Camano with bikes

 Camano Island was a nice labor day weekend destination.   We picked D up from school on Friday and headed straight to our cabin on the beach, making it the rare 3-night trip.   Jack's birthday was the day after we returned.   Will he be able to pick them both up next birthday?

We ate lots of blackberries and some comically big apples.

As with nearly everywhere we've been this summer, the kids spent a lot of time digging.   D actually dug up a pickaxe right in front of our cabin.

We found some crabs and I need to make a point of getting out to more low-tide opportunities with the kids.

Four years ago we did a fun biking weekend on San Juan Island (Friday Harbor!) and D and I are wearing the same shirts again.  The roads were pretty nice on Camano and much smoother than on San Juan Island.   Drivers were nice on both and the shoulders were good enough most of the time.   

On Saturday we rode about 20 miles from our cabin on the north part of the island.  It included some long hills and the kids were troopers.    Sunday we drove to the south part of the island to start and rode about eight miles.   Despite the good roads, I would rate San Juan Island higher because there are such nice destinations.  Camano has two (hilly) state parks, right next to each other and few (if any) other good parks or charming public spaces.  

D's Piccolo has gears and he can definitely help on hills.   Dd's Wehoo is really cool and these were the first rides where he actually pedaled, though it was only occasionally, as one would expect.  Jack's bike has a habitual problem with broken spokes, but fortunately riding on two broken ones didn't cause any problems this trip.

Coming back to our cabin to hang out was really nice.

five years in our house!

 We've added Dd, some plants, window blinds and more.

Here we are in October 2016.

38

This year, Jack had two baseball games scheduled for my birthday and one the day before, which is good for him, but less fun for me.   Either because late August is a nice time of year for a getaway or because they took pity on me, my parents and sister agreed to a little cabin stay.

It was just up in Lynwood and was right on a small lake.   The assortment of boats, a hot tub and the opportunity to play in sandy gravel were some of the highlights.   For D's benefit we stayed up late playing board games (Ticket to Ride and Forbidden Island) both nights.   My sister made an excellent birthday cake.   

I did stand up paddle boarding for the first time and swam a bit, although it was fairly chilly for August.