Cousins x 3

On November 22, 2013 my cousin, Adrian Bird died. She was shot in the back of her head by an ex-boyfriend who had no responsibility using let alone having a gun. He was not in a healthy state of mind. Adrian was a fun, good person who made horrible choices when it came to boyfriends.

On November 24, 2019 my cousin, Connor Lake died. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Connor was a friendly, self-less, and sweet man who struggled with depression.

On December 19, 2019 my cousin, Curtis Dodge died. He was at a shooting range with his brother and father - something he had done several times, closely monitored by his dad, and enjoyed. He was autistic but high-functioning. He was full of energy and enthusiasm but recognized that he was different from other people. Shooting was something that he felt that he was good at. But that day he was shooting poorly and in a flash of frustration he turned the gun on himself. He acted too quickly for my uncle to even react. After a few days in the hospital it became apparent that the damage to his brain was extensive and my aunt and uncle decided to transfer him to hospice where he could peacefully die.

We were still living in Oregon when Adrian died and I was able to be with my family for the funeral and for the hearing and sentencing of the man who shot her.

When Connor died I was in Ohio and unable to be with my family. I really wish I could have been in Oregon and was very homesick.

I am grateful that I was able to be in Oregon for Curtis. I am grateful that I was able to visit him in the hospital, to hug my aunt and uncle, to cry with my family, and that I'll be able to attend the funeral next week. It helps, me at least, process what has happened. I will miss my cousins. I know that Curtis didn't intend to kill himself. I know that because of the plan of salvation I will be able to be with my cousins again.

Southwest Airlines

Back in October my parents decided that they were going to buy us plane tickets to visit them in Oregon for Christmas.

I was super excited and J and I talked at length on what the best timing was for us to go. Unfortunately, the "best" timing involved me flying both ways with three kids. By myself. 

I was terrified.

We gave my mom our preferred dates and times and she bought the plane tickets through Southwest.

I have flown Southwest several times but never with kids. I have also flown several times with kids, sometimes by myself, but never with all three. 

Hulk has flown on more planes in six years than most adults have flown in their entire lives. 

He's a pro.

We got to the airport an hour before boarding was supposed to begin. We had an early flight so I was no worried about getting through security because at that hour there was not going to be a lot of people at the airport. I did have one bag to check, a carseat, and I needed to tell them I had a child in arms.

In the past, for children under two years of age all I have had to do was tell the people who print the boarding passes that I have a "child-in-arms" and they will print me a new boarding pass with "child-in-arms" printed on the boarding pass. 

I am confident. I have done this before. I know what I am doing. My only fears are a child wondering off or crying on the airplane. 

I have got this.

I walk up to ticket counter and inform the lady that I want to check a bag, a carseat, and I have a child in arms. I then hand her my driver's license and the boarding passes that I had printed at home when confirming my flight the day before. 

She says thanks and then asks for Baby #3's birth certificate. 

And my world stops. 

His birth certificate? He's three months old! He doesn't have teeth! He can't even sit up on his own!

Seriously?! 

Well, I don't have it. What are my options?

She asks if I have his vaccination records - any official document that will have his name and birth date. Apparently this is something that I am supposed to pull up on my phone through my pediatrician's website. I was not able to despite desperately trying. 

She then informs me that I can buy a last minute ticket for Baby #3 and after I get his birth certificate fax the certificate and the ticket information to Southwest to be reimbursed but that she needs proof of his age as it is part of Southwest's protocol. 

I declare this is ridiculous as I have never had to do this before.

She asks if I have ever flown on Southwest with kids before.

I tell her that I am going to call my husband and leave the counter to go cry in a corner. Literally.

And keep in mind I have Baby #3 in a carrier on my front, Little Viking Girl in a carrier on my back, a diaper bag, a carseat, a large suitcase, and Hulk. We are a mass of chaos. 

Fortunately J picks up his phone. This is a miracle in itself as is phone is often silent and he doesn't notice calls are coming in. And he was driving to work without his bluetooth so he was focusing on driving and not his phone (like a responsible driver, unlike me).

I explain the situation and he immediately gets onto I75 north towards our house. 

