Washington (Week 2.)
My second week in Washington I had pretty mapped out. About a month or so before the trip my sister Bethany decided to come to Washington because she found out all the fun plans that I had in store and realized she wanted to join in on the adventures! And I mean, the more the merrier! So she spent that whole second week in Washington with us and I really can't imagine doing all the fun things we did without her! She is always the life of the party, my best friend, and Olive loves to be with her daughter Callie who is only 6 months younger than her.
Monday's plan was to take a ferry out to Friday Harbor in the San Juan's and kayak out around the island in hopes of an encounter with Orcas Whales. That encounter did not end up happening, which left me extremely disappointed, but the trip was not a bust because I had an amazing time anyways being out on the peaceful beautiful ocean with my Dad, sister, and her husband. We left at about 4 am in the morning because we had to drive over an hour to catch the ferry from Anacortes if we wanted to be out all day. The ferry takes about an hour and then it takes time to load the kayaks and with everything involved it really wouldn't really put us in the water util about 10 am. We had a fun drive across the island as saw these awesome pieces of art made by a local resident, old cement mixers that had been turned into little houses of sorts. They were locked (I guess he unlocks them during the day) but we looked inside and it was such a cute little nook with a stove and library, so cute. Made me feel inspired to create something as unique and magical. Once we finally got into the water the first thing we encountered was a group of seals laying out on a rock. It was fun to stop and watch them and their babies. Then we headed up the coast and stopped at a little lighthouse look out point where the Orcas are known for coming to play. We docked out boats, explored, and had a bit to eat. Everything is so breathtaking and beautiful and it's fun to look across the ocean and see the coast of Canada and all these little islands scattered in the sea. I also loved spending time in a Kayak with my dad, he is so full of life and adventure and it's so contagious. He also just makes things happen! When I told him I wanted to go out kayaking in the San Juan's and he just said "yes!" and did everything! He got the kayaks and loaded them, booked the ferry, and got all the gear together. All I had to do was show up and paddle. I am so grateful for him.
On Tuesday we drove out to my friend Jen's parents house to go boating. They had just bought a cute little house on a lake at the beginning of the summer and since I love their family so much and hadn't seen them in a while I thought it was a good chance to visit. I loved being with them and seeing their new home. My sister came with her kids and it's wonderful just to be out on the water in a boat, and they had the most beautiful view of Mt Rainer. I tried wake surfing for the second time. The first time I tried it I was pregnant with Elijah, so that was two years ago! Crazy how time flies! It was fun and I felt like I got a little better this time, wish I had more time to do it because it's such a fun feeling to be pushed by the wake. My sister tried it for the first time and of course got up because she is amazing at all things physical. Her son Kyle tried to do it but I think the board was just too big for him. My friend's brother Caleb was there and he helped him try to get up and then got up on the board with him, which was so nice of him. It was fun to watch.
From there we headed up to go camping with my dad and all the kids we had with us. I had left Elijah with my Mom because I thought it would be too hard to go boating and hiking with both the kids by myself, and I was right, it would have been too hard haha. This camping trip is another example of my dad just making things happen for us. I told him before I came that I wanted him to take me and the kids camping and he said ok! He pulled out all the camping gear for us and packed almost all the food, water, and cooking supplies and just told us where to go! It also happened that by chance my older brother's kids were up camping at the same spot with their other grandparents. They came down and met us and did some of the hike with us and then when my brother came the next day to get his kids we all spent some time together. It was a gorgeous mile and half hike to Mirror Lake located close to Snoqualmie pass. Since I had to carry a big pack I told Olive she was going to have to hike the whole thing herself, she did a really great job and I was so proud of her. There were lots of fun things to look at on the hike up, we passed a smaller lake and there were lots of fallen trees, rocks covered with moss, and small little holes for fairies. We got up to the camp site kind of late because we had gone out on the boat so we had to set up camp when it was starting to get dark and go to bed right away. Olive and I had our own little tent together. It was fun. In the morning my dad cooked bacon and we had hot chocolate. Those kinds of things are amazing when you are camping. We spent the rest of the day running around the camp site, picking wild blueberries, walking over fallen logs, checking the beautiful views and scenery, and swimming in the lake. My sister and I even ventured across the other side of the lake to jump from some cliffs. Then we packed up and headed home. It was such a memorable camp out with my sister, dad, and all our crazy kids.
