Girls Run Wild in Langley

As much as we go out to the cabin, I rarely get time to meander through Langley.  I didn’t too much today, either, as Kyla adores shopping for about 30 minutes, and then is stick-a-fork-in-me-and-take-me-home-to-my-happy-place done.  But Langley is even more adorable at Christmastime, enough so that now the Victorian Clipper makes trips from Seattle to the Village-by-the-Sea so tourists can enjoy a day of shopping and meandering in the same place we can drive to in 4 minutes. 

Kyla, Piper, and her BFF, Abby, all joined me for a bit of Christmas shopping on 1st and 2nd street (2nd has Sweet Mona’s and 1st has Chocolate Flower Farm and Star Store).  The girls were quite darling, and a nice break from Whiney Wesley!

I found someone to kiss underneath the bough!

Merry Christmas, Langley!  You put extra roses in our cheeks!

At the Cabin

It’s  so  nice to be at the cabin with less chores to do!  My goal this time was to put the outside lights up at the cabin.  I wish I had remembered to take pictures, because the pergola and gardens looked good decked with Christmas lights!
The kids talked me into a late afternoon jaunt down to the beach; that is a killer walk!

Earlier that day, Dwayne and I took a lovely walk down to Sandy Point, where we got confounded by a high tide—too high to walk the beach (uh, there was no beach, a problem with winter tides!).  But the sky was blue, the eagle’s head was white, and the picture of it too small to be picked up by the camera.

The kids didn’t have to talk me into the Teardrop swing; I did that all on my own. I had been thinking about it since seeing it this summer at the local Ace hardware store. In the fall, it was on clearance.  In November, it was at the “Please Take It” price and I succumbed. It has already paid for itself and spring hasn’t even come.

MeerKerk in Autumn

In our first weekend at the cabin with no Pergola/Garden work to do, I wanted to plan an “old-fashioned” weekend on the island for us.  That meant a daytime adventure or two. 

Papa Jim was on the island for a teardrop trailer get-together, so he and Daisy came by.  After our required Pergola homage, we gathered neighbor Abigail and we all set off for Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens and Nature Trails. 

Every time we walk up do this little bit of loveliness, Dwayne has to listen to me whine “Why don’t I have one of these?”  He usually doesn’t hear me, as he is whining the same thing.

Look at these beauties!

The kids amused themselves by making pine cone fairies and fairy houses while the adults went around a nature loop. 

It was a beautiful day on the water and I was reminded why we invested in Whidbey Island in the first place, more than 6 y ears ago!

Cabin Project: Really, truly ALMOST done!

Last weekend, we finished the pergola (and added adorable lights—Denise’s contribution). 

I like how the picture makes it seem that it just grew there, but we had help.  A shout out to my amazing hubby, and Matt and Keith, who are very useful engineers, problem solvers and builders!  And Keith’s miter saw saved the day when ours coughed and died dramatically after years of loving abuse.

Dwayne and I feel like we’ve pretty much mastered the “Northwest Elegant” look, and good hardware is our secret sauce. 

This weekend, I finally got to start my garden.  With the addition of my dry rock stream and Spice Island, the area went from this:

to this:

I had been collecting from the McLendon’s clearance section for a while….

Then someone I hadn’t met before stopped by to compliment us on the project and gave us, what I think he called a Japanese Lizard Tree/Shrub.  

It’s so soft and scaly at the same time, and when you turn it over, it’s a beautiful white and green lace pattern.  I couldn’t find out more on the internet, but I love this guy!

But doing the garden meant that Dwayne was doing the stone facing on the pillars on his own.  It’s a truth about masonry, 2 people can go 3-4 times as fast as 1 person.  I pitched in towards the end of the day, but too late to make our goal for the weekend.

So we only got two pillars completed in those two days.  I love working with Dwayne, but that feeling’s mostly cancelled out by doing it in the rain.

Cabin Project: Phase II

We left you in suspense mid-July with Dwayne’s itch only half scratched.  Well, it was fully scratched but the project was only half done.

July 20th-Sept. 1, we left the cabin like this:

Arriving yesterday, we had 24 hours to install the four 12’ 6x6 posts as the foundation of The Pergola.

The auger was pretty useful.

 

For posts, and boys!

This little guy came out to inspect us wearing what all dinos are coveting this year—a jet pack!

To celebrate our accomplishments this weekend, we went to Emily and Matt’s, because, well it’s Emily and Matt’s!

Wes and Daddy enjoyed swinging together.  Well, one of them enjoyed it.

Have to wait for the end of the month for the next installment of the Pergola Saga!

Island County Fair: You “18” Nothin’ Yet!

First of all, can we all agree that this is a clever slogan? 

We’ve made the opening day of the Island County Fair a tradition. Friend Emily has become a bit of a fair junkie, so she brought her girls out for most of the day as well before going all day Friday, as well.

Her girls live in my heart snuggled up to my own kids!

The small, homegrown fair inspires many locals to enter exhibits.  This is one of many that caught my eye.

Em’s hubby entered his wood crafting!    

This year, Moana, Cinderella, Jasmine, and Spiderman meandered around, often going on the carousal with kids wanting some extra hobnobbing time.  Really fun addition for the youngsters! 

It’s worth it to me to get each kid the $25 ride bracelet, and I buy a few extra tickets so that I can go on the Egg Beater with Wesley.  We play “Don’t You Dare Touch Me!” game, which is not only impossible, but keeps us laughing hysterically the entire ride.

Piper’s friend, Juliana, joined us, and the girls did the Zipper over and over.

They demonstrate their state-of-mind before the ride…  

 

…and after!

Chalk up another day of memories!