Traveling Home

The plane rides home weren't bad.  Hattie fell asleep just after take off on our second flight and slept until landing.  Traveling with kids is always an adventure, and a bit stressful, but Megan and I survived!  I can't decide if it's easier to drive or fly.  They both have their own difficulties.

Thank you Mom and Megan!  Overall it was a wonderful trip!  Love you!

Last Day

We were going to spend our last day packing and cleaning up the beach house, but there was a little misunderstanding.  The owner of the beach house knocked on our door and asked if we were packing up.  We thought it was weird (and she was rather abrupt) but said yes, we're working on it and that we'd be out early tomorrow morning.  She then informed us that we were already supposed to be gone and the next tenants were there and waiting to get in.  Whoops!  After her initial brusqueness, she helped us to gather all our things and clean the place up.  Luckily, Sam had stopped by so he watched the kids while we cleaned up.  By 11am we were packed and ready to go!  We spent the rest of the day hanging out at my mom's and the girls played in the kiddie pool.  They had a blast!

Calico Cupboard

G-Pa's trip to Washington overlapped with ours so we met up with him and Sam at the Calico Cupboard in Anacortes.  I love this restaurant!  It's delicious.

Downtown A-Town is so cool- look at that mural of Annie Curtis (the wife of our town founder).

Deception Pass and Bowman Bay

We made a quick stop at Deception Pass Bridge which connects Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands then went over to Bowman's to play on the playground.

It was scarier walking on the bridge than I remember.  The cars are so close!  Especially trucks.

Bowman Bay

Nice view from the playground!

Always on my mind

We went to Washington just before everything happened with Henry.  We stayed at my Mom's house one night where we did a load of laundry, including some of Henry's clothing.  We accidentally left it in the dryer so my mom returned it to us on this trip.  Hattie was looking for her PJs and found Henry's.  She wanted to try them on.  I told her they wouldn't fit, but she insisted.  She did get them on!  Size 12mo.  I think all of our future children will wear these pajamas.  Love my kids!

Rosario Beach: Adventures in Potty Training

We spent a beautiful day at Rosario Beach.  We would hike, wade in the water, and have picnics here growing up.  The girls had fun playing on the beach, splashing in the ocean, and climbing on the rocks.  I liked looking in the tide pools to find crabs, anemones, barnacles, fish, and more, but Hattie quickly lost interest.  Maybe she'll enjoy it more in a few years!

This was also the location of a wonderful adventure in potty training.  When we left for Washington Hattie was 2 weeks in to potty training.  She didn't have an accident the entire way there and I was super proud.  But this day made up for that.  If you don't like stories about poo, don't read on.

Hattie told me she had to go potty.  I asked if she had to pee or poo.  She said pee.  I told her she could go pee in the ocean like the fishes.  She complained and said no!  No, I don't want to!  It was a long way to the restrooms and I didn't want to hike up there.  Eventually she did go in the ocean.  But I smelled something.  Shoooooooot!  She didn't have to pee.  So, we got her swimsuit bottoms off and they were filled.  So disgusting.  But we were at the beach, no trash cans near by and I didn't want to toss her swim suit anyways.  So I grabbed the wipes and a garbage bag and headed towards the trees (see below).  I went far back on the logs and found a place to sit down and clean out the suit.  I know I have cleaned up her poo a million times, but it's 10x worse once they're out of diapers.  Even if they've only been out of them for two weeks.  It was gross.  When I was done I started heading back towards our spot on the beach, jumping from log to log, when suddenly I missed!  I was free falling for a moment until I landed hard on my arm and chest on the log in front of me.  And somehow the garbage bag of used wipes got all over my arm.  Good heavens.  SO GROSS!  Thank goodness for hand sanitizer.  Or in this case, hand and arm sanitizer.  Thankfully, I've been through much worse and I was able to keep things in perspective (thankful that I can keep things in perspective, not that I've been through worse. Just to clarify). We enjoyed the rest of our time at the beach!

Looking in tide pools

Hi!  The water was freezing.

Playing with Moppy

Stoplight pebbles!

Seattle Aquarium

We met up with the Winsteads and went to the aquarium.  Then back to their house for dinner afterwards for some delicious tacos.  It was a fun day!

They had face (or hand) painting for kids!

View from the aquarium:

We had fun watching the otters and seals!

These two!

I got a smashed penny for my collection...upon returning home I found I already have the exact same one from the Seattle aquarium.  I don't remember getting it!  I guess my preferences haven't changed over the years.

Beach House

We stayed at a beach house in A-town for a few days.  Not a bad view!

Washington Park and Cap Sante

On Saturday of our trip we spent the day in Anacortes.  I invited Kurt's family to come along too.  It was a large group, but an absolutely perfect day at the beach.

Charlotte poured water on Lena's head right as the picture was taken!

 After dinner we went up to Cap Sante to check out the setting sun.  Gosh my home town is beautiful!