pictures from the week

I haven't given up on blogging, just been busy and none of it's been blog worth. I did get a haircut about two weeks ago. I have bangs again, which I haven't for almost eight years. The rest of the pictures are things I talked about over the last week.

The flowers at Albion basin last Saturday.

The too close moose.
The hermit crabs....

And our bounty from the garden. Paul and I picked all this just tonight. I think we'll be blanching tomatoes to gear up for spaghetti sauce this fall. YEAH! We didn't get enough tomatoes to make any last year and our stash from the previous year is gone. We have zucchini, cukes, basil, and apricots too! I think I'll be making some fresh salsa too.

quickie update

Nathan can now officially tie his shoes by himself. He started trying yesterday and by the end of the day were were pretty sure he had it, this morning he did it on his own. I remember learning to tie my own shoes in Kindergarten - before velcro. I guess when you give them a couple more years, it's easier once they try. He also has another loose tooth.

catching up

Well VBS is now over and our schedule is going back to normal. On the second day Nathan asked if they could do this every year, on the third day he decided he wants to be a crew leader when he grows up. Boy Scout camp is over as well. I've never seen a kid so dirty, but he had a lot of fun. I think his favorite thing was shooting the BB gun. He also won most of the obstacle course games they did. Friday was Pioneer Day (for those not familiar with odd Utah holidays it's a celebration of when the pioneers settled the area) so we had a BBQ and watched the fireworks from our deck. Saturday I took the kids hiking- I didn't think that word was in my vocabulary. I've tried many times to see the wildflowers in bloom at in Albion Basin and I'm always too late in the year. I heard on the radio that the wildflower festival was last weekend so I figured this was the time to go. I've also always wanted to do the hike to Cecret Lake (which leaves from the Albion Basin parking lot) and hadn't managed to do it yet either. We had an amazing Saturday. There were so many flowers. We saw coral, light purple, violet, blue, cream, yellow, red and orange flowers! It was also cooler up there. It was 62 degrees in the parking lot where we started the hike. I was afraid the kids would get cold but they were running around so they kept warm. At the lake we had a picnic and the kids found salamanders and then on the way back about 30 feet off the trail we saw two bull moose. They were way to close for my comfort - but we were on the trail. They seemed very content so we stopped for a bit - along with around thirty other people and then headed on. Yesterday we did a family movie. It's becomind a bit of a ritual on hot weekends to stay in and watch one all together in the middle of the day. We watched Facing the Giants which is put out by the same church as Fireproof. It's about football and faith. It was a really good movie, I cried through it, Andrew asked why and I said because I'm a girl which made Paul laugh. We also managed a few good bike rides and have most of our basement put back together.

I was apparently catching up more last week than I thought. We had a busy week and this week will be more so. Last week the kids each got a new pet. They each have their own hermit crab. Nathans has a beautiful brown shell. Andrew insisted on a painted shelled hermit crab - his says "Happy Easter" on it. They seem to have adjusted well and dad has six new guppies. Friday we had friends over and Saturday we went to a friends house for a BBQ in park city. Beautiful house off the first hole of the golf course up there. He has a stream running along the property with balconies next to the stream. Yesterday the kids started VBS which will continue through the next week. It's in the evenings. The theme this year is "rock the Dock". They turned the church into a swamp with trees and moss/vines hanging everywhere. It's really cute. Nathan also has Boy Scout camp up at the camp in Mill Creek Canyon this week. Paul was a bit excited last night when he realized the kids would be gone every night this week. He's going to catch up on some projects, which will be lovely. We still have a pile of dirt and the office sitting in the hall from the basement flooding right before we left for Washington. I'd love to get it all put back away.

trip pics

The kids and their buckets collecting beach glass at Alki Beach in Seattle, a favorite of theirs now.

Fort Casey: this was one of my favorite stops on the trip. It's on Whidbey Island.

Deception Pass is the bridge that takes you from Fidalgo to Whidbey Island.

Lime Kiln Lighthouse on San Juan Island. Where we didn't see whales and Andrew split his lip open, right outside the back door to the lighthouse.

And a picture of a whale in almost full breach. Should have brought the regular film camera with all the telephoto lens. They are huge animals and they look bigger in real life, my little digital just doesn't zoom in that much.

Is that your dog?

You all that don't live by an ocean... tell me that doesn't look like a dog!
We got back last night, still catching up on laundry. Dreading tomorrow. I have to use an alarm clock. Dreading more opening my email inbox. Took a peek at it to make sure no one would actually schedule a meeting first thing in the morning, at least I'm good on that front. I was surprised there was less there than I expected. That's wonderful. I'll get some more pictures up in the next few days.