Waiting for J to text me

 It took him 20 minutes from the time I called him for him to get home. He then spent about five minutes looking for Baby #3's birth certificate.
He couldn't find it (he was able to find it later).
I spent this time checking Southwest's protocol on traveling with children under two years. Their website does not say that a birth certificate is required, only suggested to confirm the child's age.

J did find that cutesy certificate that hospitals make with the baby's footprints and he texts me a picture of it.
I go up to the ticket counter and show the lady the text and ask her if she will accept it.
She replies that she doesn't like it but she will accept it but on my return flight I need to have the actual birth certificate.
At this point I don't care what she likes because I only have half an hour before boarding to get three kids through security and to our gate.
We make it to our gate 15 minutes before it closes but people are still boarding. A person working the gate notices me and my kids and lets me cut the line so that we'll be able to get seats together without forcing someone out of their seat (Southwest doesn't have pre-assigned seats).
Bless that person.

Made it!

Our first flight was just over an hour long. The amount of time to get to cruising altitude, a flight attendant to bring a drink, and then to start the descent. Not enough time for my kids to become board. It was great.

Our layover at Midway was only an hour - which is the perfect amount of time for a layover. It's enough time to go to the bathroom and walk the mile and a half to your next gate without frantically running through the airport. And you have time left over to sit and relax with your legs stretched out before having to board.

Hulk and Little Viking Girl enjoyed snacks, watching the planes taxi, and getting some of their energy out.

Layover at Midway 

Our second flight was over four hours long. The kids did get board but I plied them with books and coloring material. About an hour in I told Little Viking Girl she needed to take a nap and fortunately she didn't fight me too much. I suggested to Hulk that he take a nap as well as he had not gotten much sleep the night before. He told me he didn't want to so I suggested that he just put his head in my lap. That did the trick ;)
Baby #3 also fell asleep during this time so I had three sleeping kids on me.
Unfortunately I could not get any sleep in this position.

Flight #2

I am continuously impressed by my kids. I am so grateful that they travel well.

I am grateful that we are in Oregon for Christmas :)

I maintain that the people at CVG's ticket desk are absolutely ridiculous. 

Cooking at the Campbells

Welcome to the cooking section of this blog.

Today I am going to share with you how to make dairy free chocolate cupcakes. 

1. Go through your cookbook to see if your current chocolate cake recipe is simple enough to use. Mine was not (it called for chocolate chips).

If this is the case, then spend the next ten to fifteen minutes googling "dairy-free chocolate cake". 

Pick a recipe for which you already have all the ingredients, or just use this one.

2. Disregard the mess in your kitchen. You'll be able to wash dishes while the cupcakes cook. 

3. Pull out all necessary ingredients and set them on any available counter space (use the stove top and chairs if called for).

4. Spend the next fifteen minutes creating a youtube playlist or deciding what to watch on Netflix. Tonight I felt like youtube and was able to experience commercials for Disney+ and make-up.

Obviously youtube doesn't know me. 

I will never pay for Disney+ and I don't wear make-up unless at weddings. 

5. Carefully cream your sugar and butter together.

6. Add eggs and beat until smooth.

7. Dump in all other ingredients and mix until fully incorporated. 

Taste test along the way. Especially at the end as you are filling the cupcake pan.

8. Line cupcake pan with liners (usually I use silicone ones but since this was for an event I didn't want to worry about people throwing my re-usable liners away).

9. Fill the liners about half way with batter.

Do not be tempted to fill liners any more than that as the cupcake will rise while cooking and if there is too much batter it will spill over the side of the liner and stick to your pan.

10. Guess the proper cooking time for the cupcakes since you used a cake recipe. (for this recipe it was 20-25 minutes, I don't remember)

11. Clean your kitchen while the cupcakes are cooking - everything to the right of the sink in the picture is clean 💪

12. Forget to take a picture of your final product as it took you until 2 am to cook all of the cupcakes.

13. Make your favorite dairy-free buttercream frosting 

Mine is 1/4 cup shortening, 3 cups powdered sugar, add almond milk to desired consistency 

14. Enjoy :)

The Peloton Bike Commercial

This commercial has been over all over the media lately (and was recently mentioned on my favorite NPR program Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!) because of its poor reception.

