Meerkerk Park had their annual fairy house building day. The volunteers provided gathered sticks, pine cones, flowers, wood, moss, ribbons, and hot glue guns. Everyone brought their imaginations (I wish I had brought my camera—I settled for a device that technically can take pictures but is overall unsatisfactory).
My kids didn’t make anything to brag about (their mother had to abandon her even worse attempts), but there are some really creative fairy-fans out there! We’ll try again next year.
It’s simply the depth and breadth of the bathtub ring once the kids are clean and pajama-ed at bedtime. Today was a particularly entertaining day, according to this reading.
Honestly, it’s hard to beat the Island for the Fourth of July. Even with a posted 3 hour ferry wait (though it actually was just 90 minutes and went by quickly), it’s worth making over early the day before Independence Day. We now know to get there early enough on the 3rd to go to Freeland’s Freedom Festival—live shows, food booths, local interests (this year, the new fireboat was open for public tours) and then amazing fireworks over the harbor, first by God…
then by the local community.
The actual 4th of July brought a parade through the small Maxwelton Community—the same one we did last year. I somehow forgot to take pictures once the candy started flying.
Back at the cabin, our neighbors had a lot of fun shopping at the fireworks stand. This year, instead of trying to get the kids to bed at a reasonable hour, I sent them outside to join in the fun. I have two pyromaniacs and a coward-pragmatist (that’s Piper, by the way). Kyla and Wesley were invited to shoot off kid-works by the neighbors and when I finally put them to bed after 11pm, they went straight to sleep.
Happy Birthday, USA! You throw a great party.
Ah, the second day of summer and we are at Double Bluff Beach—a family favorite. We came across a mermaid…
and engineered a teeter-totter. A great summer kick-off!
A rare winter day at the beach—dry, not horribly cold, with a low tide.
All my nincompoops, ahem, children, took off their boots and socks as soon as we got off the rocks and explored their beach barefoot.
Wesley wore his cape under his winter coat, giving him a duck butt look.
Piper loves to get into the clay and give herself an elephant makeover.
Kyla’s friend has the sense to keep her shoes on the whole time. I love those red boots!
Kyla really needs nothing more than a stick to entertain herself for hours. This time, she has a ball of clay to double the excitement. I’m not sure what it says about her, but I like it!
We love our beach…and happy to be going back for hot baths.
What to do at the cabin with four kids and a really rainy February day? We drove up to Coupeville!
It’s small, but the museum has wooly mammoth bones, arrowheads, the first car ever on the island, a history of telephones, and old toys and clothes. We’ve been there once before, but it’s a great place to wander as it rains outside.
A short walk from there is the wharf. We go there because I like the three skeletons of sea mammals hanging from the ceiling.
Cool, huh?
There’s more to do in Coupeville (I could wander the Victorian-style homes around town for hours). But taking four kids to a shop and finding food that fits Kyla’s diet? We drove back to the cabin and invited cabin friends over for a tea party instead!
I’d rather not have animals at the cabin, wanting this space to be friendly towards those with allergies. However, we know more people with pets than with allergies, and our own kittens can’t be completely left alone at home so they come along with us.
I don’t know how Timmy got up here, but since he couldn’t figure out how to get down, I had time to grab my camera before I rescued him.
Wesley wonders how he could do such a trick.
Piper already knows…
