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.