The next day, Thursday, my best friend flew in with her two little girls. We picked her up at the airport in the morning and drove home to spend a slower day at home. We helped my mom get ready for a garden party while the kids ran and played around the house. Then my dad took us to Chuck E Cheese so the kids would be out of the way for the Garden Party. Sadly after all the fun adventurous things we did on this trip Olive would probably say Chuck E Cheese was her favorite thing she did haha. The next morning we had Stephanie give us a yoga session on the back porch. She is an amazing yoga instructor and did an excellent job working around little children running around and climbing on their parents haha, it was quite hilarious and reminded me why I don't do yoga at home. We had to end the yoga session a little early due to littles who had a tendency to run into horse pastures... aka Elijah. We spent the rest of the day in Seattle visiting my dad at his office and hitting up Pike Place Market again. It was fun because I stopped at completely different shops the second time around and had a totally unique experience. There is always so much to see. Olive had been begging me for crab the whole trip and I promised her at some point I would get some for her, she had fallen in love with it when she got to try fresh crab last year during our stay on Orcas Island. I got us both little crab bowls that consisted of cold crab scraps with cocktail sauce. We were both disappointed. I didn't want to splurge on the full crab and put all the work into getting all the meat out, but I wish I had. There is nothing like fresh hot crab with butter. Nothing.
On Saturday we went out to Mukilteo as close to low tide as we could manage. We grabbed fish and chips on the pier and then sat and ate it all on the drift wood. Then we headed down to the shore and picked loose rocks in search of little crabs. The girls loved that. Then we visited the lighthouse and heard some history about the area and the lighthouse itself and went to the top to see the view. Everything was so laborious then, but I was thinking how that would make you feel so purposeful. All these little things that had to be done or else people couldn't find the shore. Things are so different now. I also loved hearing about the Native Americans and their role in stewardship of the landscape. So often people forget to tell their part of the story when they retell history. Then we stopped for some fresh huckleberry ice cream and went on our way. It was a really fun day. My only regret is not bringing Elijah because we left during his nap time so I left him to sleep at my Mom's. He would have loved those little crabs. Next year.
The next day we drove home. We had lots of road bumps. Olive threw up just as we pulled up to order some breakfast, and we had to stop and clean that up and make sure she was ok. Then we got pulled over, luckily no ticket, but jeez! Elijah had a blowout and luckily only got some poop on the front seat so I could easily wipe it off but I had to spend a good amount of time cleaning his body and the mess in the bathroom. Then at the end of the trip Amelia kept telling us that she had to pee but we just didn't want to pull over because we had already pulled over a million times and we just wanted to be home so of course she fell asleep and peed in the back. Oh well. My fault I guess. Well all in all the trip that should have taken 12 to 13 hours but took 16 hours. Typical. Looking back though I actually think of it as being a fun trip, crazy right? It was just fun to be in the car with my best friend and talk about everything under the sun and just go through this crazy car drive together. Life is like that you know, some of the worst memories end up really being your best ones.
So that's my trip to Washington in a nutshell. I was sad to go, I can always think of 100 more things that I would have wanted to do but I guess I can't stay forever... I'll have to talk to Kc about that one :) but there is always next summer. Seattle is always perfect in the summer.
On Tuesday we drove out to my friend Jen's parents house to go boating. They had just bought a cute little house on a lake at the beginning of the summer and since I love their family so much and hadn't seen them in a while I thought it was a good chance to visit. I loved being with them and seeing their new home. My sister came with her kids and it's wonderful just to be out on the water in a boat, and they had the most beautiful view of Mt Rainer. I tried wake surfing for the second time. The first time I tried it I was pregnant with Elijah, so that was two years ago! Crazy how time flies! It was fun and I felt like I got a little better this time, wish I had more time to do it because it's such a fun feeling to be pushed by the wake. My sister tried it for the first time and of course got up because she is amazing at all things physical. Her son Kyle tried to do it but I think the board was just too big for him. My friend's brother Caleb was there and he helped him try to get up and then got up on the board with him, which was so nice of him. It was fun to watch.
From there we headed up to go camping with my dad and all the kids we had with us. I had left Elijah with my Mom because I thought it would be too hard to go boating and hiking with both the kids by myself, and I was right, it would have been too hard haha. This camping trip is another example of my dad just making things happen for us. I told him before I came that I wanted him to take me and the kids camping and he said ok! He pulled out all the camping gear for us and packed almost all the food, water, and cooking supplies and just told us where to go! It also happened that by chance my older brother's kids were up camping at the same spot with their other grandparents. They came down and met us and did some of the hike with us and then when my brother came the next day to get his kids we all spent some time together. It was a gorgeous mile and half hike to Mirror Lake located close to Snoqualmie pass. Since I had to carry a big pack I told Olive she was going to have to hike the whole thing herself, she did a really great job and I was so proud of her. There were lots of fun things to look at on the hike up, we passed a smaller lake and there were lots of fallen trees, rocks covered with moss, and small little holes for fairies. We got up to the camp site kind of late because we had gone out on the boat so we had to set up camp when it was starting to get dark and go to bed right away. Olive and I had our own little tent together. It was fun. In the morning my dad cooked bacon and we had hot chocolate. Those kinds of things are amazing when you are camping. We spent the rest of the day running around the camp site, picking wild blueberries, walking over fallen logs, checking the beautiful views and scenery, and swimming in the lake. My sister and I even ventured across the other side of the lake to jump from some cliffs. Then we packed up and headed home. It was such a memorable camp out with my sister, dad, and all our crazy kids.
