Week 4: Dosewallips

Week 3 ended on a low note. And sadly it just kept getting lower as we moved into week 4. If anyone has a magic cure for foot sprains - please let me know! My foot started off puffy and moved straight into deep purple and blue and painful. So R.I.C.E. it was. I watched so many PBS and BBC nature documentaries while elevating and icing my foot that Mom has threatened to take away my Kindle Fire since most of my conversations now start with, "I saw this natural disaster documentary and did you know that.....?"

Apparently she doesn't want to know.

Luckily, my kids have awesome friends so both Michael and Ben were able to get out of the house and go on cool adventures while Josh was at school and I was learning about all the ways the Earth can kill us. We also had friends come over one day so that broke up the monotony for me.

By the end of the week, I was a little more mobile and increasingly convinced that I wasn't going to let anything interfere with our camping plans. Now that the minions are older, I was able to make up lists and then send them scurrying around the house to gather the supplies. I think we may continue that tradition even when I am doing better. It definitely had some perks.

I'm going to say right up front that this was not our favorite camping trip. I am also going to say that may be due largely to my lack of reading skills. I am normally a fairly good reader (though now I am questioning what else I am missing). However, in this case I managed to reserve a camp site intended for RV's and trailers. Translation: no privacy and no shade. Also, a little bit awkward when all the neighbors have RV's and are eyeing your small tent city (we have 3 - large tent not pictured here).

You live, you learn (you go home and check all your other camping reservations for the summer).

While I am all about the camping prep, setting up the tents is not my thing. Feeling ambitious and adhering to the belief that pain is just weakness leaving the body, I talked Ben into going on an itty, bitty 1 mile hike close to our camping spot. It was a lovely hike, but part way through all I could think was, "THEY LIE! ONE MILE!?!?! THEY LIE!" Probably wouldn't have mattered so much if I wasn't gimping up and down and back and forth. Also, if I had bothered to look at the topo map they gave us when we checked in (pro tip: always, ALWAYS look at the topo map). It was more difficult than expected, but still a nice hike. And by the time we got back, Jason and the boys had set up the tents and had dinner started so I still think it was a win.

While waiting for the fire to be ready for cooking, Jason and the middles played frisbee.

Josh was not a participatory mood for this camping trip and often offered to tend the fire while the rest of us did some exploring.

I'm not sure why Isaac seemed to think this was a good vantage point to watch the rest of us, but ::shrug::.

I took some time to put my foot up.

Eventually Jason decided to take a break. Isaac believes that any time a parent sits down and has a lap, it is an open invitation to take a seat.

After dinner everyone but Josh went on a quest to find the river. Sadly, my foot couldn't handle the the rocky beach area so we didn't make it all the way out, but we did find a little bit of water.

After a restless night's sleep (is there any other kind on a campout?), we woke to find everything covered in a heavy dew. Everything. Like the camping chairs and tents and picnic table. Jason had the misfortune of sitting on a chair before it had a chance to dry out.

In other news, Josh woke up to discover that a passing bird (or birds) thought that his tent was a toilet. He was, shall we say, not amused.

Since we had no real shade, the sun soon dried off the tents and we had a nice supply of wet wipes on hand for Josh to clean off his tent.  While the sun and Josh were hard at work, the other boys and I took a look walk following a sign that said BEACH TRAIL. The path took us on a bridge over the Dosewallips River.

And then over to a path to the Hood Canal. Among other things, it was low tide so we didn't actually get near a beach. 

We did climb up on an observation deck. I think they deck was designed for those on it to observe out to the sound, but I get the feeling that we were being observed.

It was getting close to check out time, so we headed back to the campground to pack up. Our next goal was to find access to the water.  We did find some.

But it wasn't what we were really hoping for. Back into the car and down along the highway, we stopped off at three other state parks along the Hood Canal, but none of them had the kind of beach we wanted. With the promise of trip to a beach at the lake in town the next day, we decided to head home to unload and drink lots of water. A fun trip, but not a place we'll likely hit up again.

Week 3

MONDAY

This was a glorious day. My friend and I abandoned all of our children (I think we have eight total and I use that term loosely - her youngest is in MS and my Mom was at the house) and went on a kid-free hike.  6.3 miles without any whining. Good times.  The falls were not so impressive, but we did the loop this time which I hadn't done before. Hopefully (fingers crossed), my friend and I will get some more hikes like this in this summer.

TUESDAY
Many moons ago, we signed up for a membership at the YMCA. Mostly for the pool. Well, I've been to quite a few tai chi classes and Jason works out in the morning often, but we haven't actually made it to the pool that many times. Taking the kids to the pool by myself is, surprisingly enough, not my favorite thing to do. (Post pool conversation: Isaac, you can't stare at the old, naked ladies in the locker room.) But I decided to suck it up and get wet. So wet that Isaac turned all pruney. They had a great time.