I can quote the NY Times as stating the ad as being "criticized as sexist and dystopian."

I saw the commercial, probably around the time when it first came out, and then moved on with my life.

I don't get it. Maybe because I haven't seen Black Mirror? 😑

JC knows I like to run.
He knows I hate running when it's really cold outside.
He knows it's hard for me to run during normal daylight hours because we have three small kids.

If he got me a super fancy treadmill, I would probably be super excited and make a bunch of video blogs of me using it to share with him to express my appreciation for the gift.

Him understanding my interests and trying to cater to them is not sexist or dystopian.

Now, it would be different if say I didn't like running or that he said, "I'll get you a $2,000+ treadmill but I want to see that you're using it every day or I'm sending it back!" But that is not implied in the commercial.

Some critics have pointed out that the wife (it's never stated so I guess she could be a girlfriend, fiance,  gender fluid boyfriend...) was already skinny. Those critics are sexist. Skinny people can't be interested in exercise? If anything, skinny people appreciate exercise more than heavy people because exercise (as well as a healthy diet) helped them be skinny! And you don't stop exercising just because you're skinny.

I don't understand the hate.

Sibling Love

Little Viking Girl adores her brothers. Unfortunately Baby #3 is too young to reciprocate and Hulk spends half of his time with her reprimanding her. I then spend my time reprimanding Hulk for reprimanding her. 

Having a younger sibling has been good for him. He was four years old when she was born and was developing into the stereotypical only child. 

She has been the perfect addition to our family. She's a ray of sunshine, a happy, energetic, and enthusiastic ball of fun. 

And every day Hulk gets to have a discussion with me on consent and respect. He's getting there.

He does enjoy spending time with her and playing with her and will often ask when Baby #3 will be old enough to play with.

He's getting there ;)

Light the World

Every year in December The Church of Jesus Christ puts out a Light the World campaign. Each day, for the month of December, there is a different service opportunity (there's a calendar that you can download too). The idea is to remind people of the reason for the Christmas season and to help people draw closer to Christ through service.

The first day of the challenge was to send a text message to the last person that you received a text from, telling that person something you appreciate about them. This led to my dad sending a sweet and thoughtful text, which really made my day. I was suspicious as to why he sent it (I know he loves me but he doesn't usually go out of his way to tell me). Later he said it was for the Light the World campaign and he didn't want to mention that in the text because he didn't want to decrease the significance of his words - and I agree with his logic. His text made my day and it helped me get through a full day of crying yesterday.

The second day of the challenge was to highlight the example of someone that reminds you of Christlike service. I decided to highlight my brother by saying,

"I am grateful for a little brother who has always been more mature than me. He has taught me a lot and is an example of Christlike behavior and service. He is thoughtful, kind, and is a support to those around him."

My brother is pretty awesome. He has always reminded me of the stalwart prophets you read in the scriptures and I know that I can always go to him if I need help.

Today's challenge was to donate blood. How cool is that! I strongly believe that donating blood saves lives and if you are healthy and capable you should do it on a regular basis. That being said, since I donated blood two weeks ago I think I am exempt from donating today ;)

I look forward to completing the challenges through the remainder of this month as I prepare myself spiritually to celebrate Christmas. :)

Happy Holidays!

I Pressed On

On Friday, November 22nd at 7:45 pm my cousin got into his truck and drove away. He was supposed to be traveling from his home in Sisters, OR to Bend.

Sometime Saturday he was considered a missing person and family and friends rallied to look for him.

Sunday evening he was found deceased from a self-inflicted gun shot wound.

I am grateful that he was found quickly but the 2,000+ miles between me and my family, especially right before Thanksgiving, has left me feeling homesick.

Especially since five years ago, almost to the day, another cousin was shot in the back of the head by her ex-boyfriend.

I hadn't seen my cousin in five years (I think the last time I saw him was at our cousin's funeral before I moved to Ohio). We weren't close growing up, I'm seven years older and while we got along we didn't share many interests. I am closer to his dad, my mom's youngest brother.

