Slithery friend

Lopez

Don’t think we could have packed this four week period any tighter! The day after Cindy and Kenzie returned from South Carolina we headed back to the San Juan’s, this time to Lopez Island. No time to post much now as we are packing to leave for Janel’s wedding in the morning! But here are a few pictures from our trip. Short story – we had a blast!

Zip line:

 

Beachcombing:

Biking:

Biking and hiking to Shark Reef:

Swimming at Shark Reef (brrrr):

And warming up:

Playing at Spencer Spit:

And just chilling:

sun burned cousins

carriage ride through charleston

Sarah and Kyle took Cindy and Kenzie on a carriage ride through the city of Charleston. Kenzie got to “drive.”

boogie boarding in south carolina

 

 

fishing with Sarah and Kyle in SC

That’s all I know…

zoo

Since Cindy and Kenzie are in South Carolina, Mason got to spend the day with Casey and Luke today. They went to the Woodland Park Zoo. (Giraffe in background.)

flopping frogs

When we came home from the San Juans I noticed that our frog tank was disrupted. The lid was taken off, the tank was scooted forward on the ledge, and about 4 inches of water was missing. Strange, I thought, as I replaced the lid, pushed the tank back, and set out some water to refill it.

I woke up at 5AM to a hissing sound. Thinking it was the downstairs toilet, I got up and headed down. The sound got louder. When I rounded the corner I realized that the cat (Zeke) had drug the entire 1 gallon frog aquarium to the edge of the counter and pushed it off! Water was everywhere! Frogs were nowhere.

These are water frogs. Not hardwood floor frogs.

I stepped on something wet and was sure I had flattened either Daisy or Duke. I screamed. You know that sound that doesn’t really come out because the air is still coming in. Except I know that some sound must have come out because Cindy came falling down the stairs looking to figure out exactly who had been murdered. After a minute I regained composure and told Cindy that we HAD TO FIND THESE FROGS before the kids woke up.

We looked. And looked. Finally Cindy found one small, spread-eagle raisin-textured frog. Against my better judgment she picked it up and placed it in her left palm. Her 20+ years of mandatory teacher CPR training, heretofore never used, became invaluable. She instinctively took her index finger and gently pushed the abdomen of the frog in and out. It was either that or the fact that she stuck the frog in the water I had set out the night before, but the frog started swimming after just a few minutes.

But where was that other frog?

We looked. And looked. We moved the sofa, we moved the sectional. We cleared out under the desk. We moved the rug. I mean, come on, how far can a little water frog move on a wood floor? Do they jump? Do they slither? We had no idea. It became closer to 6AM, still no frog. That is until Cindy observed the other cat, Issy, playfully batting something against the wall. This frog, potentially startled Cindy’s sudden reprimand to the cat, started swimming immediately.

So, yah, we saved the frogs. The next night Cindy put duct tape on the front and back of the tank. The next morning that #$*&* cat had taken the lid off the frog tank again! There is now duct tape in different places. It’s not classy, but the frogs are still swimming.

The travelers

Kenzie hasn’t even spent a night in her own bed after being at Grammy and Grampy’s all week, but she and Cindy are on a red-eye to South Carolina to visit the Bolams! Kevin, Cathy and Morgan just moved there so Bob and June are back for a visit. Then we found out that Kris, Lonnie, AJ, Cheyenne and Lane decided to join the party from Oklahoma, so Cindy and Kenzie hopped on a plane.

Here are some pictures they sent me from the airport already…they’re excited…Kenzie especially when she found out that she gets to stop in Texas!

New songs

Kenzie and Mason spent this whole week with Grammy and Grampy. They went to vacation Bible school at their church...and learn a fleet of new songs.

Baby birds

I was staying with Grammy and Grampy and I was going to VBS. On the last day, on Friday, I was going to look at the baby bird's nest that was up above their driveway. And I saw that part of the nest was broken. I looked down and I saw that the baby birds little and tiny and stranded, opening and closing their mouths. I picked one up and said, "Grammy can we take care of him?" And she said, "no, we don't have any way to make him survive." I asked Grampy and he said, "well, we'll just get a ladder and put them back in the nest." So Grampy got a ladder and I climbed up the ladder, got the nest, but only two of the baby birds were surviving. And there were three. Luckily two survived. But when I came back a few hours later I found that another baby bird was on the ground. Then I guess that the mother had kicked it out of the nest because it had died. So I buried it in the back yard with the other one. I am glad that actually the mother came back and she is feeding the one bird. And hopefully it will survive.

happy

la ti da

Extraction

I think Grampy is in cahoots with the Tooth Fairy. I suspect she is getting lazy and doesn't want to flap her wings all the way up Highway 18. So he helps keep her in Auburn by pulling out Kenzie's almost-loose teeth when she's going to be spending the night. Think I'm crazy? What are the odds? This is the second time in a very short while that he has pulled a tooth on a night when she is going to stay over with them.

