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)!

Bloedel Reserve

 

Yesterday, Becky, D and I took three hours to walk the two mile loop at the beautiful Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island.

We saw lots of native plants, a broody goose, a mansion and some ants.

Mount Saint Helens is so impressive!

 

Daycare was closed for Veteran’s day so we headed out for some yurt camping at Seaquest State Park, near Mount Saint Helens.  I last visited in 1999 and Jack went sometime before that.  There are less waves of downed trees than I remember from last time but the landscape is still otherworldly.  Staying close by allowed us to do some short hikes and the weather was great most of the time.

The yurt, which had a heater, was quite comfortable.  It’s a great way to enjoy more winter camping

On the way home we stopped by my cousins’ farm and D rode a large pony.  We learned that horses, or at least some horses, aren’t down with soiled diapers!

sailing success

On Sunday my dad and I carved out time for a two-handed (Jack and Jill) race out of Shilshole.  This involved a three hour motor up from Des Moines starting at 7 am on Sunday and my mom helping with the return voyage while I went back to work.  Jack spent a somewhat taxing day on his own in our disheveled house with D.  What a great family I have.

It was my fist two handed race, which actually means having four hands, funnily enough.  We did not finish last.

To elaborate, we were 31 of 37 overall and 5th of 6 in our class.  We had a good finish, a start with very light wind and a period without any wind mid race as the weather shifted from a south to a north wind.  The main strategic discussion centered on going close to shore where the tide was helping us versus heading way out the center of the channel where the wind might have been better.

After we crossed the line we kept the spinnaker up and breezed into Elliot Bay Marina, past a parade of departing cruise ships.

 

 

Deception Pass again

 

Our fourth of July camping trip is now a venerable tradition in its second year.    We reserved only six months in advance instead of the nine months that is permitted so didn’t get as nice of camp sites.  Aside from one of them being next to a rocky, precipitous drop off in to a pond, they were okay though (sites 343, 345, and 346).   A couple of us stayed three nights and the weather was dry and comfortable.   

D and his friend had lots of common interests like digger toys, plaid shirts, wearing bike helmets all the time, biking and playing in the car.  They only called OnStar twice.

Down at the lake the kids swam a little, went out in a canoe, flew a kite and played in the sand.

Getting a good group shot proved to be difficult.

There was a pair of owls living in the campsite that we saw several times.   In the picture of the kids on the rock we tried to keep them happy by saying “oooh look there’s the owl”.  Below, one of the owls has a huge rodent for supper.

mother’s day at the beach

 

Jack’s stepdad’s family brought back an old tradition a couple of years ago.  Almost 30 of us rented cabins at the same resort some family members first visited 40 or so years ago.

It was clear and windy, as you can see in the video below.  At first D was reluctant to get wet or dirty, but he got over it, though falling on hard, cold sand while short on sleep led to some tears.  My mom and Jack’s grandma joined us, and with help from both of our moms we got some time alone together and I got to sleep in on mother’s day in our beautiful cliffside room.  We also got to play a board game with Jack’s cousin and and his wife, who also had a built-in babysitter in Jeff’s parents.  D enjoyed his time with his cousins.

 

Part of a Mariner’s game was D’s first sanctioned hit of TV, which explains the solemn expressions on Jack and D’s faces, below right.

I like how my mom and D have both shadows and reflections in this one.  In the other, Jack impresses D with his moves.

Group shots