WEDNESDAY
Other than tai chi class in the morning, I don't remember what we did on Wednesday. And I have no pictures, so I assume that it just wasn't a very exciting day.  We definitely need a few of those in the summer.

THURSDAY
Sequalitchew again (maybe this is now our Thursday thing?), but with different friends. Just a walk down to the water and back this time, but we had a lovely little stay at the beach.

Thursday was also a special day that the boys look forward to every year...even though they can never remember it beforehand: 7/11 day! Free slurpees! Michael even came up with the ingenious plan of hitting up all the 7/11 stores in the county. Sadly, his mother (the only one in the car with a driver's license) nixed that plan in favor of eating a healthy dinner.

Thursday is also the day that I, with grace and balance beyond my years, took a step down on my friend's porch and fell to the ground as my ankle gave out. Luckily, I didn't break anything, but I did almost laugh at the NP in the ER when he told me that I would be all better in three days. This is, after all, not my first ankle rodeo. Blue, painful, and swollen three days later...I think this will take more time.  But hopefully not as much time as last time when I heard POP POP POP.  Gotta be grateful for the little things.

FRIDAY
Boring! So Boring! Luckily, Mom is here to do all the feeding of the kids and such. Plus Josh was at school and Michael at a friend's house. Ben has brainwashed Isaac into liking TED-ED videos, so the day was quiet.

So events in Week 3 may wreak havoc on the next few weeks, but the boys are not complaining about the possibility of fewer hikes.

Week 2: Sequalitchew Boat

Out in the water at Sequalitchew there is a concrete boat.  Someone told me a few years ago, that at low tide you can walk out to the boat...though you don't want to stay too long or you're committed to a 12 hour stay.  Thursday was one of the two days of the year with a low, low, LOW tide so it seemed like a good time to trek out to the boat.

And I do mean trek.

We've done the hike on the trail quite often, but it was our first attempt to hike along the now available shoreline.  

The coast hike was more involved than I expected, but the kids (and adults) were good sports about it.  Of course, Isaac's version of a good sport is still ::ahem:: stressful, but he still made it.

After climbing over boulders and slipping on seaweed, we made it to the sandbar that goes out to the boat.  I'm thinking this was a dock.

This boat has clearly seen better days.  I've never seen a boat split right in half.

Our kid crew for the day. (Michael was not feeling well in the morning.)

On the way back, Josh found a little snack.

It was tough, but we did it.  This has been on my bucket list for a while.  Luckily for my family, I don't want to do it again.  Now I've just got to figure out why it is there.

Week 2: Fireworks

Our town has an interesting tradition of having the 4th of July on the 3rd of July.  We've not been, but this seemed like a good year to give it go.  Of course, getting a good parking spot and a good viewing spot at this sort of thing involves arriving quite early.  In our case, 4 hours early.  Not as many hours as some, but it was still a bit of time to fill.  

Ben spent a while running up and down the hill next to us.  

Michael and Isaac blew some bubbles.

And Josh wandered around finding friends to hang out with.

We also played games, ate snacks, and spent some time getting on each others nerves.

OK, maybe just my nerves.

At last, AT LAST, the sky darkened and with our trusty 3D glasses we were ready for the big show.

Ok, Josh may not have been ready...he was still pretty involved in his book Electronics for Dummies.

 He put it away for the big show.

They didn't disappoint.

Happy early Birthday, America!

Week 2: Fun with Opa

Our second week of vacation included some more fun time with Opa.  

On Monday, the littles and I took him on a tour of the capitol building.  Well, we provided transportation - the nice lady at the building provided the tour.  I know that none of these people look happy, but it really was a good time.  Especially since at the end Opa bought Isaac a little mini stuffed animal ("mini Slushie" - now a buddy for Slushie) and Ben a Sasquatch cookie cutter.

On Tuesday, we took Opa on a hike at Woodard Bay.  Luckily, there are two trail options here - a hiking trail and one paved path.  The boys were thrilled to have an excuse to do the such shorter paved path.

 Along the beach, Michael and Ben figured out there were geoducks under the sand and they enjoyed running around trying to make the geoducks spray each other.

Then these cherubic children of mine then tried to trick me into coming down where they could get me wet.  It turns out it is pretty easy to get them to smile when accusing them of trying to trick me.

After a drizzly stroll back to the car, we visited the Wet Science Center and then a brief stop by the East Bay Plaza stream.

The boys promised they wouldn't get their feet wet.....

On Wednesday, we drove Dad to the airport and we discovered that I5 on a holiday is no joke. 

It doesn't happen often, and hopefully next time we'll get more time with Oma as well, but we enjoyed our time with Opa.