The next day, Thursday, my best friend flew in with her two little girls. We picked her up at the airport in the morning and drove home to spend a slower day at home. We helped my mom get ready for a garden party while the kids ran and played around the house. Then my dad took us to Chuck E Cheese so the kids would be out of the way for the Garden Party. Sadly after all the fun adventurous things we did on this trip Olive would probably say Chuck E Cheese was her favorite thing she did haha. The next morning we had Stephanie give us a yoga session on the back porch. She is an amazing yoga instructor and did an excellent job working around little children running around and climbing on their parents haha, it was quite hilarious and reminded me why I don't do yoga at home. We had to end the yoga session a little early due to littles who had a tendency to run into horse pastures... aka Elijah. We spent the rest of the day in Seattle visiting my dad at his office and hitting up Pike Place Market again. It was fun because I stopped at completely different shops the second time around and had a totally unique experience. There is always so much to see. Olive had been begging me for crab the whole trip and I promised her at some point I would get some for her, she had fallen in love with it when she got to try fresh crab last year during our stay on Orcas Island. I got us both little crab bowls that consisted of cold crab scraps with cocktail sauce. We were both disappointed. I didn't want to splurge on the full crab and put all the work into getting all the meat out, but I wish I had. There is nothing like fresh hot crab with butter. Nothing.
On Saturday we went out to Mukilteo as close to low tide as we could manage. We grabbed fish and chips on the pier and then sat and ate it all on the drift wood. Then we headed down to the shore and picked loose rocks in search of little crabs. The girls loved that. Then we visited the lighthouse and heard some history about the area and the lighthouse itself and went to the top to see the view. Everything was so laborious then, but I was thinking how that would make you feel so purposeful. All these little things that had to be done or else people couldn't find the shore. Things are so different now. I also loved hearing about the Native Americans and their role in stewardship of the landscape. So often people forget to tell their part of the story when they retell history. Then we stopped for some fresh huckleberry ice cream and went on our way. It was a really fun day. My only regret is not bringing Elijah because we left during his nap time so I left him to sleep at my Mom's. He would have loved those little crabs. Next year.
The next day we drove home. We had lots of road bumps. Olive threw up just as we pulled up to order some breakfast, and we had to stop and clean that up and make sure she was ok. Then we got pulled over, luckily no ticket, but jeez! Elijah had a blowout and luckily only got some poop on the front seat so I could easily wipe it off but I had to spend a good amount of time cleaning his body and the mess in the bathroom. Then at the end of the trip Amelia kept telling us that she had to pee but we just didn't want to pull over because we had already pulled over a million times and we just wanted to be home so of course she fell asleep and peed in the back. Oh well. My fault I guess. Well all in all the trip that should have taken 12 to 13 hours but took 16 hours. Typical. Looking back though I actually think of it as being a fun trip, crazy right? It was just fun to be in the car with my best friend and talk about everything under the sun and just go through this crazy car drive together. Life is like that you know, some of the worst memories end up really being your best ones.
So that's my trip to Washington in a nutshell. I was sad to go, I can always think of 100 more things that I would have wanted to do but I guess I can't stay forever... I'll have to talk to Kc about that one :) but there is always next summer. Seattle is always perfect in the summer.
Landing on Friday Harbor.
These amazing houses on San Juan Island!
My sister took this picture because she literally could not stop laughing at my face because I had slathered it with this sun screen. Couldn't. Stop. Laughing.
Fussing with my Kayak skirt. Those things are buggers.
Seals on the rock, barely visible in this picture.
The cutest bum there ever was.
Brothers.
Cousins.
My morning view.
Blueberry picking with a view.
My dad's office view. The lucky dog.
Pike Place, throwing fish.
Crab catchers.
Always holding out littles.
Wouldn't have it any other way.
Yes Olive started to climb out this window at the top of the light house
*sigh.*
Ice Cream = Happiness
We had to stop and touch this dinosaur just to be happy for 5 minutes.
Our Crew (with the back of little Eliza's carseat.)
We made it home.
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