Green Friday

There's almost nothing that could induce me to wake up extra early the day after Thanksgiving to rush around in a crowded shopping mall or big-box store fighting for mega-deals. Maybe I would do it if the stores offered to pay me to shop, maybe. But probably not.

Instead, we've created our own day-after tradition that involves sleeping in a little, rushing around to pack lunches and find all the warm snow clothes and sleds, piling into the van and heading up to the mountains to cut our Christmas tree.

It's much more fulfilling than finding the best deal on the latest electronic device. I'd even argue that it's the best deal around. For a $5.00 permit fee, we can cut any size and type tree we want. Compare that to $8.00/foot that the local tree farm charges, and we saved $67.00 on a 9 foot tree, or 93%. I don't think any stores around here had sales that good!

And we got to spend a beautiful day in the mountains playing in the snow with good friends. Can't buy that!

A Great Date!

Brad took the day off the day before Thanksgiving and asked if I wanted to do something together.

"Like what?" I asked. "We could go kayaking," he suggested.

He didn't have to say anything more! As soon as the girls got on the bus at 8:05, I started gathering my gear.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Getting ready to go," I said. "I didn't know you wanted to go so early!" he laughed.

It had been a while since I'd been able to get out on the water, and I was eager to go! We started at Dock Street, and paddled around Little Manzanita, one of my favorite spots.

Even though it was a bit windy, Little Manzanita is secluded and the water is almost always calm. We had a very nice time together, and Brad was able to see why I love kayaking so much.

Raking Leaves

I love it that my kids still enjoy raking and playing in leaves. Jillian enjoys it so much, every year she asks if she can have a friend over to play in the leaves with her. I didn't get any pictures of Jillian and her friend Chloe, but they spent at least an hour burying themselves and jumping in them.

Mini Vacation

Brad had a few extra vacation days he had to take before the end of the year, so we decided to go on a mini-vacation together. After researching several places, we ended up staying in Seattle at the Camlin. Thanks to good friends, we got a screaming deal! It was like having our own little apartment in the heart of downtown, right across the street from the Paramount Theater, two blocks from Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, and Pacific Place.

We spent the days relaxing, reading, shopping, and seeing a movie (2012...don't waste your money, or time!), and the evenings eating fabulous food and listening to great music!

Monday evening Nathan and Brooke braved the howling wind and pouring rain to join us at Etta's for some amazing seafood (I had the salmon in the picture, if you click on the link) and triple coconut cream pie...yum!

While we were planning our get away, Brad realized David Wilcox would be performing at the Triple Door on Tuesday evening. A few years ago, our friends Charles and Elisa took us to his show and we really enjoyed it. So we were excited to get to see him again. Ralph and Stephanie joined us for more delicious food (the Triple Door serves food from Wild Ginger, the BEST Thai restaurant ever, sorry Sawadty's!) and a great show.

Peppino D'Agostino opened; he is an amazing guitar player. I really loved this song:



Here's a great one from David Wilcox, too.



It was like having another life for a few days. We were a world away and didn't have to deal with things like the power going out Monday night and the kids not waking up in time to catch the bus Tuesday morning, or Kylie thinking she forgot an important paper at home, or any of the other crazy things that go on in daily life. Brad's parents stayed at our house with the kids and spoiled them with KFC, Domino's Pizza, Little Debbies, and lots of soda, so I think the kids enjoyed us being gone, too!

Family Communication

It doesn't matter if your family lives hundreds of miles apart, or on the same small Island. Communication is always a challenge! Especially around the holidays. Here's a conversation I had with my youngest sister this afternoon:

Tif: What are you guys doing for Thanksgiving?
Me: Going to Mom's. Aren't you?
Tif: No, we're going to Tad's parents'.
Me: What? Mom told me last month everyone was going to her house!
Tif: Well, we're all getting together for Dad's birthday on the 29th, so we thought we'd go to Tad's parents' for Thanksgiving. They were supposed to be in Utah, but they changed their plans.
Me: What about Corey?
Tif: I think they're going to Olympia.
Me: Huh.

I haven't talked to my mom yet, but I can hear the conversation before we even have it. It will go something like this:

Me: So, Mom, when did the Thanksgiving plans change?
Mom: I thought I told you! I know I talked to Tif. And Corey. I know I talked to Corey. I thought I talked to you, too.
Me: Nope. I just heard about it from Tif today...

Looks like I'm buying a turkey after all.

Voyage #8 -- Fletcher Bay to Manzanita

After a few weeks off due to bad weather and vacations, we took advantage of the beautiful day yesterday to complete the "Battle Point" section of our kayaking adventure. As I sit watching the rain pour down and the wind gust this afternoon, I'm even more glad we were able to make it out yesterday!

