Road Trip: Fourth of July in Newport

We decided to spend Fourth of July over at the coast this year and wow, was it ever a fantastic idea!  We hadn't been the coast since my Arkansas family came to visit in June, so it was a great trip to enjoy the coast and see some fireworks too!

 

  

We did a little photo shoot with the American flag while walking along the beach.  The beach front was rather populated because of the Fourth, so we walked a bit down the beach to find a more secluded area.

Happy Birthday, America! #fourthofjuly #johnlennon #imagine #usa #love #oldglory #instashot #nocrop #fourthofjulycamping #beach #southbeach

There was a lot of sea gooseberries along the sand on the beach.  These are always so interesting to me because they are so clear.

Baz always loves going to the coast.  He doesn't walk in the water, but sometimes he will just stand and stare out on the water.  I always wonder what he sees out there that we can't.

  

The Yaquina Bay Bridge always looks so pretty during the summer months.

    

As the sun went down the bay front was so bright with light from the sun.  One of the best views is the sun setting in the west.

We had a bite to eat before going out on the jetty to watch the fireworks.  Skylar tried his hand at the Monster Burger at the Newport Cafe.  He gave it his all, but he couldn't quite eat it all.  

We ended up sitting at the jetty for a few hours before the fireworks.  We had to get a good parking spot because, surprisingly enough to us, there was a lot more people than we expected.  We decided to see if we could order a pizza from Abby's.  

Abby's Pizza delivers pizza to the South Jetty in Newport. Ha! #pizza #wewerehungry #awesome #southjetty #pizzadelivery

   

The delivery driver that brought the pizza was super nice.  I couldn't believe how excited he was to bring it to us.  We tipped him pretty good too!

We sat and ate our pizza and watched the fireworks.  It was a pretty neat way to end the night.  

Fireworks over the Historic Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport, Oregon. #fourthofjuly #yaquinabaybridge #Newport #oregon #fireworks #independenceday

We have decided to make this our yearly trip for July 4.

Since we were gone to the coast this year, we missed out on the Brownsville July 4th Breakfast.  Hopefully next year we can eat there before we head over the to coast.  

Hope your fourth was just as fun!

What happened this time last year?

Five simple things

July fourth is today and boy do we have a fun road trip ahead of us.  We are headed over to Newport to watch the fireworks from the south jetty.  I can't wait, but before that, here are the things that made my week awesome this week!

1.  These Donations.

  

Because at the change of every season, we learn to let go and live more simply.  We are following tips on living a minimalist lifestyle and it's a hard choice sometimes, but we are doing it.  I am going to start a series on my blog soon of how we go from a living large family to a living minimal family.  Stay tuned for that.

2.  These Berries.

Because even though they are overripe, they made the best jams and jellies.  You can see my tips on making great strawberry jams and syrups here.

3.  Our Brown Yard.

Because I decided to water it this year to see how much our water bill would be.  I am watering in the evenings while we eat dinner, and shutting it off before we go to bed,  We'll see if the watering is worth it.

4.  This Doggie.

5.  This Moment.

Because meditation and alone time is very important.  Even if you have a lot of alone time, meditation is a great way to get back to center.  Check out some ways to improve yourself at Diary of a Yogi.

What happened this time last year?

Our garden currently (the cleanup)

Well, it's another year, well season, of garden cleaning here.  We, once again, let the grass grow in the beds.  It was out of laziness, seriously, we just were lazy in covering them.  I think my laziness was due to the fact that I have been wanting to move the raised beds for a few years now.

Even Baz thinks the garden area is too overgrown to lay in.  

So from this......

To this is what we did.  Instead of digging all the grass out of each overgrown bed, we decided to just move them completely to a different area of the backyard.

We used thin fence post, the same once used for solar light finals, to hold the two beds together when stacked on top of each other.

We covered the bottom with a sheet of weed block.  We stapled it down so that it wouldn't shift when we turned the beds over onto the ground.

We stapled the first sheet with staples being about an inch apart.  We then staled another sheet to the back to double up on the weed block and stapled it with the staples about eight inches apart.  

Weed Blocker we used.

Once we got both of them in position where we wanted them, we then added the posts with a screw in the top bed and a screw in the bottom bed to hold them both into place.

With the dirt added on top of them, it will hold nicely.  

Now to clean up the rest of the yard and make it more of an oasis.

We added a container of lady bugs to the garden at night to help with pollinating and to each all of the pesky aphids that seem to want to munch on our goodies.

Now that the garden is all cleaned up and ready for dirt, we are excited to get our little plants into the ground and reap what we sow. 

I've also purchased some hanging baskets that I can't wait to brighten our yard.

After our garden cleanup, we took a short walk around the block and through town.  It was dusk, so the photos I took are a bit dark.  We found some chalk drawings on the bridge.

Stay Tuned!

Great Garden Reading:

What happened this time last year?

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