Sucia Island

 

We went camping this weekend. Although my love of camping knows no bounds (who takes a bunch of kids who are less than two camping?!) this trip intimidated me a little bit. I think it's because of the lack of an emergency exit. Even though we've never had to utilize the 2am pack-up, we always can. It's our caveat to taking our kids everywhere, all the time.

This weekend we went out to Sucia Island. It is an amazingly beautiful island, only accessed via big boat. The little Lund we crab and fish in around Fidalgo would never cut it! Our neighbors have an awesome boat with sleeping quarters and plenty of room, so we packed it full of way too much stuff for the weekend and headed out. Sheer bliss. A weekend of sun, exploring and swimming in the saltwater. Ever kept exclaiming every hour or so "IT'S THE OCEAN!" and Parks was in creature heaven. We hiked and explored and caught things and ate way too many marshmallows. The kids were so exhausted that they asked if they could go to bed starting at 8pm. I forced them to stay up until 9 so we could guarantee sleep upon cheeks on pillows. Parks woke up in the morning with a smile on his face, and Ev woke up and put on a swimsuit that she wore until bedtime. And that is the sign of a perfect camping trip.

 This was the view from our tent in the morning. Pure bliss.

 When it gets hot enough, even The Sound is a perfect temp!

 Sucia is perfect for exploring. Rocks and tide pools abound.

 If Parks is on, around or in the water, he's a happy boy.

 The kids caught about 30 mini jellyfish. I kept 3 and we had fun watching them until poor Parks touched his face and turns out they stung him a little. I tried to use that as a catalyst to the "we should be careful with the critters and animals we collect!" talk, but he is not deterred by a stinging jellyfish apparently.

 Ev decided it was high-time she took a nap after we packed up our stuff.

 We took the boat to Fossil Bay where we did more exploring and the kids looked for tons of cool fossils.

 The happy crew.

This may have been the easiest camping trip I've ever been on! Turns out when you take a boat places, you can get there faster and you don't have to backpack all your stuff in with a three and a five year old. Who knew? I can't wait to repeat this. And then repeat and repeat again.

Rocketman

I love our neighborhood. It was a huge factor in why we chose the home we did when we moved. On that dark and cold night on December 23rd when we moved in four years ago, we were depending on all the lights on houses and Christmas trees in windows and sledding tracks down the street to be sure signs of kids. A lot of them.

Spring came that year and the kids came out of the woodwork. And in the last year, there's even a few more to add to the bundle. They range in age from 3 (Everly is the youngest!) to 12. There's boys and girls spread over the years and dispersed throughout the schools of Bellingham. But when they're here, they flock together. If someone sets up a sprinkler, within minutes there's 6 more to join them. If someone finds summer berries by the creek, they're all running down. They're jumping from swingset to swingset, sharing all their popsicles out of the freezer and promising "My mom said you could spend the night!" (usually, she didn't). They are a neighborhood tribe. I grew up in a neighborhood tribe. That tribe saved me when I was nervous to ride the school bus. The elders of my tribe gave me a ride to highschool when I was a freshman. The younger of my tribe kept me playing in my backyard fort long past my prime.

So, I can't help but smile when I see this little tribe forming in our own neighborhood. The gathering effect when one child's excitement ricochets throughout the cul de sac. This week Jeremy broke out a rocket launcher a friend from work made. He and Parks made the first rocket and then started honing it and within a few minutes, kids, followed by curious parents made their way out. All the kids started making their own rockets and launching them to see how high they could go (200 feet!!) and the sounds of oh's and awe's made my heart swell. This is the stuff summer memories are made of.

Berry Days

We are berry picking experts. We feel the pressure come these hot days of summer to start gathering, and gather them good. We try to pick enough berries during the summer to last us the entire year and feed our love of smoothies, jam, pie, icecream toppings and a melty-healthy side or add-on to any meal. The kids have been little forced field workers since they were old enough to stand and since they love their year-round berries too, it takes no convincing. We have already gathered our strawberries, so we moved on to raspberries this week. On a side note, the strawberries in our yard are still going crazy and I think this is the longest season my kids have stuffed themselves with these red gems from our garden. They've been eating to their heart's content since June and they're still going strong!

 Ev did great this year. It's her first year of more picking, less eating. She kindly reminded us to stop a minute or two and savor a berry straight from the vine because this, of course, is what it's all about.

 The picker extraordinaire.

 Combine his competitiveness and his love of fruit and we've got a fabulous helper.

 

 The first weigh-in. Parker was absolutely sure it was "Ninety million pounds". Ever was sure it was "Three". Turns out they were both a little off.

 And one cannot leave Boxx Berry without an icecream cone after a few hours of berry picking. I'm pretty sure it's against the law to skip out on that.

