Between local obligations and AirBnB, we don’t use our cabin as much as I’d like to, but we always block out the first week of July for us.  I love how South Whidbey celebrates country and community. 

A highlight is the Maxwelton Parade.  The Maxwelton community is one street, with houses on the beach side, the garages on the other.  I’m pretty sure the man with the most grandchildren in the parade is the announcer. 

We met island and school friends at this event, and the kids get enough candy to last them to Halloween. 

Here are the number (years):
 

The Goose (grocery) always sends their gorilla with a wagon of bananas to share with the crowd.

Got an old truck, tractor, or camper?  Bring it down and throw out some candy.  We actually know this kid-he and Kyla are in the same class at school.

Sno-Isle gets into it, too, and I cheered loudest for their “float”!

Another highlight is the Good Cheer (thrift stores and food bank) give out snap peas instead of candy.  I’m as happy about it as she is!

The girls even got to pet a chicken.

I was never a contemporary prom queen, but may I can aspire to being a vintage one!

This pirate has made a good catch.

We have a lot to cheer about on the 4th of July!

It’s not the best part (the buckets of candy probably take that title), but I love the time on the beach after the parade.  The tide was way out, and we could barely see Kyla. You’ll notice we often just get back shots of the kids once they hit the sand!

Clearly, I did a terrible job blogging this last spring (though I am back-dating several posts and have added several posts to March, April, and May, and will add more).

However, I found lots of fun, random pictures of the last 4 months that I wanted to publish.  Enjoy, Mom!

Wesley: Mama, I like playing with Piper, but I love Kyla.

My artist—made to do his best work outside.

The kids love watching the Costco pizza station.

How cool is this future roller derby-er?  I think I will call her “Mad Duck Rosie”.

This is what Piper’s clothes look like after they are washed.

 

He really loves Kyla.

Piper-the-Kangaroo came up with a new way to torture love the Timmy Whitefoot.

Piper likes making new hair-dos for special occasions. Sadly, I have no recollection of why May 16th was special.

She also makes her own earrings from “estate” blooms.

Sigh.  This is Wesley. At church.  My best argument to get him to come down is that he will put ideas into other kids’ heads.

“Mama, I’ll drive you.  I know how!”

“Son, we’re not driving up a wall.”

Piper is the horse and Wesley’s wheelbarrow is the plow.

Does this need explanation?

Kyla’s happy place: by herself (read: without siblings nearby), listening to one of the audiobooks on her MP3.

Only slightly less Kyla-esque, climbing a tree.

Dwayne and I have been taking evening walks this summer, and the kids insist on joining (mostly uninvited).  Super Piper likes riding her bike.

Kyla likes her Daddy time.

I find this amusing.  We have one of those huge pillows/stuffies from Costco’s Christmas toy aisle who, after a poorly executed surgery, has no stuffing.  So Wesley stuffed himself in Cornelius Rainbow Dragon’s skin himself.

I publish a lot of cute pictures of my kids, but this is a more typical scene.

Piper wearing a blue skirt, yellow dress, and lace jacket, to make sure she was fancy enough.

One of my favorite “Me & 3” adventures was a spontaneous trip to Port Townsend.  We all have fond memories of that day, so we planned another trip. 

It wasn’t entirely a mistake.

The kids remembered the fun candy and ice cream shop.  We decided to call it “Honeydukes” and to pretend that Port Townsend was Hogsmeade. (Mom, that was a Harry Potter reference.  Really, you’ll need to read past the first book.)  What could go wrong?

1) A tantrum before we walked off the ferry terminal. 

2) Kids who, after we spent time at the toy store and candy shop, were bored and wanted to go home, and took turns whining about it.

I took pictures that belied the experience. 

While we waited to walk on the ferry, the kids played on the beach.

They posed with the candy they all bought with their own money.

There is a distinct Main Street and Uptown (separated by several stair sets), dividing where the sailors and, er, “ladies” stayed and played and where the wives and families lived.  There’s a great fountain and little park at the base of the steps.

Piper made a special hairdo for this adventure.

Our friend, Margaret, turned 40 and to celebrate, the kids ate too much food and then found a grown up to tackle. Let’s do it again in another 40!

I have dreams about this summer—Me & 3 would be able to do all these amazing adventures that one adult and three responsible, cooperative children should be able to do.  If it all went all, I would be able to do Me & 3 in Legoland at the end of summer. 

So Me & 3 went camping for 24 hours.

And we’re not going to LegoLand. 

I don’t even want to talk about it, but here’s some pictures.

(Just a note: Here’s the first thing we saw when we pulled into our campsite.  Yep, that’s how it started.)

We did have 1.5 nice walks on the nature trail.

Wesley discovered cracker sandwiches.

Proudly.

Piper was happy…most of the time.

I don’t have a picture of Kyla, as she was in the car, starving, but refusing to leave the car to have lunch…5 feet away.  We went home not long after.

Dwayne:  Don’t ask any questions, but is there anything going during this one week in July?  I want to take you away. 

Denise: Our passports have expired.

Dwayne: Um, that’s okay.

[2 days later]

Dwayne: Okay, it’s all booked.

[5 hours later]

Dwayne: Okay, you want a clue?

Denise:  HAMILTON?!!?!?  BUT THAT’S BOOKED OUT TWO YEARS!!  AND ONLY PLAYING IN NEW YORK!!!! YOU CAN’T BUYS TICKETS!

Dwayne:  Yes, you can. In secondary markets. 

So, in case you didn’t hear, I’M GOING TO SEE HAMILTON IN NEW YORK!!!

 

Oceans rise, empires fall
We have seen each other through it all
And when push comes to shove
I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love!

All the kids invited their classes over after school on the last day, and Kyla and her girlfriends made and decorated a cake to celebrate!

It may go to show just how busy this spring was (between home school, my SPU class, and the many volunteer hats I wear), that the first day I could take the kids out of school for a day of play was the last Monday of the school year. 

We actually started at school—Wesley’s kindergarten class had their end-of-year celebration and presentation—before we headed over to Seattle to spend the day at the Center.  

We parked in a different lot this time so stumbled on to the new playground almost immediately. 

The kids’ eyes got big, and they each dropped everything and sprinted to the nearest rope.

At our school auction, I was able to purchase discounted Seattle Children’s Museum tickets for 4, so probably, for the last time before the kids are too big, we went for the afternoon.

Wesley and Kyla built a teepee fort and snuggled while Piper made herself a cat hotel and curled up.   

The fountain never disappoints…and neither did our Skip Day!

It’s technically a Rip-Stick, but the kids call it like they see it—wiggle boarding. 

Piper has really taken to it. That kid can really persevere when she wants to—now she’s probably as good as I am.  She worked and worked to start on her own, to turn, to carve.  Go surfer girl!