Stinky, Muddy Quicksand: Either awesome or awful

We finally got a weekend at the cabin and took along Parker and Cecily—my niece and nephew make great accessories at the cabin.

 

In between showers, we adventured down to “our” beach.  I’ve never seen the tide out so far!  Left behind was sand so goopy that only lightweight kids could partially walk on it without sinking to their knees.

 

Cecily and Parker were not impressed…and were the only kids who didn’t have to be hosed down later.

 

The others played and shlopped for hours.

I had to zoom in, as I am too big to take on that goop and win!

That’s Wesley, Piper, and a neighbor friend—somewhat a female equivalent of Wesley, but better adjusted.

 

And here’s the rest of my heart…

Stinky, Muddy Quicksand: Either awesome or awful

We finally got a weekend at the cabin and took along Parker and Cecily—my niece and nephew make great accessories at the cabin.

 

In between showers, we adventured down to “our” beach.  I’ve never seen the tide out so far!  Left behind was sand so goopy that only lightweight kids could partially walk on it without sinking to their knees.

 

Cecily and Parker were not impressed…and were the only kids who didn’t have to be hosed down later.

 

The others played and shlopped for hours.

I had to zoom in, as I am too big to take on that goop and win!

That’s Wesley, Piper, and a neighbor friend—somewhat a female equivalent of Wesley, but better adjusted.

 

And here’s the rest of my heart…

Doing the Fair

One of our summer highlights is going to the Whidbey Island Fair, just minutes from our cabin.  To make it even better this year, my parents joined us, and we met up with some of our favorite island people on the fairgrounds.

It’s a small fair, which works well, as my kids go different directions, but we always run into each other eventually.

Since the midway ticket is $30 per kid, it’s nice that there are a lot of free things for kids, like balloon animals and cupcake decorating.

They also all got to try cardboard loom weaving.

The Crazy 8’s were new to the fair this year, and I always enjoy the pageantry.

The kids enjoyed the rides, the friends, the food…and can’t wait to do it all again next year!

 

Independence Day!

Between local obligations and AirBnB, we don’t use our cabin as much as I’d like to, but we always block out the first week of July for us.  I love how South Whidbey celebrates country and community. 

A highlight is the Maxwelton Parade.  The Maxwelton community is one street, with houses on the beach side, the garages on the other.  I’m pretty sure the man with the most grandchildren in the parade is the announcer. 

We met island and school friends at this event, and the kids get enough candy to last them to Halloween. 

Here are the number (years):
 

The Goose (grocery) always sends their gorilla with a wagon of bananas to share with the crowd.

Got an old truck, tractor, or camper?  Bring it down and throw out some candy.  We actually know this kid-he and Kyla are in the same class at school.

Sno-Isle gets into it, too, and I cheered loudest for their “float”!

Another highlight is the Good Cheer (thrift stores and food bank) give out snap peas instead of candy.  I’m as happy about it as she is!

The girls even got to pet a chicken.

I was never a contemporary prom queen, but may I can aspire to being a vintage one!

This pirate has made a good catch.

We have a lot to cheer about on the 4th of July!

It’s not the best part (the buckets of candy probably take that title), but I love the time on the beach after the parade.  The tide was way out, and we could barely see Kyla. You’ll notice we often just get back shots of the kids once they hit the sand!

Langley in Summer

Langley is charming on so levels, starting with the flowers that grow like, well, weeds all over town. The library is on a corner lot of 2nd street, and the children’s section overlooks the water perfectly.  There’s two places for ice cream, a free whale museum, an old fire station that now produces blown glass—and bubbles—, darling alleyways and shop, and one of my favorite thrift stores.  We also have several choices to get our morning coffee with friends.

Port Townsend

One of my favorite “Me & 3” adventures was a spontaneous trip to Port Townsend.  We all have fond memories of that day, so we planned another trip. 

It wasn’t entirely a mistake.

The kids remembered the fun candy and ice cream shop.  We decided to call it “Honeydukes” and to pretend that Port Townsend was Hogsmeade. (Mom, that was a Harry Potter reference.  Really, you’ll need to read past the first book.)  What could go wrong?

1) A tantrum before we walked off the ferry terminal. 

2) Kids who, after we spent time at the toy store and candy shop, were bored and wanted to go home, and took turns whining about it.

I took pictures that belied the experience. 

While we waited to walk on the ferry, the kids played on the beach.

They posed with the candy they all bought with their own money.

There is a distinct Main Street and Uptown (separated by several stair sets), dividing where the sailors and, er, “ladies” stayed and played and where the wives and families lived.  There’s a great fountain and little park at the base of the steps.

Piper made a special hairdo for this adventure.