Wesley, Westin, and Piper heard me say “leaf pile” and ran outside to keep Dwayne from blowing off all the leaves before getting some good play time in.

 

Pure joy!

Before Dwayne and the Shultz family came to join us on the island, the kids and I had a new adventure!

We discovered the Pacific Rim Center in Coupeville and joined an Audubon society walk.  [Fun fact: South Whidbey Island gets about 36 inches of rain annually, but Coupeville, right smack in the middle of Whidbey, gets only 18-20!]  It was 3 hours of slightly trying to be interested in native prairie grasses and birds I couldn’t see, but we found some new trails to explore further on another day.

Kyla walked right along with the guide and asked, in a conservative estimation, about a thousand questions.

The hallowed native prairie grasses.  It’s dull yet important work. 

The forest trails were more interesting—we had a lot more fun once we left the guided tour.  It can take avid bird-watchers several hours to walk a mile or two, I’ve learned.  I don’t do that pace, even with kids.

I love, love, love the Bayview Farmer’s Market (May-October, Saturdays 10-2).  We met Daddy and friends there for Filipino and African food and lots of shopping. 

Piper was most excited about the grasshoppers she was catching.

Wesley just strikes a pose.

But Evelyn found poppies in October!

And then, because Jeremy hasn’t been to the cabin before, we had to try to kill him by taking him down to the beach—at high tide in the fog.  You’re welcome, J!

They were on their way to Hawaii in their boat last time I checked. 

Cool shot, huh? 

Great weekend, M&J!  Next time, maybe the kids will sleep. 

[Ha!  It’s been three years and our kids haven’t really learned to sleep well at the cabin.  But they don’t really sleep well at home, either, so I can’t judge.]

….from our front porch.  Love this place!

Wesley and Piper have been getting along too well lately…their individual superpowers for obnoxiousness more than double when they are together.  And at bedtime when they want to sleep together, it doesn’t turn off quickly.

We quickly stepped in and quickly decreed Wesley had to sleep with Kyla and Piper could still have the cats.  [If you’re wondering why we didn’t send Wesley to his own bedroom—because he does have one—it’s because Kyla woke me up at dark 0’clock two nights in a row because she didn’t have anyone to snuggle.  I throw her a Wesley, and everyone sleeps better.]

 

 

The complete inability for any of us to sleep by ourselves is a tad embarrassing.  I suspect that Dwayne got bitten by a radioactive ferret when he was younger and the ability to sleep in ferret heaps is his contagious superpower.  It’s not as cool as shooting webs from your palms, but it’s all we’ve got.

Baby pictures of our kids:

I’m not ready to buy pumpkins yet, but I’ll spring for some playtime at a farm!  Wesley had a nap, all the kids had lunch, and we were ready to have a few hours of fun at Dr. Maze’s Farm. (If you go, just skip the “hay ride”, especially if only one tractor is running.  Kyla and I waited an hour to have a bumpy ride through the back, uninteresting parts of the farm with no tour guide to make it more pleasant.)

My lil’ pumpkins.

 

If only this would satisfy her desire for a real horse.

 

Yep, I’m sure it’s just like riding a real horse, Sweetie.

 

Wesley spent an hour on this. Naps are good for him.

My favorite scarecrow! 

…put Wesley right to sleep on a Sunday morning.  He doesn’t often crash like this, but he wanted snuggles instead of Sunday School so we knew he was tired.  This is also our ace in the hole to keep Papa Jim connected.  No way is he going to disappear from our lives forever when he moves to Eastern Washington.  Who would totally abandon moments like this? 

I brought Wesley home some new PJs from the thrift store with some funny results.  He actually likes wearing his “new” Spiderman pajamas, and they look better with the shirt.

Brian and Sandi brought their new baby, Amber Nicole, (born Aug. 14) up to our area so we can fight over who gets to hold her.

For those who don’t read body language (um, guys), this is Julie clearly telling me that it’s not my turn to hold Amber.  But I can take pictures.  Just kidding.  Mom and I were too busy scratching and clawing each other for baby dibs.

