When planning the festivities for Bracken’s third birthday this year, I had an inspiration to visit the aquarium in Newport. I mentioned the idea to my mom and she was excited to go. Bracken hadn’t been to the aquarium yet and I thought he would love it. On Saturday we left our house with cloudy skies and rain. When we got to the coast it was sunny. We drove north on 101, along the ocean, with sunlight sparkling on the water. It was a beautiful drive on a beautiful fall day. Bracken had a short little nap in the car and then we were there- The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon.  A great way to celebrate his birthday weekend. 

(He was still two years old so he got in for free. Age three is when they start charging admission.)

The first thing we saw were the sea otters.

 The sea otters were one of my favorite animals to see. I loved watching them clean their whiskers, they were so adorable. They came up really close and entertained us by doing somersaults in the water.

Next we went to see the seals and sea lions.

We were all in awe watching them swim around.

The most fun part of the day for me was seeing Bracken’s face as he watched the animals. His eyes would light up. He would point. He made friends and told them all about it. He would shake with excitement. It was so fun to be there with him as he experienced it all for the first time.

I liked the name of this plant.

Then we visited the birds. There were tufted puffins, pigeon guillemots, and common murres.

Then we got to watch the birds paddling from under the water.

We went and watched the seals and sea lions above the water too.

(Feeding time.)

Then we watched them under water again.

Then we headed inside.

I thought these barnacles were beautiful. (Called Pelagic gooseneck barnacle.)

This little Dungeness crab was fun to watch.

These C-O Sole fish were amazing to watch. They moved so fast, they were challenging to capture on camera.

There was a place where you could gently touch the anemones and starfish. Bracken enjoyed that.

Next amazing thing: Sea Nettle. My mom took a video of them swimming.

Right next to them: Moon jelly.

Watching the jellyfish was another favorite at the aquarium. (After we went to the aquarium and told our friend Mary Lou about it she asked what our favorite part was and said hers was seeing the jellyfish.)

Bracken went over to the boat and called his dad on the radio (who was working at home that day.)

They had an exhibit with all hands-on activities for little ones. There was a boat and a submarine to drive, fish to catch, and cameras to move that looked at fish under the water (among many other things.)

When we saw a photo booth, we couldn’t pass it up. How long had it been since I had been in a photo booth? I loved them so much when I was a kid and saw one on a rare occasion.

In the gift shop, Grandma Julie and Bracken tried on crab hats.

A smooch for the road.

Then we were ready to head back. You can see a little boy had some sleepy eyes after all the fun.

But before we went home, we decided to drive over the bridge into Newport and then drive along the bay front.

What a fun adventure for the day!

When we got home, I realized something: there was a big part of the aquarium we had missed seeing- the tunnel with the sharks! I hadn’t been there in so many years I had completely forgotten while we were there. Oh well, we’ll just have to take another trip back to the aquarium to see it!