I knew he was a kind, sweet, selfless, and thoughtful person. He would go out of his way to help anyone and, at 6'7'', was given the nickname "the gentle giant."

I didn't know that he fought with depression.

My dad's side of my family is much more open about their experiences with depression. Three of my dad's four siblings have been on medication for depression at some point. My dad's youngest brother also committed suicide three years ago. I have cousins that that have been on medication and one cousin who frequently blogs about her depression.

I don't talk about it openly with extended family but I let JC and sometimes my dad know what I am going through a difficult phase with my depression.

I have had suicidal thoughts but I have never been suicidal. I would never actually do it because I don't want my kids to grow up without a mother. But not everyone has that incentive and, in the case of my cousin who blogs, her depression tells her that her kids would be better off without her.

I have a friend on facebook that is the stereotypical "older woman that just shares inspirational memes and cat videos". Lately, the memes she's been sharing have been depression and suicide related. I'm sure the Holy Ghost inspired her to share those because they were things I needed to hear.

One of the memes read, "If you rearrange the letters in DEPRESSION you'll get I PRESSED ON".
There are days where depression just swallows you whole and it feels like there is a physical weight on your chest pressing you down. A few years ago I saw this video where the person described not even being able to get out of bed. That's what depression is.

It isolates you, which only makes it worse.

I don't know how long my cousin was fighting, or the exact nature of his struggle because he never spoke about it. His death came as a shock to everyone who knew him.

It's good to reach out when you are experiencing depression, it's good to talk about it (even though that's the last thing you want to do when depressed).

I am grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and the knowledge and testimony I have of the restored gospel. I know that I will see my cousin (and other family members) again. I know that the Lord loves me, even and especially when I don't love myself.

Our Black Friday Tradition

I think that I've mentioned a few times on this blog that I hate lines. And crowds.
I also hate shopping (gift giving is not my love language).

I do enjoy getting outdoors, away from randos yet still with my family.

Last year we went to Red River Gorge. I have yet to post about it BUT it was AMAZING.
The drive was a bit long (from where we live) and we haven't been back since (because of the drive) but when debating where to go this year we held it in serious consideration.

We ended up going to Hocking Hills.
Which, ironically, is about the same distance from our home as The Gorge. Go figure.

Link is horrible at posing for pictures 😡

We went on four short hikes - all of the hikes are fairly short, you do have the option of extending them by connecting different scenic views or walking along the road. Since we have small kids, and with the eldest being bed ridden with a cold all week (seriously, him being sick is getting old #GetOverItAlready #NoSympathyFromMe) we decided to not try to go longer than a mile at a time.

We visited the Rock House, Cedar Falls, Old Man's Cave, and Ash Cave. In that order.

JC said he liked Hocking Hills more than he liked The Gorge. Hocking Hills has more water fall views, which he likes whereas The Gorge has more panoramic valley views.

I thought Hocking Hills was beautiful, I liked that the hikes were easy for small kids, I would love to go running there if we lived closer (it would be the perfect place to do long runs). But it was very built up - meaning that it had a lot of paved trails, railings, built in stairs. It was an area in nature that sees a high volume of visitors and so it has been built up to with stand the corrosion that comes with that level of foot traffic. We were also never alone; every place we visited had several other people there as well. So for those reasons I enjoyed The Gorge more.

After we went hiking we went to this place called JimBo's Burgers and Beer. It was ok. 
However, for a $9 burger I want more than ok.
I did really like our waitress.

Hulk had a great time exploring the caves. Despite being sick he showed enthusiasm and energy, which I appreciated. The first hike we was very grumpy and JC actually had to carry him for a bit. But by the fourth hike he was running ahead and jumping off of rocks. He just needed to warm up to the idea that this was how we were going to spend our day ;)

We had a great time and would really recommend going. It is beautiful and the cave and rock formations are *insert synonym for beautiful* and, as I mentioned, JC really enjoyed the water falls. They weren't every big (maybe they're bigger in the spring?) but they were impressive. If we lived closer I could see us going regularly (especially for long runs 😉).

