love Portland.

I had the Fried Chicken “Coq au Vin.” Jeff said it wasn't a real Chicken "Coq au Vin," but I really liked it! The wine sauce was a little strong, but the crispy chicken and mushrooms were divine!

Jeff had the Hanger Steak Au Poivre with a side of Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Dijon Butter, Black Pepper Walnuts. I'm not a huge brussel sprouts fan, but we both LOVED them!

I didn't get a picture of the dessert (because we started eating it too quickly), but we actually thought it was the best thing we had. 

Washington Trip January 2017: Date Night in Portland - Pearl Bakery

My mom and Kari were kind enough to watch Cohen while Jeff and I spent an evening in Portland for our date night. I've always enjoyed visiting downtown Portland, but after this trip I've decided thatI love it.  It has an amazing atmosphere and both Jeff and I really enjoyed ourselves.

We met Kari at PSU for lunch before heading to Pearl Bakery. Those of you that know us well,  know that we are all about the food. We always do research before heading out to try new places. Pearl Bakery was one of the bakery's in the area that had good reviews and it wasn't a far walk from our hotel. We weren't blown away, but it was definitely good.

I had the Gibassier. I loved the texture (totally fluffy) and the sugar on top, but it had a black licorice aftertaste that I wasn't a fan of.

I also had the Chocolate Hazelnut Croissant. This isn't your traditional chocolate croissant (you know the one with just two small strips of chocolate in the middle). It was full of chocolate and hazelnuts! It was amazingly rich, but I enjoyed it.