LA in a day

We did it!  We took the plunge and drove all the way from Portland to LA in only one day.  We got up at 6 AM and took off, and ate both breakfast and lunch while rolling. The kids watched lots of movies and were so good the whole time! In fact, almost all of them said they would rather do it this way from now on.  

Our first big stuff was at Pea Soup Anderson's about four hours from Grams house.  I've always wanted to go there, so it was a fun stop.

We rolled up to grandma and grandpa's house right around 9 PM. Everyone was glad to get out of the car, but it was a much less painful experience than I was expecting!  Since getting here, we've been doing lots of swimming and games. Looking forward to lots of California fun in the sun!

July 4th

We started off the morning and headed out to the local parade in Friday Harbor.  Good small town fun.

Poor Heidi was still sick with her fever, and pretty miserable.  We spent all day keeping her in the shade, and hauling her around so she wouldn't over exert herself.

 After the parade we headed to Grandma's Cove for some beach time.  The Orca Whales were out in pods!  So much fun to watch them put on their show.

Who loves the beach?  It's Emilee!

Can you spy Heidi?  She napped in this driftwood shelter.  It was nice and cool and breezy in there.  We were glad to let the poor miserable girl rest!  It's hard to be sick and dragged on vacation! 

Here is a fun shot of the whales.  As you can see they were about a football field away. . .  It was amazing!

After the beach we wanted to get back to the swimable lake and cool off.  The kids all had a great time once again. . .

 And this little sand bug finally went to sleep.  Poor sick baby!

 Emilee got one more boat ride,

 There was a giant chess board. . .  

A bloody nose that will go down in history. . . (don't try to catch a Frisbee with your nose, Em!)

 And then everybody but Heidi headed out to watch fireworks over the harbor.  She and mom turned in for an early night.

The next day we were back to the Ferry for the journey home!  Here is Heidi with one of her beloved "maps." She loves to have a map to show everyone where we are going and what we are doing.

We had a great time in the San Juans!  Hopefully we'll be back someday!

July 3rd at LakeDale Camp and San Juan Island

We started our first full day at camp boating.  The kids were able to take whatever kind of boats off the dock they wanted.  So, there was lots of canoing, SUPing, Row Boating, Kayaking, etc.  The big boys had a GREAT time on the boats and paddled and swam the day away.  

 The little ladies enjoyed the swimming beach, until they were frozen!

 For the afternoon, we took a drive around the island.  We headed out to the British Camp (of the famous Pig War) and saw the historical buildings and such.  It was all very picturesque.

 And then we took a drive to try to get poor Heidi to sleep.  She was getting so grumpy!  We drove for about an hour, until we spotted some Orca's off the coast!  It was so exciting and we enjoyed the whale watching for a few mintues.

 Then into town for ice cream where we figured out Heidi had a fever.  Poor girl!  We got her home and into bed before too long and she slept a long night away.

to the Island!

The morning we left for San Juan Island, it was Ethan's birthday.  So, we had a little celebration for heading out.  Here is he is opening Heidi's offering, her duck puppet.  She was so sweet choosing it and wrapping it up.  And Ethan is always a good sport.  He gave it lots of love.

Then for the long haul to Anacortes, WA.  It is about 1.5 hours above Seattle, so almost 5 hours to get there.  Once there, we started the "Ferry Process." First you line up, then you wait, then you find something to do like throwing rocks at stumps.  Then you finally board the ferry!  The ferry ride lasted about an hour and was good fun.  The kids were tired but had a good time standing in the wind, doing puzzles, taking in the scenery, and eating popcorn.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Ethan is 14!  It's hard to believe how fast these kids are growing up!  For Ethan's birthday, we took a couple of buddies and went go karting.  I'm pretty sure they had a blast!

 Afterwards we hit sonic for slushes and shakes.  

On the morning of Ethan's actual birthday, we were headed out for camp, but luckily, what he really wanted for his birthday meal was monkey bread.  Perfect for a quick morning!  We had a feast and then headed out for our trip.

Happy Birthday Ethan!  We are so happy to have you in our family, and it's so fun to watch you grow up!

Cousin Camp

We've had our cousins staying with us for a few days.  There are finally enough people to have a three monopoly game.  Ethan became the grand champion in the end, with ALL the money and properties.

The little guys found activities too.  It was a fun few days!

Swimming Lessons

It's that time of year!  When we pay teenagers to "teach" our kids to swim.  Honestly I struggle to see improvements with the young ones, but I am hopeful that it's working!  What we really need is a week in grams pool for Emilee, and Chandler is pretty good now.  He's doing strokes and lap swimming which is great.  Now if I could convince Heidi's teacher to make her put her head under water, we'd be in pretty good shape!