The Potato Peeler (or a very non-thought provoking post)

It's the most wonderful time of the year because I get to do one of my favorite things: cook lots of food.

J hates it. But it makes me happy so he only grumbles instead of trying to talk me out of it.

It's also the only time of year that I peel potatoes and apples. I feel that peeling fruits and vegetables is a waste of my time. What's the point? There are a lot of nutrients and fiber in the peel and it's liking throwing food away - something I am strongly against.

I asked around - why people peel their fruits and vegetables? Some people felt the skin had a tart flavor they didn't like, others didn't like the texture, and some people said that they peeled their fruits and vegetables because that's what they saw their moms do growing up.

The first two answers I can live with (but personally disagree with).

The third answer I don't like. Doing something because that's what you saw someone else do growing up is no way to live your life.

I have spent some time justifying to myself how this tradition began. I'm linking it to a subtle display of wealth. It takes time to peel and there is a portion of the food that is either tossed or composted (but not eaten). Taking the time to peel or paying someone to peel the food for you would indicate that you have the money to spend the time to do that (or pay someone to do it for you) and that you are well enough off that you don't mind the portion of lost food. Bind blowing thought, I know.

When my mother and mother-in-law were here after Baby #3 was born they helped with the cooking. They both asked, at different times, where my potato peeler was. My mother almost seemed offended when I said that I didn't have one.

I did have one, at one point. And they're pretty cheap (I saw one for $1 but I doubt it is very durable). But in my mind I wouldn't use it often enough to justify spending that $1 and it would just be taking up space the rest of the year. Which is kind of hypocritical since I have a potato masher and an apple slicer that I never use and they take up way more space.

So why do I peel potatoes and apples at this time of year?

The potatoes are to make mashed potatoes which then go into the dinner roll dough. The mashed potatoes make the rolls soft and moist (for dayz). And no one wants potato skins in their dinner rolls.

The apples are for Apple Bundt Cake. And no one wants apple skins in their cake.

Pre-Thanksgiving Festivity

I mentioned to Hulk last week that we would make a gingerbread house sometime before Christmas.
He took that to mean that we would be making a gingerbread house RIGHT NOW.
And from scratch.

I've tried making gingerbread houses from scratch before - and they have been classic fails.
But I had recently seen this buzzfeed video (which provided a recipe and clear instructions) and was willing to give it a try.

There was still a learning curve, I still had to improvise (example: I don't have a stove top dutch oven), and I still made mistakes that I am going to try to not repeat next year.

Rolling out the dough

That being said - I would totally try making a gingerbread house from scratch next year. There are a lot of perks to it: it's larger than a cheap store bought kit (because you know that I am going to buy the cheapest one), we made it together from start to finish so my kids will have those memories and that learning experience, and we dictated the candy that went on the gingerbread house (because you know those kits always have some gross candy that no one is going to touch).

It did take us three days to make. Not "three whole days" more of we started it Saturday morning but royal icing takes A LOT longer to harden than I thought because I never work with it and then I tried to use parchment paper instead of newspaper to hold the shape of the roof (spoiler: it didn't work, use newspaper), Hulk was sick all day Sunday and today was a school day so after school we finished it.

Little Viking Girl's contribution to the whole thing was candy quality control. She ate so much, became offended when I told her she couldn't eat the candy on the house, and was possessive of the candy that hadn't been used yet.

The candy queen

It was an experience. But a good one :)

And there was only one casualty sacrificed to the candy gods.

The Cone

When we were living in West Chester we discovered The Cone.

J and I aren't super fond of Graeter's Ice Cream (and we seem to be unique in that choice) but we enjoy taking the kids to The Cone.

For Hulk's third birthday we took him to the zoo. While there we let him pick out an ice cream cone (we never buy things while at the zoo but we figured his birthday should be special). He picked out this neon blue soft serve. I didn't think much of it at the time (it's just a blueberry ice cream, right?). But it turns out that it's a Cincinnati original that was introduced at King's Island in 1987 to promote one of their new rides. Go figure.

The Cone also has Hulk's favorite blue soft serve and we are willing to drive the 20 minutes north to West Chester each summer when it opens for him to get it.