A whale of a tale

Yesterday we took the ferry to San Juan Island and then shuttled around. We went to Lime Kiln where there is a light house and so many whale sightings it's nicknamed whale watch park, but we didn't see any. We heard they were spotted about two miles south around American Camp, but too far to see. Andrew tripped on the rocks and split his lip open. We had hot dogs and sandwiches for lunch which cost 48.00 and decided it was time to headed back. We bought books in one shop for the kids and then left them in the next shop we visited. Luckily I purchased something there too and their number is on the receipt. They are shipping me the books. Did I mention it rained the entire day. Not our best day.

Today, determined to be better, we booked a whale watch tour. I kinda had in mind to do it, but it's expensive and we were hoping to just see them swimming naturally. It was worth it. We had what the guide said was one of the best days ever. The other tours were coming to where we were the viewing was so good. We were in the midst of the L and K pods. There were three babies born this year and one of them - a 2 month old whale was out to entertain us. There were multiple "breaches" where they jump out of the water, spy hopping - where they just poke their nose out, roll overs, and tail slaps. The whales are matriarchs and "Granny", at 98 years old, is still with her pod. She jumped three times, which was the first time our guide had ever seen her jump. The guides were excited. We stayed and watched the pod for about an hour and were going to head back and two whales started swimming right to us. We had to cut the engines (the have laws about how close you can be and speeds, etc) so we ended up viewing them for about another half hour. On the way back we also saw seals, porpoises, and three bald eagles.

They have a little grocery store called the market. They had a chef outside cooking samples with recipes and it was so good we scrapped our dinner plans and bought the stuff to make what he was cooking. They were steaks, so it wasn't too hard to change our minds. I've never had Bearnaise sauce on steak, it was good!

Then our little paddling dog - I mean harbour, seal swam back and forth across the bay all night long just like he was pacing. At one time he was about 8 feet from the shore. It was a good day!
tomorrow we head into Idaho for a couple days and then home.

The islands

We are at Ana Cortes on Fidalgo Island, staying right on the beach -or bay, it's not glamorous like a California Beach. We drove down to Whidbey Island and toured Fort Casey and Deception Pass, then we took the bike trail from our fifth wheel into down town Ana Cortes for pizza, which was really good. We saw three men on the side of the bay with buckets and I asked what they were catching, which I can't remember the name of and then totally embarrassed my husband when I asked the next question. There was a white and gray spotted thing in the ocean which looked like a cross between a dalmatian and a lab. I asked if it was their dog swimming and the guy turned to me and said "It's a seal mam.... You're not from around here are you?" Paul couldn't believe I asked, but in Utah three men around a lake with something swimming....it would be a dog, why on earth would I think it's a zebra, um I mean a seal. Anyway the kids ran back and were excited, it was pretty cool. One of my best all time ever vacation days. Tomorrow we are going to try and take a ferry to a different island and see a hippo, I mean a whale, same difference right?

Washington part II

We are leaving Plain today to head into Seattle for dinner and over to the San Juan Islands. Nathan has found a few more snakes, no toads or frogs yet. Yesterday we spent at the children's festival in Leavenworth. They had bounce houses, face painting, cotton candy, snow cones, and crafts for the kids. The night before the guys literally blew up a car and then crushed it under a logging machine of some sort. Nathan asked me why they were doing it and I said once little boys get big their toys get bigger. Nathan got to be in the cab of the machine when he did it and Andrew wanted to give me a tour of the site and show me the broken glass and stuff. What was the most exciting for me is that Alice had a neighbor come in and do a home made soap demonstration. I have always wanted to learn how to make soap. Alice even gave me some of the equipment I will need. How cool is that! It is fun to be up here and meet new people even if Matt does call my favorite movie Sweet Home Alabama Southern Fried Girl.

Washington

After a very long drive we arrived. We left SLC around 6:00 pm and stopped at a rest stop in Oregon for a few hours to catch some sleep. Slept longer than planned and then the GPS didn't take us the most direct route. I even practiced driving with the fifth wheel across Idaho for 3 hours around midnight. It's easier to drive when there is no traffic, although I ended up doing a lot of the twisty turny hilly roads I wanted to avoid. I never worried about falling asleep at the wheel. I was too anxious. Actually driving on the freeway isn't such a big deal, what I need practice at is turning corners and backing up. Nathan was so sweet, he had woken up when we switched drivers and didn't want me to be awake and alone so he sat up most of the time with me to keep me company. He has caught a frog upon arriving every year and was excited at the prospect. Within five minutes of being here, he caught a snake and brought to me instead. I would have preferred the frog. Now that it's out of his system, hopefully the wild life can live in peace and I don't have to see any more snakes.

Andrew learned just this morning to start out on his own on his bike without us holding onto to it for him to start. Boy they grow up fast.....