But it was a gorgeous day, and I had filled the car with wheels of all sorts.  Wesley tried riding the scooter with his roller blades.

Everyone got into it.

Yep, everyone.  It’s one of the reasons I love this woman!

Parker took a shine to the scooter Wesley has outgrown.  Don’t worry, Parks, I’ll let Santa know!

Even wheel-less, she’s cute.

And the new daddy got a picture of all the cousins…and me! 

This is a kind of love letter to my husband, but really to my parents who took the kids Friday evening until Sunday afternoon.  I love, love, love you!

For his birthday, Dwayne wanted me to take him away for the weekend.  I had actually tried to make reservations for Winthrop to show our support for the area devastated by the state’s worst fire on record (and patting myself on the back for the charitable giving of my spending hundreds of dollars on personal luxury)…but everyone else was doing the same thing and my first 7choices were booked for the weekend!

So we just drove north.

I surprised Dwayne (and myself) with our first night at Tulalip Resort and Casino.  It’s a beautiful place, every bit the luxury resort it reports to be.  Any place with a waterfall in the oasis pool can’t be all bad. The fact that no-smoking laws don’t apply on reservation land escaped us at first, but you can’t spend anytime in the slot machine wasteland before remembering that indoor smoking isn’t prohibited…and no ventilation is ever adequate.  However, the restaurants were in the casino wing, and I would wade through more slots and cigs to eat again at Black Fish.

 

Saturday was for Bellingham.  We had reservations at The Fairhaven Village Inn.  On a continuum of $$$ hotels, the Inn is very much to the right (or left) of Tulalip.  The Inn didn’t have carved alabaster bas relief native art motif light fixtures down each hallway, but it did have a charming library with tea, coffee, and cookies 24 hours a day.  And it was by far the better location.  Dwayne and I walked more miles in those 24 hours in through Fairhaven than we have walked together the rest of 2015.  (Yeah, that says more about us than about Fairhaven, I know.)

When we first got to Bellingham, I directed Dwayne to Lake Padden for a couple mile walk in this picturesque spot.  But the park was closed for an all afternoon bike race.  So then we tried to visit my alma mater, but it was move-in day (!) at WWU.  Finally, we parked far enough away and walked up and around the entire campus and arboretum.  It has been almost 20 years since I was last a student there.  Of course, a lot had changed, but it was somewhat surprising how much remained as it was.  It’s a beautiful campus, but the academic life didn’t quite tug on my heart like it has before.  I now think more about eventually dropping Kyla off somewhere like this…leaving her to be a independent student with just a final hug.  Ouch!

But there wasn’t too much to be morose about, other than if we didn’t make it to afternoon tea by 5pm at the Abbey Garden Tearoom.   We actually got there in plenty of  time, though my picture hints at a different outcome.  Dwayne found a gentleman’s tea on the menu,while I ordered a French chocolate dessert with my afternoon tea that made my toes curl.   

(You can’t tell the tea cozy on my head, but under the table, my toes are curled.)

 

While walking (and walking and walking) off our tea, we came across these plaques with QR readers.  It gave a mini-history lesson of the area using footnotes of footnotes, probably.  I loved it!

 

We tried to walk every inch of Fairhaven, 3 parks, some trails, and a hilly neighborhood before we went back and changed for dinner.  If you ever eat at the Cliff House in Bellingham, go for the view and great staff, not the food.

 
The next morning was as blustery as it can get without pouring rain, so I was impressed with these sailors! 

My hair tried to be my sail, but I’ve not such a good sailor.

Since I lived in the area last, Boulevard Park went from being a great place to an amazing one, with a long waterway walking path and even better access.  Dwayne and I so enjoyed our time together in Bellingham, but I couldn’t help but think of how I’d like to bring the kids up here with their bikes someday!

 

And why, oh why, has no one told me just how wonderful Five Guys is?  Why is McD’s and all those other hamburger places still open when one can eat here?  All right, so this is a little north for us, but now I know what place to look for when we need lunch on the road!