Point No Point

We finally made it back to Point no Point, only the second time we've been able to go this summer, which is disappointing since it's one of our favorite beaches.  It was nice to share it with Tyler, Rachael, Hudson, Tifanie, and Mariko!  I was so surprised that Tyler and Tifanie had never been there.  But now they know how wonderful it is. 

Hudson had never been to a real beach before and loved the sand.  He kept pointing to the water and saying "POOL!"

It was a beautiful, clear day.  We could see Mt. Rainier to the south and Mt. Baker to the north.  I didn't get a good shot of Rainier, but here's Baker.

 

The tide was very low!  At high tide, this rock is almost covered with water and the kids swim out to it and jump off.  They enjoyed looking for sea creatures and found lots of sea stars, anemones, barnacles (which sound like Rice Krispies "snap, crackle, & popping" when they're not covered in water), and crabs!

Ty loves to build and helped the kids construct a cool driftwood fort!

We decided that we wouldn't be able to live in this fort if we were in a survival situation, but it was still pretty cool!  We probably could have reinforced it better if we really needed to.

Mariko liked the beach, too.  Next summer she'll love it!

Ben and Jillian had a sand castle building contest.  Ben's won for "most castles",

and Jillian's won for "prettiest".  Tif was the judge.

Family Time!

We almost got a family reunion together with the Swolgaard siblings this year!  Tyler, Rachael, and Hudson are here from South Carolina for two weeks.  Unfortunately, Scott and his family weren't able to come up from California like they usually do.  But we've had a great time meeting Hudson (18 mos. old) and spending time with Tyler and Rachael again.  We haven't seen them since Tifanie's wedding two years ago, and that was just a short visit. 

We've celebrated Mom's birthday at Battlepoint with a bar-be-que and softball game, been to the beach at Point no Point, learned to play the Cities and Knights expansion to Settlers of Catan, eaten a fabulous dinner at Streamline Diner cooked by Uncle Tad, played Pickleball, gone to a Mariner's game, and tomorrow we're going camping at Fort Flagler.  And that's just in the first week!  They'll be here another week, but the kids start school Wednesday, so we wanted to get in as much fun as we could before then.

Enjoying burgers during Mom's Birthday Bar-be-que at Battlepoint

The family is growing!  It's too bad Scott and his family weren't there...it's been a long time since we've gotten a picture of ALL of us...and the last time we did, there weren't so MANY of us!

Grandma and some of her grandkids

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Rachael played a game with Hudson to teach him his cousin's names.  She told him their names, then gave him a ball and said, "Throw it to Jillian (or Kylie, or Nate, or Ben)" He caught on so quickly and now he knows all their names.

After our dinner at Streamliner, we went for a walk along the trail at Waterfront Park. 

I was going to add pictures of Point no Point, but there are so many good ones that I'm going to post them separately!

Say What?!

Do your kids need hearing aids like mine do? 

Do you ask them to do something 27 times and then finally yell at them to do it only to have them say, "Geesh mom, why are you yelling?"  And you say, "Because I asked you 27 times!" and they say, "But I didn't hear you!" 

Or do you catch them doing something totally unacceptable and ask them, "What are you doing?" and they say, "But you said I could!" and you say, "No, I most defnintely did not!"

Or do they totally mis-hear what you say?  Like yesterday morning when I called in to the kids, "Hey kids, dad needs some help cleaning up the vines he cut in the yard." And Jillian responded, "What?  Dad needs help cleaning up a lion he caught in the yard?!"

The reason...

We finally heard back from the scout district guy, or should I say Nate finally heard back.  He didn't respond to my four phone messages, or Nate's one phone message, but he finally replied to the email Nate sent him yesterday.  The reason he gave for standing us up on Monday...

His cell phone got wet and he lost all his calendar information, which he hadn't written down anywhere else.

Does that sound like a true scout to you?  I mean really, we all know the Scout Motto is "Be Prepared"!

He's going to be out of town for the next two weeks, so we rescheduled for September 7th.  At least we know it wasn't our fault!