Well, we do know that the TF has a less-than-stellar record of attendance here in Issaquah. Maybe it's for the best.

Watering hole?

Thought this was cute enough to share. We have very frequent visits by one of the families that shares our land, but they don't usually get this close, especially when Mason is by himself. I love the look on his face.

Leap

Mason named our new frog “Leap.” This is one of the tadpoles who has almost fully developed into a frog. It’s so tiny and cute. The amazing thing is that he clings to the kids hands when they just get near him. I don’t think he can jump yet. You can see that he still has a tiny tail. (Last year I learned that the tail doesn’t fall off, it actually gets absorbed back into the body.)

Kenzie and Mason took this video all by themselves. Take a Dramamine first. And, rest assured, Leap is fine despite the flick at the end.

San Juans, part 3

Liz, Casey, Josh and Luke arrived for the last half of the trip. The first night Casey and the kids dug up enough clams for a big batch of chowder.

We returned to Roche Harbor a couple more times, including a full day on the 4th where the kids participated in both a pie eating contest and a donut eating contest. Any guesses as to who “won?” And who almost showed the pie a second time?

 

We also went whale watching out of Roche Harbor.The 24 passenger vessel had just the eight of us, two other tourists, the captain and a naturalist on board. When we left we understood our chances of seeing whales was slim. None were seen the day before, nor that morning. But just after we left the captain announced that two pods had been spotted together! So we took off and spent well over an hour watching countless orcas jump and roll out of the water. It was truly amazing.

 

Another highlight was when we rented a 21’ Duffy, an electric boat whose top speed is 6 knots. I was thrilled to receive my captain’s license (that just required me to fill out about 7 questions on a form). We took it out for 3-1/2 hours, got passed by every boat in the harbor, but had a great time. We rounded a small island and saw a sunning seal on Shaw.  

 

 

 

Kenz even got to steer us for a bit.

On the night of the fourth we went back to Roche Harbor and visited some friends while we waited for the fireworks. We saw “colors,” which is where the color guard takes down the flags…and then (because it was the fourth), JUMPED OFF THE UPPER DOCK into the water below. Then, much to our surprise, about fifty people followed suit. Kenzie and Mason each BEGGED us to jump. Even though the drop was about 20 feet and they didn’t have a life jacket. They were each terribly upset that we wouldn’t let them participate. Eventually they got over it and we went to our car and found front-row parking for the fireworks display. We wore ourselves out, got up early the next morning, and aimed to catch the 10:55 ferry.

When we got to the terminal a little past 10 we learned that everyone else on the island had the same idea, and if we were lucky we would catch the 4:55. So, we spent the day walking around Friday Harbor and entertaining ourselves in the heat. When we finally got on the ferry I asked the kids to help document our trip while I typed.

Mason says, "we rode our bikes. We went swimming. We ate yummy food. We saw a blue heron. Ok. We are on the ferry right now. Now we are just getting off of it. I fell off my bike. That is all done." (We did bring our bikes, but there was no place to ride them, except for the gravel driveway. Interesting that was his highlight.)

Kenzie says, "I think I want to do it later."

We got home after 10 that night. Exhausted, but it was a great trip.

San Juans, part 2

We had a day to ourselves after Grammy and Debbie left, and we had beautiful weather, so we went to Roche Harbor to pick out our dream boat. Mason picked out a 10’ metal dingy. Kenzie would have taken any just to be on the water more. (Okay, me too.)

We laid on the dock and ticked sea anemones and searched for jelly fish. Mason got so many splinters in his hands that we had to pull over the car on the way home, even after several emergency procedures on the dock. But, it was a very fun day that ended with a treat.

On the way home, we ran into…a camel. We found out her name is Mona and is very friendly…as you can see.

There's a very friendly camel named Mona on the island of San Juan.

San Juans, part 1

We rented a house on Garrison Bay on the island of San Juan. For the first couple of days Grammy and her friend Debbie joined us. Our car was so packed that we were glad they came to our house first so we could pack Mason in their car. The ride up was uneventful with a short ferry line, and we were to the island by about 2:00.

Those first two days were low-key but very fun. We hung out on the quiet beach, turned over countless rocks in search of yet-another rock crab, and took our new six passenger inflatable boat out on its maiden voyage. We forgot the electric pump, so we all took a turn with the bike pump. I posted the picture of Mom pumping on my Facebook page with a caption, “we forgot the electric pump. Good thing we remembered my mom,” and got a ton of enjoyment out of  watching the responses flood in. Within minutes several people across the country had commented, and Mom was tickled.

 

Even though the weather was gloomy at times, the kids still thought the water felt just fine.

 

The water was like glass, providing a safe beach for the kids to play and explore on.

 

On our maiden (and only) voyage we saw a river otter, that we subsequently saw many times. Cindy was our captain and we went until we saw the clouds come together, then made it back just in time before the rain hit.

 

Debbie brought her art supplies and she and Kenz painted some wild flowers.