Grandpa and Grandma Come to Visit

 Jay and Kelley were able to come to visit for a few days before school started! They flew in Thursday afternoon and left super early Monday morning. We had a few ideas for what to do, but it didn't all work out quite as planned. 

Thursday evening we hung out at home and played Clue. This is the only picture I took all evening!

On Friday our plan was to head up to Artist Point and hike to Lake Ann. We debated whether or not we should go because it was very smoky due to all the wildfires up in Canada, and ended up deciding to give it a try. Despite the smoke, we were still able to get a slightly hazy view of Baker and Mt. Shuksan and the air actually felt less smokey up there than it did at home. Everyone did great on the hike, which was over 8 miles round trip! We did stop above the lake, instead of actually hiking all the way down to it. We were all ready for lunch and didn't think we needed to get any closer!

Hazy view of Baker

That lake was the destination!

Grandpa and Grandma crossing a stream.

Our plan for Saturday was to head up to Surrey, BC and go mini-golfing at this place that looked like it was partially in some trees and right next to a neat park. It was supposed to be close to 90* outside so we wanted shade! After packing lunches, I went to grab passports when we realized that Kyle didn't have his passport (I sent it off to be renewed) so we had to change all our plans, much to everyone's disappointment. Plan B was to head out to Pt. Whitehorn and hang out there for a little. Sounds like a great idea, right? And the walk to the beach was quite pleasant, but once we pulled out our sandwiches, out came the bees. They were everywhere! Kyle got stung twice, nobody enjoyed their food and we stayed for all of 20 minutes. 

Swatting away a bee

Grandpa and Haleigh

 Since that didn't work out as planned, we headed over to Birch Bay for a little while. The girls played on the playground, Grandpa got stung by a bee, and we decided it was time to head home, with a stop at Edaleen's for ice cream!

We had dinner at home Saturday night, and while we were all outside, Shelby got stung by a bee on her tongue! 

Sunday morning we went to church and then had Grandpa and Grandma H., Kelsey, Ben, Kim, Thane, and all the kiddos over for lunch to celebrate Lydia's birthday. 

Oreo Ice Cream Cake (because it was too hot to bake a cake!)

Seven!!

She asked for Barbies and Legos and she got Barbies and Legos and loved every bit of it! They all spent the rest of the afternoon playing with her new toys!

We also had a saxophone concert, practiced soccer in the backyard, and emptied the pool while Grandpa and Grandma were here. It was a fun few days and we always have such a great time when they come to visit!

Deception Pass State Park

 Our last camping trip of the summer happened last week. This time we headed to Deception Pass State Park, which is just over an hour away. Kim and Thane headed out the night before and the rest of us joined up with them Wednesday afternoon.

The girls and I arrived just after lunch. It was too early to check into our campsite but Kim and Thane had their camper van parked down by the beach so we just went there and started our fun! 

This beach was basically a strip of land and on one side was the ocean and on the other was Cranberry Lake. The ocean side was covered in driftwood and rocks and was perfect for whale watching and building forts. The lake had a swimming area, sand, and picnic tables and was perfect for swimming and paddleboarding.

Shortly after we arrived, Kim saw via several Facebook groups that there were some Orcas feeding about 40 minutes south of where we were. We decided it would be fun to see if we could see them, so Kim, Annaliese, Elias and I hopped in the van and went on a little whale-watching excursion. Our first stop was Ebey's Landing where several ladies could see them with binoculars but they were swimming south. So off we went. The next stop was the conference center at Fort Casey followed by the ferry terminal. Unfortunately, we never saw them, but we were definitely in the same general area!

Walking down the beach looking for whales!

After we returned to the campground, we spent the next two days hanging out at the beach, walking around the state park, and relaxing. We played more Pictionary, had a campfire (a burn ban was put into place mid-camping trip so we had a wood fire the first night and a propane fire the second night!) went swimming, enjoyed a beautiful sunset and basically just had a good time.

Grandpa and Grandma

Annaliese, Malachi, and Grandma snuggled in bed together

Annaliese and Elias

Haircut time!

Sunset on Deception Pass

With all the camping that we did this summer, the girls did great! They struggled with the packing, but once we were at the campground, they were so much fun! We're already planning next summer and hopefully Kyle will be able to join us next time.