Camping at Deception Pass

 We kept up our summer tradition of camping out at Deception Pass for a few nights. Unfortunately, Kelsey and Ben weren't able to join us this year, but the rest of us headed out for several fun days of camping. We were all looking forward to looking for whales, swimming and paddle-boarding in Cranberry Lake and just relaxing by a campfire. 

The weather didn't quite cooperate and it was a bit chilly the first day, so instead of swimming, we headed out to Ebey's Landing in search of a dead, beached whale. We hiked about 15 minutes down the beach and found it...it's a 40-foot grey whale. 

The next day was warmer and we were able to go into the lake. Everyone enjoyed swimming, paddle-boarding, kayaking, and playing frisbee!

The rest of the time was filled with other fun camping activities...games around the propane fire (no wood-burning allowed!) painting fingernails, and walking on the beach, climbing rocks, and looking for whales. And a visit to a sculpture park.

As is the case every year, we had a great time and can't wait to do it again!

These pictures are from the sculpture park- there was one display that was all augmented reality. I took a picture on my phone and the 'sculpture' appeared on the screen. 

Summer Fun

 As it is every year, I look at the calendar at the beginning of the summer and wonder what sort of fun things we are going to do. And then it slowly gets filled in with camping trips, play dates, and berry picking. 

This summer is no different! Last weekend, Kelsey and I took the kids camping out at Birch Bay. We checked in on Sunday and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the campground was nearly empty! Our campsite was shaded, but the beach was just a short walk away. Kim brought the boys out for the day on Monday and Ben joined us for dinner Monday evening. 

Playing charades

Four Square

Mallory and Haleigh

Getting the fire ready

Kim called and asked if we wanted to pick raspberries. Usually I say no to raspberries because they are so tedious to pick, but we needed something to do, so I said yes. They were huge and so easy to pick this year. It was incredible. We picked over 30 pounds! 

We also made a trip out to Grandpa's Farm for blueberries, but I didn't get any pictures.

And here's a few other fun pictures. 

Haleigh and Annaliese both spent a week at Camp Shiloh, on Lake Samish. There were games, crafts, 'adventure time', and chapel every day. They both had quite a few friends from school that were there and it sounds like they both had a great time! I found a few pictures of them on the Camp Shiloh facebook page, so I tried to get a few screenshots!

Haleigh, Mallory, and Sawyer

We've had so many deer wandering through our backyard recently!

Smokey and the deer