The Cone also serves hot dogs and has coin rides - we've never paid for the rides but the kids enjoy climbing around the machines.

It's one of our favorite summer traditions :)

Cubscouts

Hulk's cub scout pack has a face painting ceremony for when the boys earn their bobcat badge and "officially" join the pack as a Tiger scout.

He loved the pomp, painting my face too, and the American flag another boy in the pack gave him. 🇺🇲

My brothers and parents were active in scouts growing up and I swore that I would never be involved but then I had a little boy who dreamed of wearing that blue uniform.

He wanted to be a scout.

I am happy he has something that he's excited about and enjoys doing each week and it helps reinforce what we teach at home (honesty, kindness, and service). 

On our walks home from school he will pick up the garbage on the side of the street to throw away when we get home and fix yard signs that have fallen over. What six year old does that without being asked?

We have our hard days, and ever our good days have some level of whining. But I am still grateful to be his mom.

Here are some of the fun activities he did last year as a Lion:

Homecoming parade

Toured the fire station

Hiked in Red River Gorge

Cincinnati Museum Center

Pinewood Derby Race

The National Air Force Museum

Last March we went to the National Air Force Museum.
To say that place is huge is an understatement. It's expansive.

There are four large galleries that house the airplanes (and helicopters and rockets and everything else). Each of the galleries has a theme to their exhibit and is further subdivided. Walking through it is like walking through the history of aviation. There is also a cafeteria between galleries two and three.

Part of the Berlin Wall

The galleries are all connected by a tunnel in a linear design which requires you to pass through each one. There is a lot of good to be said about the Museum: it's free, parking is free, Hulk loved it, it's informative and interesting, has a wide selection and variety. They also offer free strollers for the kids.

But it is BIG. And you have to walk through each gallery to get to the end and then walk back to exit. And you can't take food or drinks. Which I didn't know about ahead of time so I had a diaper bag full of snacks for the kids. Fortunately, the guard at the entrance took pity on me and said that I could take the food in but the kids couldn't eat anything outside of the cafeteria.

Flying saucer prototype

We spent five hours there and only saw half of the museum. Hulk was exhausted by the time we left. He also took approximately 120,948,109,284,192 photos because he wanted a picture of each plane. And they're all still on my phone...

Future astronaut

We really liked the museum but it's not something you should try to accomplish all in one day. With small kids I would recommend a gallery or two per day that you are there. There are a lot of informative plaques (which hold no interest to kids) but several of the planes you can walk through (like the retired presidential Air Force Ones) or sit in. I think there are two virtual reality machines you could do but we didn't want to pay for them. 'Cus we're cheap.

Testing out the flight landing simulator

There are two types of maps offered by the museum: a complementary one and one that you can get for a "suggested donation" of $6. I suggest the $6 map as it is much more informative and detailed.

Standing next to a model of a rocket while standing next to a life sized model of a rocket #meta

It's on our bucket list to go back but with the hour drive to Dayton from Cincinnati finding time is difficult.

Until then - here are more pictures of my kids with the planes:

Maverick and Goose

Air Force One (one of them)

101 posts

I wanted to have some revolutional, mind-blowing, emotionally inspiring blog post as our 100th but then I wasn't keeping track and posted a blog comparing aquariums instead.

Super riveting.

I guess it doesn't really matter since no one reads these anyways. o.O?

We started blogging (as a couple) in August of 2011. At the time blogging was having a revolution and my extended family would update blogs on a semi-regular basis as a way of keeping people up to date on their activities. JC and I never really jumped on the "blog train". I would read my families' blogs and update JC if there was something interesting but how often a new blog was posted varied widely between family members. My grandma posted weekly, my aunt posted daily, and then you had JC and I who posted bi-monthly for 2011 and only five times the entire year of 2012.

Flash forward to 2019 I have two cousins that will put out an occasional post but JC and I (but mostly me) are the only ones that blog semi-consistently. My grandma sends out a weekly email to the entire family that gets an occasional reply all but that's the extent of our communication nowadays.

We're super tight.