Note to Self

Things to remember when Ben is beginning his Eagle Scout project in 5 to 6 years:

1.  Call Grandpa Tom.
2.  Let Grandpa Tom legally adopt him.
3.  Run away!

Seriously, this whole process has been NOT FUN!

I really need to remember that we can't assume we will be contacted by the Scout office to notify us when the project is approved.  The Scout (not the mom!) needs to call and check in once a week so the approved project is not sitting at the scout office for two months waiting to be picked up. 

And the Scout needs to finish his project AND application in LESS than two years.

And then once the application is finished, the Scout needs to make a photocopy of the application. 

And once the application is turned in, the Scout needs to call and check the progress and see if there is anything missing so he can harass his leaders to turn in their letters of recommendation.

And then, once the Board of Review is scheduled, the Scout needs to call and confirm the appointment so the Scout and his mother are not sitting in the Windermere Real Estate office in Silverdale for 1/2 an hour waiting anxiously for the Board of Review to start, only to get kicked out of the office at 6:00 because no one showed up and the receptionist needs to lock the doors so she can go home.

And then the Scout needs to call the scout district guy to ask him why no one showed up, and then wait for a return phone call, which we still haven't received.

Camping with the Girls

Brad, Nate, and Ben left for a week on the boy scout 150 mile bike trip (Brad drove the supply truck and Ben rode along, only Nate actually biked.  I'm so bummed they didn't have a camera with them, but they had a wonderful time), so I took Kylie, Jillian, and Jillian's friend Chloe camping.  While we were on our family vacation a few weeks ago, Jillian begged to be able to camp at Lake Crescent, so that's where we went.  I'm pretty sure it's my favorite spot on earth.  Once again we left Bainbridge in cloudy, cool weather, and arrived at Lake Crescent to sun!  It's magical, I just know it.  It was sunny all 3 1/2 days (except for a brief rain shower Thurday morning), and when we were headed home it clouded up right when we hit Port Angeles and has been cloudy and rainy ever since.  I'll bet it's still sunny at the Lake, though! 

We invited other moms to come experience the magic with their kids and ended up being joined by Chantal, Rhonda, and Katie.   As soon as we got camp set up, the kids went swimming.  The last time we camped here, it was 90 and the water felt so refreshing.   I was worried that since it was in the mid 70s the water would be too cold this time, but it still felt great!

Kylie and Aubrey swam out the the log boom and crawled along it, which was quite challening since the water was choppy. 

Their second favorite thing to do is climb this huge maple tree.  I tried to come up with a name worthy of it, but didn't get farther than "Magnificent Maple".  If anything comes to mind, let me know.

While the kids were climbing, I sat in the sun and played with the macro setting on my camera.  This butterfly was infatuated with this thistle and made a good subject.

Our campsite was right by the lake.  I really wanted to get a lake-front spot, which there are 6 of, but had to settle for lake-view.  Karma caught up with me, I guess.  I was determined to leave early so I would have a better chance of getting a coveted spot and wasn't being helpful or generous to my friends.  Rhonda left a few hours after me (of course being her usual wonderful, kind, helpful self) and got a great lake-side post.  Katie came a few hours after her, and by then another lake-side spot was open, but she chose one above Rhonda instead.  I liked our spot, though.  We shared with Chantal and there was plenty of space for three tents:  ours, hers, and Kylie & Aubrey's.  It was right above the swimming area and only had neighbors on one side.

I took this at 5:45 one morning when the dog woke up and had to go to the bathroom.  Gorgeous!

Wednesday morning we headed out to Rialto Beach on the coast.  It was sunny when we left the lake, but cloudy and cold when we got to the coast (of course!)

That didn't stop the kids from playing in the water, though! 

Kylie, Aubrey, Matzo and I hiked over these huge rocks over to the other side of the beach where there are some huge tide pools. 

It wasn't quite low tide, so we couldn't reach all the pools.  This one was beautiful, though.

After a few hours of freezing, we heated up some soup for lunch on Chantal's camp stove, and then went back to the Lake.  It was 80 and sunny when we got back!  Almost a 25 degree difference.  Crazy. 

