Jay and Kelley come to visit

 On Thursday, the day after we got home from Silver Lake, Jay and Kelley flew in for a few days. Grandma showed the girls how to do some fun drawings, we played cards, frisbee, and went for a walk at Berthusen. 

On Saturday, we went out to Anacortes and went on a whale watching tour. The orcas have been super active in our area and multiple times have been in Bellingham Bay. We were super excited because most of the trips recently had seen both orcas and humpback whales, as well as seals and sea lions. Unfortunately, that was not the case for us. We travelled over 60 nautical miles (which doesn't mean much to me, but apparently that means we covered a lot of territory looking for whales!) with no luck. We did see a bald eagle and a few sea lions. Thankfully, it didn't rain while we were out and it was still a beautiful boat ride. We finished off the day with burgers at Structures Brewing and ice cream at Edaleens. 

There's a bald eagle there somewhere

Sea Lions

On Monday, Kyle had to work but it was really nice outside, so we drove out to Semiahmoo to go for a walk. It was beautiful and we saw so many seals sunning themselves on the dock.

Here are a few of the pictures from around the house:

We always love having Jay and Kelley visit and this was another great trip! From here, they headed off to Montana to meet with some old college friends!

Camping at Silver Lake

 As soon as we returned home from Oregon, we unpacked the car and got ready for the next adventure! On Sunday, I took the girls out to Silver Lake to camp with my parents and sisters. 

It was cool and rainy when we set up camp and I quickly learned that our tent was no longer water-resistant. Thankfully, we were able to use the heater in Mom and Dad's trailer to dry out sleeping bags and between Kelsey's tent and the trailer, we all had dry places to sleep! (The tent ended up in the dumpster.)

Unlike other years, this year seemed a bit like a revolving door of who was staying the night! We had the sites reserved from Sunday-Wednesday. Kim and the boys came Monday morning and left Tuesday afternoon. Grandpa stayed Sunday night and then went home after dinner on Monday. He came back Wednesday morning to help pack up and drive the trailer home. And Owen ended up getting sick so he and Kelsey went home Tuesday evening!

Despite the weather not being warm enough to spend too much time at the lake, we all still had a great time. Kelsey brought her hammocks so there was a lot of time spent swinging in them. The boys made a bike track and built a fort in the woods, while the girls built a little fairy house. Owen learned how to play Euchre and we did make it out on the lake one evening for a little bit of paddle-boarding.

Huddled under the canopy