Our blog hasn't changed much since 2011. I've changed our domain name from longdistancesprinter to jcandeo to match what was already our blog header, I've updated the pictures of the kids and the "Our Profile" page, and added a "Cincinnati" page.

Our lives have changed a lot:
We're no longer in school
I have a master's degree
J has a good job
We bought a house
We have a dog
We have three kids
We've moved 2,000+ miles from family

Here's to another 100 posts over the next ten(ish) years #cheers

The Newport Aquarium - a tale of two aquariums

Just over the Ohio River from Cincinnati is Newport, Kentucky.
We also have a Newport in Oregon. It's one of the biggest coastal towns and a big tourist hub. If going to the coast from Corvallis (where I went to school and J grew up) the most direct way leads you through Newport.

So when we think of Newport we think of cold and salty wind, the smell of sea and fish, beautiful views of the ocean.

There is also an aquarium in Newport. We called it the Newport Aquarium. Until we moved here, I never realized that its actual name was the Oregon Coast Aquarium. The aquarium also works with the research department at Oregon State University. The way that the aquarium is set up, it is mostly outside. There's a play area, small pools to touch tide-pool critters, a passage way that goes through a tank, and a short nature trail by the estuary to view wildlife where it belongs - in the wild. There are also indoor places that provide an educational experience for visitors. One of the outdoor areas that I remember loving as a kid was this area that simulated the tide coming in. Every once in a while a huge wave would come through and if you were standing close enough you'd get wet.

We love the Oregon Coast Aquarium, it's simple, it's educational, it's fun, and it lets you control your experience.

Hulk visiting the Oregon Coast Aquarium

The Oregon Coast Aquarium is also the aquarium that hosted Keiko (for you Free Willy loving fans) before he was released back into the wild. I don't remember going to visit him but I have seen pictures of me looking into a tank at an orca and my mom claims it was Keiko - so...

Picture of a picture from my baby book (when I was around 7)

The first thing I want to mention about the Newport Aquarium in Kentucky is that it is all indoors - where it is dimly lit. So when you have someone who is horrible at taking pictures (me) and put them into a poorly lit environment that equals bad quality photos. #sorrynotsorry

The Newport Aquarium is nice, it has a lot more variety than the Oregon Coast Aquarium as far as wild life goes. It doesn't have any seals, sea lions, or otters. But it has penguins (one of Hulk's favorites) and a lot more sharks, crustaceans, fish, and sea horses (it has a whole room dedicated to several different sea horse species, it's kinda cool).

Baby shark do doo...

There's a lot more to see with a lot more variety. There's an indoor play area for kids that is really nice and there's the shark bridge that is highly advertised. Hulk enjoys the bridge but I feel that once you've walked over one rope bridge you've walked over them all. And you can't really see the sharks when you're on the bridge.

The shark bridge

My biggest complaint about the Newport Aquarium is that it is set up like Ikea - meaning that you have to walk through the whole thing. It's one big loop and there is no cutting corners. This can lead to a lot of congestion at the beginning and people just rushing at the end because at that point you just want to get out. There's also a restaurant that you have to walk through about two thirds of the way through - you know, that prime spot where your kids are getting tired and hungry. But I refuse to be pray to their marketing techniques. Having a restaurant part way through your exhibit is like having to walk through the gift shop to get to the exit (another thing you have to do at the Newport Aquarium). It's good marketing on their part but I hate it and I will not be a part of it.

Japanese Crab

The aquarium is big enough that you could easily spend over an hour there and still feel like there were things you missed. Around Christmas time they have scuba divers dress up as Santa Claus and his elves in the shark tank and they'll interact with kids on the outside of the tank. If you use the Newport on the Levee parking garage between 11am-2pm Mon-Thurs the parking is free (which I am all for). Newport Levee itself is a neat experience. We usually just walk around the patio area and along the waterfront.

Petting sharks

It might be childhood nostalgia, it might be cultural, but I enjoy the feel of the Oregon Coast Aquarium more. I enjoy picking the order of the exhibits and wondering around outside. But I appreciate being able to visit the Newport Aquarium and the kids enjoy it too. Just be prepared for a lot of people to try to maneuver a stroller around and bring plenty of snacks because you may be there awhile.