Newport News!

Nora woke up Saturday morning only to find out she had to endure ANOTHER TWO HOURS IN THE CAR and and while she was NOT happy about that, she was happy to get to where we were going!

It was time to go to our friends, Karl and Alison's house in Newport, Oregon. Home of the Oregon Aquarium, home of other kids to play with.

Their kids are wonderful, and Simon and Noel spent some time after coming home from an overnight birthday party, playing with Nora.

Simon, who's 12...remembered our visit from late last year and how "Nora can do way more stuff than last time."

We went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, where all the kids enjoyed seeing a LOT of different sea creatures. My personal favorite is the jelly fish.

I think it's because they're so soft, and vulnerable-looking but really they can be quite dangerous. Kinda like that petite little kid in school who you find out has the Black Belt in Karate:

This video starts out with some white jellyfish, then I move over to where Nora is with her Daddy in front of a big tank.

These videos are all short and sweet:


And here's a video of the kids watching jellyfish together:

They had a special exhibit -- including a glass artists' studio that had produced a number of glass items for show with the fish in the tanks.

Karl and Alison's daughter Aria went with us, and we got to see lots of SHARKS!!!

Aria is THREE and quite a big girl. She told me a couple of times she was afraid of the scary sharks, so I told her that the sharks CAN'T hurt her because she's here with Mommies and Daddies, who will protect her from the sharks.

When we entered the shark cove, she grabbed my hand. I love three-year-olds. It's like they're little tape-recorders. She used the same exact words I used to describe what would happen and just said "I'm afraid of sharks. Protect me."

OK, little girl...