vroooooom

Two weeks ago we rocketed forward in terms of automotive technology, replacing our trusty 1998 Chevy Malibu with a 2014 Toyota RAV4.  The Malibu served us really well for six and a half years.  It never stranded us on the side of the road and the heat and AC were quite good.

Jack might have waited a bit longer to change cars, but it felt like a necessary step to me when I contemplated another car seat in the back and another rainy winter.  The RAV4 is a few inches wider (and a lot shorter), the back seat is way more comfortable and the trunk doesn’t leak.  Also the clock tells time, there are two cup holders, the windows are tinted, the windshield wipers work and of course there are many safety improvements including car seat anchor points.  We even have nice integral roof racks that came with the car.

Happily Jack also sold the Malibu successfully on Craiglist.  At $750 it felt worthwhile for us, but also like an honest bargain for the woman who bought it.

I read a fair bit on Consumer Reports while preparing to shop.   Did you know you can access the full site through the public library?

Deception Pass for the fourth time!

This year the 4th of July fell on a Wednesday so our camping trip was longer than usual.  For the first time in several years we stayed home on the 4th and then camped from Thursday through Sunday.  We successfully woke D up to watch fireworks from our roof and got him back to sleep again and got a reasonably early (for us) start on Thursday morning.

To mix it up we took the ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton, on Whidbey Island.  On the way up the Island the three of did a beautiful little hike at Ebey's Landing.

We reserved early and got our favorite walk in sites in the lower loop campground again.  For next year we have a few small site preferences to account for but I’m feeling better about going back to the same place year after year, because Deception Pass really is a remarkably beautiful and big park.   For the second time this year we hiked up the incredibly scenic Guemes Mountain, this time as a pretty large group.

The hours of daylight at the 4th of July are pretty extreme and it is super hard to get the kids to sleep while it is still light out, so I felt very lucky to have one evening with almost all the grown ups gathered around the campfire sans kids.

We also took a fun boat trip through Deception Pass and saw some porpoises and seal pups.

Blake Island

In mid-July D and I got to join my parents on four day trip to Blake Island on their boat.  By arriving on Thursday we got a nice spot at the dock and it was very relaxing.

D convinced his grandparents to play baseball without a ball for a surprisingly long time.  Later we ended up making a duct tape and newspaper ball that made it much more fun but we still couldn’t stand to play for the nine innings he wanted.  It is very reminiscint of Calvinball.

Another highlight was a 3 mile hike out to the NW beach.  It was D’s longest hike where he wasn’t carried at all.  He’s capable of the distance physically so the challenge is usually just morale.  On the way back he hiked like a champ while asking me to tell him everything I could remember about the plot of Lord of the Rings.  With that and all the baseball, we missed Jack.  He stayed home to conserve PTO and to allow the four of us to sleep on the boat rather than needing to tent camp.

Boat trips were a big part of my childhood and we’re so lucky my parents made this trip possible (and fed us quite well)!