Orcas Island

 Hey there! Here I am with your best friends on Orcas Island. They are the best! We had a really great time on the island, and they are just the sweetest people ever.

Here we are on top of Mt. Constitution, the highest point on the San Juan's. A great view and fun medieval tower to climb.

Getting there was a whole day of ferry riding. I had reservations on both the Pt. Townsend - Whidbey and the Anacortes - Orcas. Of course I was super nervous about not making the reservation times, so we left super early. We got on earlier ferries at each port and ended up waiting about 10 minutes for the first ferry and 30 minutes for the next. Your friends scheduled a later ferry to Orcas and it got delayed. They ended up waiting like five or seven hours for theirs?? Crazy. They pulled into the house around 1 am, and we'd been there since noon... yikes! The ferry ride from Anacortes to Orcas was just beautiful!

Here are the kids during our "long" 30 minute wait for the ferry!

Our first day there was pretty low-key.  The kids loved Ruby, of course. She is so sweet and delightful. She played super hero legos with Archie.

 She played sandbox with Ivy.

Parker was such a good baby and super cute, of course.

Here are Chad and Jason hamming it up after I made a joke about what cute dads they were :)

We explored lots of the island. We found a purple starfish and one dock!

 Then we found purple starfish cookies at a coffee shop, must be an Orcas Island thing!

 Josie got in lots of Parker time.

One day, we took a ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. That downtown was neat.

Here's Archie showing off his mussel. We ate so many oysters, mussels and clams. You would LOVE the food!!

 There was room to play at the house, so we spent a lot of time relaxing there...

Smore's Patrol!

 Here is the whole gang in mustaches for you before they all ditched me. Do you think they left because I look too much like a man in my mustache? It's possible.

 

  At least Ivy and baby Lisa were cute in theirs!

They last day with the littles was really fun. We went to park on the lake, swimming and biking.

 It was lovely.

We spent our last day ferrying home. It wasn't quite as smooth as the way up, but it was still beautiful and fun with the kids. Aren't they so cute? 

Overall, it was a really lovely week seeing friends and beautiful part of Washington. Before I even left, I was already daydreaming of bringing you back there next summer. You will love it!

Goodbye, Wilson and Leo!

 Here's Wilson leaving on his big adventure. Boy was he excited!

I was so happy that Wilson got a couple weeks of the summer out of Silverdale and with your family.

Next up, Leo! Here are all the kids at the exchange. Leo was the main event, and boy did he love it. I loved seeing him feel so special, too.

And, they're back! Fast forward a week and we picked up Leo. He had such great behavior that he got a lego trailer prize. He was so proud.

Hey, Wilson! Gang's all here for a fun play date when we went to pick up Leo. I don't have many pictures to post of their special weeks, but I think you saw and heard enough about them from me, the boys and your fam. It was a really positive experience for both of our big guys!

Whaling days!

Why have we never been to Whaling Days before? I think we must have been out of town for it - - get ready to hit it next summer with us because it was FUN.

The highlight for us was doing the kids run. Look at these athletes ready to race!

The races were seriously the cutest thing ever. Ivy was first and faced off for 25 yards against her age group. Here she is at the start line checking out her competition.

Here's how far she wandered before I had to go get her and lead her across the finish line... lol!

Up next, the flash! I mean Archie, but he told me he was going to run like the flash...and he did! 50 yards for 4-5 year olds.

Go Archie Go! He was so funny and kept sprinting even when he was past the finish line... lol!

Here comes Leo with the 6-7 year olds in the 75 yard dash! He did great.

Wilson was in the 8-9 year old group that ran 100 yards. He told me next year he should probably not wear sandals...oops!

At the end they all got ribbons and orca whales. So cute! No one could love stuffed animals as much as our kids do.

We had a lot of fun at the races and then stuck around for the parade. That was surprisingly fun, as well. We had to bail after an hour and a half to get home for Ivy's nap... long parade!

See you next summer, Whaling Days!

Portland trip

 For the last hurrah of my mom's epic summer trip here, she planned a super fun trip to Portland on the train.We were all excited to ride down and spend a few days being tourists. I was a little nervous to get there without a car to lug the kids and crap around, but we packed light and walked A TON.

Here is the train's arrival in Tacoma. Double decker!

 

The kids loved the freedom on the train with no car seats. They each took turns exploring the dining car and other areas with Grandma.

 Cheers!

 Here we are unloading in Portland. The big guys were super helpful.

Here we resting at the train station while I figure out how to get to our Airbnb.

 Portland train station was very cool!

Our Airbnb was about a mile walk from the train station. This was the weekend that was over 100 degrees! The kids were troopers. Archie walked the whole way without complaining and it was cool seeing Portland this way.

Whew, by the time we got to our place, we were beat! Here is a little R and R with the TV. Ivy got a front row seat.

The Airbnb was a really cute 3 bedroom apartment. After a rest, we did a "little" walking tour of Portland. We ended up walking about four miles around the city!! Kids were awesome and we had some great stops in the heat.

China town! A little disappointing to be honest. We kept looking online and in brochures for things to do in this hood and could only find recommended restaurants...

Best stop! We hit the Jamison Square Fountains which turned out pretty amazing. No suits - no problem! Kids went in anyway and Mom and I got some really great foot massages from the fountains. Had to peel the kids away after about an hour, but it was a great way to cool off and make it the mile back home.

Water break! Did I mention that it was super hot the whole time we were there?

The next day we woke up and waited for the pink bus!

It came!

The bus was pretty great and we got to see so many places around Portland. We were all happy to hitch a ride this day and made a great stop at the zoo.

You have never seen the elephants like this! Swimming and splashing... it was amazing! We stayed for about a half hour and loved every minute.

 Grandma took the kids on safari!

The kids cooled off while we waited for the pink bus to show up... it was sooooo hot!

There are no pictures from the last few hours of our trip, but let me just tell you the highlights....squishing on the overloaded pink bus (seriously, Leo was practically on the driver's lap!)... grabbing our bags and walk/running the mile to the train station... getting to the train with four minutes to spare... collapsing on the train because (and I'm not sure if you've heard) IT WAS SO HOT!!!

Man, I'm sweating just writing that last paragraph! It was such a whirlwind of fun to be on the train and in Portland for a few days. It was a great way to end Grandma Shirley's adventure with us - - we had a ball!