I finally found a kayak. It was on Craigslist, and ended up being right in Poulsbo, about 20 minutes from my house. The woman selling it was an older lady who didn't use it much anymore. When she bought it about 8 years ago, she and two friends all bought the same kind of boat and took them on their camping trips together. They even kayaked around Bainbridge Island together! She was so happy to hear I will use it for exactly the same things! It was meant to be. It handles really well. I'm very happy to have my own boat!

We started at Fletcher Landing (click on the link for an interesting history of this "controversial" access spot).

In highschool, Brad and his friends would water ski right out here and gas up the boat at the marina in the picture.

First we paddled around in Fletcher Bay. It's a small bay, and most of the homes are more "mature". I love how each bay has it's own characteristics. Fletcher Bay is very tranquil spot.

Outside of the bay, the water felt like mud: very thick and hard to paddle through. We couldn't figure out why because we thought we were going in the same direction as the tide, and there was no wind. The only thing we could guess was that the currents must split somewhere close to here and we were actually going against the current.

A beautiful home on the shores of Battle Point:

Once we got closer to Battle Point (the strip of land in the picture below is the actual "point") the current changed and paddling became much easier.

This marker indicates the Point. I wish I would have gotten a better picture of the actual beach. It looks like it would be a great place to play in the summer. Too bad it's privately owned!

You can kind of see the beach in this picture, behind this...whatever it is...an old billboard? a gallows? (there's a rope tied on the end) anyone know what it really is?

Hey, Katie G...recognize this place? Does it look the same? A few more kayaks in the yard, maybe?

Our friends used to live here. I'll never forget their generosity one Christmas when we were building our house. They went on vacation during Christmas break and let us stay here, greatly reducing our stress at a very critical time in the house-building process!

We ended another successful kayaking adventure at Manzanita Bay. I'm learning so much more about this beautiful Island I live on. Another plus is that when I'm driving, I can orient myself much better now that I've seen parts of the Island from the "water side".

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year! Not only did the weather cooperate (not too cold, no rain, almost full moon), but now that the kids are bigger, I'm not so stressed out when we go trick-or-treating in Winslow. It was much easier to keep track of them and I knew that if I lost sight of Ben for a minute he would stay put until we made eye contact again. I love the tradition Winslow has of closing down the main street and letting all the shop-keepers hand out candy. We try to get there right when it starts, though, because it gets crazy!

Kylie was "swine flew" this year; she thought of it herself. It was hilarious to see people's reactions when they got it! Jillian was the "wolf who ate Red Riding Hood's grandma", which got many great comments as well. She convinced me to be Red Riding Hood. Ben was a Jawa from Star Wars. His glowing eyes looked so cool when it got dark. Many people didn't know what he was, though, and one lady even asked, "Are you Harry Potter?" Ummm....NO!

The back sides of their costumes were just as great as the front sides!

We met up with Tif in Winslow. She was Amelia Earhart, complete with the airplane!

After Winslow, we went to Tif's neighborhood for more trick-or-treating, then on to a friend's neighborhood for even more. Kylie was going to a party at their house and the kids "needed" more candy.

I ended up staying at the party with Kylie and 12 other kids her age. My friend did a great job coming up with scary, gross things for the kids. First they watched Coraline, then she had some "body parts" in a bag for them to identify. (Turkey innards for the heart, liver, etc. and a whole, dried banana that looked surprisingly like a dried up finger! Eeewww! )

As if that wasn't enough to gross them out, she did a "Fear Factor" game! I wish I had taken pictures. Oh My Goodness, was it gross! She started off with raw herring. Most of the kids were able to handle that one. Next was the dried banana, which looked nasty, but Kylie said it tasted like a really old banana, which is was. Then came the anchovy, which Kylie couldn't get down, so she was out. Then a raw oyster, by then there were five kids left. Then the REALLY nasty one...a LIVE worm! No one could get it down. There was puking. It was disgusting. The final challenge was raw squid. All five of the kids who were left ate that, so it was back to the worm. My friend didn't have enough worms, so she cut them in half and let the kids drink water with it to get it down. Amazingly, all five did it! UGH! All for a giant Hershey bar. Crazy! I'm glad Kylie stopped when she did. She told me later that she probably could have finished the anchovy, but when she saw the oyster, she knew she couldn't do it. It brought back memories of her "fish eyeball" experience...

After Fear Factor, my friend told the kids a very scary story, and sent them home!

A perfect Halloween, complete with creative costumes, good weather, lots of candy, and a gross party!