My friend, Susanne, had a medicine cabinet leftover from a remodel a year or so ago.  She wanted it out of her garage so our cabin got an improvement.  Thanks, Friend!

Before:

 

After:

 

I also worked on the front yard.  There’s a circle of “flowers” (okay, mostly weeds and overgrown grass) in the middle of the lawn.  It will look better and be easier to maintain when I can dump some dirt and grass seed over it.  But it will be slow progress, done only when it’s warm, dry, and we’re not at the beach.

 

Two birds with one stone:  moving pretty purple flowers next to the deck where they won’t be mowed over and another opportunity to plant something where I want Dwayne to build.  There’s always a master plan, my friends.

 

And this tree is significant in that it’s not dead.  It was supposed to be a weeping flowering cherry, but it has grown straight and tall and was overshooting the space in our own yard.  So I uprooted it, pruned it down to size, left it in the garage overnight  before it was tossed in the back of Jim’s truck and carted over to the cabin.  Jim will be the only one more shocked than myself to see how well it is blossoming.  Seriously, how did I not kill it?  Well done, tree.  Use well your second chance at life.

There are four twin beds for three kids to choose from.

No one here.

 

Or here.

 

There was a kid here earlier.

 

Ah.  Snuggly like a ferret.

 

And the next night.

I’ve written about Meerkerk Gardens before, a rhododendron plus garden with an additional 40 acres of nature trails.  The garden also specializes in fairies, and we happened to be in the neighborhood on “Make Your Own Fairy” day. 

 

Volunteers had scoured the gardens for wings, bodies, and appropriate fauna accessories and then provided hot glue guns and some beads and ribbon scraps.

 

Luckily, the kids didn’t know about the cupcakes and apple juice until after they had spend lots of time creating their dolls.  Wesley was happy to decorate a single fairy wing.

 

And the Woodland Fairy Queen was happy to pose for pictures with the interns.

 

Piper just likes putting things on her head.

 

We meandered through the gardens until the girls came across the 1 mile nature hoop and they badly wanted to explore it.  All three kids walked the whole thing quite happily!

“Talent” is Kyla’s word not mine, but I will admit she is resourceful.  It’s a lot easier to climb up a log wall than a regular straight one.

 

Monkey see….

The cabin needs a new deck (I accept only Trex or similar material).  To ensure this will happen sooner than later, I planted a mid-priced, beautiful clematis that is already blooming next to the deck, with the intention of it growing along the deck railings.  The more it will damage the plant to remove it, the more likely the deck will be replaced.

Yep. That’s the secret communication that a decade of marriage will bring.  Love ya, Babe!

A good friend came with her kids for a slumber party which was so fun for all of us.  We spent Sunday afternoon down on “our” beach.

There are times I just fall in love with this kid all over again. 

Almost a picture of our family.  Maybe I need to learn PhotoShop.

When we spent a few summers looking for property, we had a saying:  It’s always sunny on the Island!  And, of course, since we only went on beautiful weekends, it always was. 
Now that we have a cabin there, we’ve been there in all weather but snow.  (Missed it actually by 24 hours!)  But it’s never better when the sun is real and not just in our imaginations.
We were 3o seconds off the ferry when the kids begged us to go to “that beach”.  We did.

The kids have been adding to this collection under the log for the last two months.  It’s usually modified somewhat whenever we visit, but it’s still a source of joy.

The kids were still playing in the sand when I came across a note in the local paper I had grabbed on the ferry: Community Egg Hunt at 2pm!  It was 1:3o and I knew we could make it.  After all, it was Family Adventure Day.  And sunny.

I’m still attempting to get a good shot of the three of them.

We hunted lots of eggs and then decorated cookies.

And one can’t decorate cookies without eating them.  There was something about this old porch and the kids concentrating on their snacks that just seemed like a shot out of Grandma’s photo album.  Can’t get all the kids to look at me at the same time, but I still like it.

Wesley won a DIY birdhouse, so we made it a family project while we were there.  You are asking yourself, what could go wrong?

We actually got quite far before Piper hammered my thumb.

Doesn’t Wes look like he’d be perfectly ecstatic to drill through my fingers?

Daddy escaped all injury. And apparently, Kyla escaped the hairbrush this morning.

Do you know how much straw that hair can collect?

And after all of that fun, we couldn’t tear them away from rolling down the hill, over and over. 

Kyla: Make a wish, Mommy!
Me: I wish for more dandelions in the world!

Our kids have a pretty blessed childhood—and I’m taking the pictures to prove it!

We’ve heard about Double Bluff on Whidbey Island before we ever put an offer on the cabin, but didn’t visit until today, a gorgeous, non-windy day that may have reached 60 degrees in the heat of the afternoon. I had packed the hats, gloves, and multiple layers that immediately got ditched or drenched, depending upon the child. 
Kyla ditched.

Piper drenched.

I love this reflection shot.

She tripped, and is only halfway down in this shot.

I had to dig in the car to find an old 2T pull-up to  keep her bits somewhat protected under my sweatshirt.

Once Wesley started waking up, he headed straight to the water. We stripped him while he was still dry.

Hey Wes, there’s good reason to wear your pants (and underwear) the right way.  Silly boy.

Give Dwayne’s kids some water, sand, and sticks, and they can play until the sun goes behind the bluff and the temperature drops 20 degrees.  Oh, note to self: take out the dead baby crab that Piper put in my jacket pocket.

We weren’t the only ones having fun.  These guys played for hours on their boogie boards.  I can’t believe my camera caught this shot.

I so want to do this someday.

We have a lot more to explore at this park.

We had to drag this boy out of the water, shivering and chattering. 

All three in one shot!  I’m a happy mom.

My darling Sis-in-law gave our cabin this old, old KitchenAid that is so much better than even today’s top of the line KitchenAids (I’m on my 3rd mixer in 9 years).  It made us chocolate chip cookies today at the cabin.  It will make us a lot of cookies at the cabin.  Thanks again, Julie.