We brought Uncle Mike with us for his first visit to the island, and everyone had a fabulous time. We headed out on Wednesday afternoon to drive to Seattle, where we spent the night with our good friends Nic, Kristen, and Japhy. While we waited for Nic to get home from work, we all walked to the farmer's market where Elliot had a blast on the several bouncy castles. We were then joined by Nic, who had just gotten back from a field trip taking his class to hunt for geoducks. Here's Nic posing with one of his prize specimens.
Elliot loved playing with baby Japhy (who turned one on Friday - happy birthday!) and hanging out with the six chickens in the garden.
Bright and early on Thursday morning we headed for the ferry terminal in Anacortes. It was pouring rain when we arrived, so unfortunately we spent the whole wait time inside. Despite the rain, the ferry ride was still gorgeous, and a good time was had by all. Here are Thomas and Michael hamming it up on the deck.
By the end of the ferry ride, the kids were ready to be at our destination and spend their cooped-up-in-the-car-energy with their cousins. Here they are driving Papa batty.
We spent Thursday afternoon hanging out and playing. Then everyone except myself and Imogen went to Erin's school concert (I hear the big hit was her class singing "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da"). The end of the concert brought frolicking on the school grounds beneath a lovely rainbow before heading home to bed.
On Friday morning, Elliot raided his cousins' dress up box and emerged as a pirate princess (I think that's what I'll be for Halloween this year!)
We spent Friday in town checking out the shops and playing at the park. Elliot had a great time running around in the world-class skate park with Papa and Uncle Mike. Here's a picture of the very cool entrance to the park.
After several rounds of running the bases on the many baseball diamonds, much fun was had on the playground with the cousins.
Even Imogen enjoyed her first time on a play structure, with a little help from her Uncle Mike.
On our way back to the White homestead, we stopped at the waterfront, where the tide was out and we could walk out to Indian Island. There were several very colorful starfish awaiting the tide's return.
Inspired by Nic's successful hunt, Thomas and Michael decided to try their hand at digging for geoducks. We met a very nice native couple and their two daughters, and the hunter-gatherer men came away with several impressive critters to show for their efforts. The beach was also littered with teeny, tiny crabs, which were too tempting to resist for some brotherly teasing.
We lost track of time and got caught wading back to Orcas when the tide came in, but it was worth it!
On Saturday, we spent most of the day playing and fishing at Cascade Lake in Moran State Park. We picnicked and played on the playground, and Imogen spent some quality time with Emilie, the daughter of Tess's best friend, Kathryn.
While Mike, Thomas, and Grayson took the canoe out onto the lake, Tess and Greg were actually cited side by side for a few minutes without the kids!
No fish were caught on the lake, but a couple of trout were caught by Greg from the pier. Here are Greg and Grayson posing with the day's catch, which we fried up for dinner.
The kids also had fun hanging out on the pier watching other folks fish and examining a crawdad that someone reeled in.
We finished up the day with a visit to the top of Mt. Constitution. The sun finally came out and we were able to enjoy the 360 degree view of the islands for as long as the kids would let us (just a few minutes, but still!).
We headed out Sunday morning for the long trip home. The kids were troopers, and the drive was super lovely thanks to Papa Pat, who graciously loaned us his mini-van for the trip. We now have serious mini-van envy, and I really didn't want to give it back (are you sure you don't want to trade for the Subaru, Pat?). All in all, a fabulous trip. I'll leave you with a little musical show courtesy of Willow and Erin.
Thanks to the Whites for hosting us and showing us a wonderful time on Orcas!!
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