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.

Gymnastics

River sitting

Ed goes for long bike rides, then comes over to get Mason to jump in the creek.

Mona

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

a racket

Grandpa’s shop

Bob and Cindy built a workshop in the garage. Mason “helped.”

 

Sylvia Lake

We spent a day in early June at Mike and Mary’s, and enjoyed most of the family down at the lake. Great day!

  

 

 

hard birthday lesson

Well, I’ve been very delinquent on updating the blog. I wanted to write about this but it’s a tough one. So, after almost a month, here goes.

MacKenzie and her friend Taylor had schemed a sleepover for Kenzie’s eighth birthday. She came home and told me that Taylor asked to stay over after the party, that it was fine with her mom, and it was just up to me. I asked Kenzie if Taylor’s mom knew that she has two moms. She said that she did and it was no big deal. I said it was fine and asked her to call and work out the details. Kenzie, who is normally very good on the telephone, looked struck after reaching Taylor’s dad. She shoved the phone off to me and I explained to the dad what had happened, and asked if he was okay with it. He was terse, but was at work, so we just ended after a short conversation and he agreed to bring Taylor’s stuff to the party.

He did tell me that he needed to pick Taylor up in time for 11:30 church. I said, no problem, we have church at 9:30 and could drop her off on our way.

The party started and soon thereafter the phone rang. It was Taylor’s dad again. Kenzie saw the caller ID and refused to answer, so I took it. He was quite upset, saying, “the map you drew is wrong. It makes it look like Clark is on Front street.” I apologized and tried to explain where we were. After a minute he cut me off and said, “I know where you are. I had to turn around to use the phone. Now if you let me go I can get back in the car and drive there.” Okay…whatever…I apologized for the misunderstanding and told him we’d look forward to seeing them soon.

They arrived a few minutes later. He lingered and I walked him to the front porch to chat a bit. In a period of about five minutes he complained about the economy, real estate market, traffic, and anything else the conversation meandered toward. I learned that he and Taylor’s mom were divorced.

The only time I saw him perk up was when he abruptly changed the topic and said, “so, you go to church? what church?” I told him that we go to a UCC church and started to explain, but saw his nose scrunch up and could tell it didn’t meet his approval, so I just stopped. He offered, “we go to an Assembly of God church. Do you know what that is?” I told him that I was very familiar with them as I went to an AOG school for four years. A different guy appeared. He smiled and warmed up.

Maybe it was my own prejudices, but I somehow didn’t get the feeling that this guy was very progressive. Before he could leave, and wanting to be honest with him, I said, “um…do you know that MacKenzie has two moms?” He looked up quickly and said, “No. I did not know that.” I said, “I’m sorry, I was assured you did. Is that a problem for Taylor spending the night?” He started walking away, quickly, and said, “no, it’s fine.” And he left.

The girls were so excited for the sleepover. They played through the whole party. Kenzie, especially, was thrilled at the thought of having her good friend spend the night. The party started to end, parents showed up to get their kids.

Taylor and Kenzie were giggly, running around in their swimsuits, and having a ton of fun. Then I heard the doorbell ring. Taylor’s dad stood at the door with his new wife. I said, “hi.” He replied, “actually we are going to take her.” So he told her to gather her things. She didn’t argue, just got very quiet as he grabbed her to the side and said, “I will tell you when we get in the car.” Kenzie encouraged Taylor to “just ask why,” which she did once, and he repeated “when we get in the car.”

She obediently got her stuff and they left. Kenzie was crushed. She fell into the floor. She couldn’t understand. As much as we had prepared her that not everyone in the world is accepting of our family, it still shocked her when it happened. She sobbed and we tried to console her, but she was crushed.

Our fabulous neighbors came to the rescue. Ed arrived, unknowingly, and—as only Ed can do—got her caught up in a silly story that brought a smile to her face. Then Heidi, Jasper’s mom (her buddy up the hill), showed up to get Jasper. She got tears in her eyes when we told her what happened. She loaned us Jasper for the rest of the night so we could have a bon fire, play Wii games, and let Kenzie enjoy the evening with a friend.

A few days later I reached out to Taylor’s mom to make sure she had perspective on what Taylor may have shared. I found her to be very kind and of a generous spirit. She was horrified at her ex husband’s behavior, but not surprised. She then arranged a play date and sleepover at their house for Kenzie the next weekend. Taylor and Kenzie talked at school and have a closer friendship because of it. It was a tough lesson, for sure, but has turned out to not be so bad.

Okay, I’ll keep up on the blog now…

Hawaiian boy

 

Our vacation

We are in the car after a very long wait for the ferry. We thought we would share what we did on our vacation to the San Juans.

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."

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

We rented a house on the water in Garrison Bay. We traveled up with Grammy and her friend Debby. They spent the first couple of days with us, most of the time we spent hanging on the beach and at the house. Kenzie and Debby painted and Mason captured every rock crab under every rock in the bay at least once. We took our little inflatable boat out and were delighted to meet the resident sea otter, whom we saw many subsequent times.

When Liz, Casey, Josh and Luke arrived we had homemade clam chowder from freshly-dug clams. We also rented a little electric boat that maxed out at 6 knots. It was a blast as we toured around the east side of the island and over to Shaw island. We found a rock with a sun-bathing seal and just really loved being on the water. The three boys each fell asleep at some point during the three hour trip.

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. 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.