Lovin the beach

So Monday night, as we were trying to finagle our way through the checkout lines at Costco, Grandma Smith called and invited us to go to the beach with them the next day. Wahoo! The girls LOVE the beach, and I LOVE going without driving and paying the gas money! And we all LOVE Grandma and Grandpa, so it was really just a win-win-win.The day started a little chilly, but it warmed up (the sun even came out and there was blue sky!), and I do believe we packed everything into the day that was physically/mentally/emotionally possible (Jell's "emotions" were a little bit all over the charts by the end of the day as was).
We went to Lincoln City and the girls LOVED searching for sea "aminals" on the rocks. Apparently we have entered the "I'm going to take every pretty (stinky) shell or rock home with me" stage, but as we don't have room for a beach at home, I dumped them all out. Shh. Here the girls are trying to figure out why they can't pull these shells off the rocks.


And, true to her nature, Meri went to town poking the little sea anemones. She just laughed and laughed as they squished and closed up. Hopefully they all recover. She hasn't quite grasped the meaning of the word "gentle." Jell, as expected, was quite a bit more difficult to convince, but she finally worked up the nerve after learning that Nemo lives in an anemone.
I love this picture! That's Grandpa, cousin Taylor and her friend in the distance. It looks to me like Meri's wistfully watching, wishing she knew how to say "hey come back. Wait for me - I'm a big kid too!"
After everybody had worked up an appetite, we headed to Mo's where the others enjoyed what they claim is the best clam chowder everywhere (YUCK!). And then we got a great surprise - Grandma and Grandpa brought us to the Newport Aquarium! We haven't been before, but have wanted to, so this was pretty exciting.

The world's largest crabs - Japanese spider crabs.







And Meri really needs to work on her "chomping" monster face.








It really was pretty cool to touch everything, and of course, to walk through the shark tunnel. Jell's favorite were the jellys. I, on the other hand, have to agree with the little Geico guy. Jellys are really weird. I mean, where even is their face?

And Meri's favorite was probably the sucker Grandma and Grandpa bought her. In this picture, she was pointing out to us that drool was dripping off her chin. Lovely.
Then we topped it off by going back to the beach to play some more. Meri kept diving/belly flopping onto the sand, digging her arms in, kicking her legs, and laughing her silly little head off. Jenelle thoroughly wore herself out chasing down frisbees. Which, by the way, when she throws them, about half the time they shoot out directly behind her, and your guess is as good as mine as to where the other half are going. She always says, "Oops! Sorry, that went the wrong way. You go get it!" So we owe a great BIG thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Smith! We love you!
On a different note, and actually ending on the same note as last time, any advice about what to do with a bath pooper? Jenelle and I are very upset. It just happened again.