That night Parks told me that when he was swinging he closed his eyes for a second and he was pretty sure he touched the sky in that moment, but he didn't see it. As I laid there in bed with him, thinking over the day we had, I was pretty sure I touched the sky too. Even though I didn't see it either.

Happy Somethin'

I started making a journal of the kids' quotes and answers to questions about Jeremy long before Father's Day. And then, because life happens, it wasn't ready in time. Of course. Nor was it ready a week later (which was my intention). We don't get too hung up on the actuality of dates in this family because with a firefighting dad, we'd be moping around a lot on real birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, anniversaries and almost every important holiday it seems, most years. The only ones I give myself permission to mope about is the ones we can't change, like a first day of school or Halloween.

So Jeremy didn't even bat an eye when we gave him our beloved book for Happy Father's Day And Birthday in July Day! They kids have been working hard, I couldn't wait to give it to him, and they poured over every page and every answer and every drawing. Their faces were so proud. 

I'm so sentimental that missing the "real deal" for holidays and events is actually quite hard on me. But I try to always keep my chin up and remember that we just get to drag things out. Celebrate the moments here and there. Get creative in our family time and celebrations... (My favorite is when all the kids at the fire station have an Easter egg hunt there. The glee on a child's face when he finds an egg hidden in the end of a fire hose is priceless). We have Christmas the week before. We eat turkey with men who will lay down their lives for each other, and we are those annoying people who light off fireworks on the 3rd of July. Because we have the opportunity to make it count when we can.

 
It will get harder as the kids get older. When we become more bound by school schedules and events and sports and all the things that come with growing children. And I'm already trying to bolster myself up and get prepared for those Christmas Eves and Christmas days with the kids by ourselves where we can snuggle in together and I can soak up those moments of being alone with them. Where it's all quiet and we can make our time special with games and popcorn and rent a special movie and stay up late and "don't tell dad!" because those moments will make memories too. And it seems in the meantime that the only events that get lost in the fray our Jeremy and I's birthdays. And sometimes I don't mind forgetting I'm getting another year older.

Happy as clams.

We finally got to go clamming with the cousins last weekend while we were at the lake. We ventured 10 minutes away to our trusty source on the sound and taught them how to spot the best ones. I must say, when we have four kids digging for clams, the gathering goes a lot faster.

I found myself sitting back a lot and taking it all in. This is my oasis.  Playing in the saltwater with happy kids, surrounded by family, on a new (for some) adventure. I love it. I can't get enough of it.

The kingfisher, showing everyone how it's done.

 The closest in age.

 The family.

 Auntie and her oldest.

 We found a baby dungeness scurrying through the water.

 And then, oh my stars, Parks found this on the way back to the car. I think this kid is a magnet for snakes and all things creepy, crawly and slithery. He was quite proud. And Everly was PINING to hold it too. They are a fearless twosome. I tried my best to grin and play it cool.

 The bunch of us with 120 clams.

Twas a very good day.

Cousins.

 

We celebrated a few birthdays while we were down at the lake. Two cousins and a husband's. And in spite of thunderstorms, lightning, a little rain and some lack of sleep, we all managed to have a fantastic time. The oldest cousin's birthday was supposed to be a water-playing extravaganza and even though it took awhile for the day to warm up, eventually everyone was in the lake. It's too tempting, even on the colder days. Since the kids have had swimming lessons this summer for the two weeks leading up to this, they believe the can completely swim on their own. This was particularly evident when Curtis came running up the lawn telling me "Parker needs help! He's hanging on the end of the dock and I can't pull him up!" Apparently, he had jumped in, swam back to the dock and couldn't get out. We had a big talk about when he CAN and CANNOT jump off the dock, be on the dock, swim off the dock, and be around the water in general.

 

 

 This sweet, big boy cousin of Parker and Everly's is so good to them. He invited them to his birthday party full of 11 year old boys. He had a slumber party with Parks for two nights at the cabin. He read to Everly while she sat on his lap. He made sure they were having fun. He played "who can eat their dinner the fastest" without any prompting. He has a ready smile, a big hug, and kind words ready every moment of the day. The kids soak him up. They played with the youngest cousin and ran around getting sweaty. They climbed up and down the banks of the lake for hours playing imaginative game of intricate pretending. They wrestle and play and snuggle together wrapped up in wet towels from swimming. They make sure everyone has a popsicle if someone is having one. Parker and Everly will occasionally stop when they're in the middle of something and wistfully stare off into the distance and murmur "I love my cousins...." And these types of weekends together make it so evident why.

 When Curtis opened up a card with some money in it, an excited 

Everly grabbed him and yelled "Look what you got! We have those too!!"