This was taken Thursday morning.  I could sit and take pictures of the Lake all day.  I love how it's constantly changing; choppy water one day, glass the next.  Colors change with the time of day.  I didn't get a good sunset picture this time.

Thursday was Devil's Punch Bowl day!  We drove around to the other end of the Spruce Railroad Trail and hiked about a mile in (instead of three like last year!)

I can't say enough how much I love this place.  The colors are incredible.  We swam for several hours, outlasting multiple groups.  Rhonda and Chantal left about 3:00 to head home.  The girls and I decided we'd stay another night.

Mariann and Outi were supposed to meet us here at noon, and by 3:30 they hadn't showed up, so we decided we would pack up and go to Granny's Cafe for an early dinner.  Just as we were getting up from sunning ourselves on the rocks, I looked up and who was coming down the path?  Mariann and Outi!  They left a few hours later than they planned and got lost a few times on the way.  But they made it!  We stayed for another hour, but by then the sun had gone behind the cliff so it wasn't as warm and the water wasn't as inviting.  We all went to Granny's together and had a delicous dinner.  Their bleu cheese burger is fabulous!

Friday morning, we packed up camp and the girls swam for a litte while, then we headed home. To clouds and rain.  Brad and the boys got home at midnight, after driving all day from Idaho.  It was wonderful to be home, all together again. But I still love Lake Crescent and can't wait until we get to go next year! 

Wrestling Pigs and Bees

What a difference a little punctuation makes!  Without the commas, you might think this post is going to be about a new WWF style of wrestling...one that involves farm animals and insects.  Unfortunately, the title should be "Wrestling, Pigs, and Bees"  or if I order it correctly, "Pigs, Bees, and Wrestling."  Just having a little bit of grammar-geek fun.  Another bit of grammar fun I had this weekend came from an email I got inviting me to the "Seafare" parade.  I wish!  Sea-fare is one of my favorite cuisines.  It was really asking if we wanted to go to the "Seafair" parade, which is an entirely different event and one I do not enjoy.  Anyhow, back to pigs, bees, and wrestling.

We were invited to a birthday party Luau yesterday where they roasted a whole pig.   The hosts were a great family in Kingston who are the ultimate "do-it-yourself-ers".  Seriously, when the world ends, I'm heading to their house!  They hunt, raise their own pork, can all their produce, keep bees, make their own cabinetry and picnic tables, build beautiful water features in their yard...you name it, they can do it.

Here's the pig!  The meat was so tender and juicy!  It cooked for over 12 hours.

Ron's three bee hives are producing so much honey this year, he sent out an emergency plea for more boxes.  Brad let him use some of ours, so while we were there, he and Ron checked the bees.  It looks like the honey will be ready to harvest in about a week, so we're going back to help with the harvest and according to Ron, we should bring home about 5 gallons of honey.  That's a lot of honey!

This is one of Ron's smaller hives.  His other two have more boxes, all full!

On our way home from Kingston, we passed through Suquamish where we saw a wrestling ring with WWF style wrestlers competing.  Of course we had to stop and see what was going on!  They were in the middle of a tag-team event.  A man and a woman vs. two men.  It was too much fun!  We sat in the grass and laughed our heads off as the two men beat each other up, then the man tagged the woman and she pinned the other man and won the match!

A new idea for my next adventure???  Hmmmm.....

Then the MC came out and announced a "Battle Royale".  He proceeded to take off his jacket, tear off his tie, pull of his shirt, and about 20 other wrestlers busted out of a tent and the fight was on!

The idea is to try to throw each other out of the ring, last one standing wins!   We were routing for the creepy superman-clown guy, but in the end Mr. Black-tighty-pants and Mr. Red-tighty-pants ended up in the ring fighting for the belt, which was a little confusing for us not familiar with the wrestling rules since they weren't in the ring during the main bout.  They were the two standing on the grass fighting the ones who were thrown out of the ring.  Mr. Red-tighty-pants eventually bested Mr. Black-tighty-pants and was awarded the Suquamish Belt. We're assuming he's now on his way to fight for the Kitsap County Belt, only steps away from world renown, I'm sure!