Dan and I and our kids arrived around 10 pm Seattle time on Thursday Aug. 7. The kids did pretty well on the flight (once they all fell asleep) and we were all tired by the time we made it to my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Mike's home. We fell asleep around midnight, and of course, our kids were up by about 5 am. That helped us get off early to make our way to Kalaloch where my Dad, Sally, Tyler, and Carrie (and various cousins, aunts, and uncles) had been camping for a few nights already. Shad and Amy and his kids were driving up at the same time. It took about 4 hours to get there and was a beautiful drive. We had come prepared with our portable DVD player for the car, but wahoo! The rental van had a built-in one. We did a LOT of driving on this trip and that really came in handy.
We were camping on the lawn of a cabin my cousin was renting, so we drove straight to the cabin (a few miles from where my Dad was camping), set up our tent and then got ready to head to "Beach 4" for high tide.
My little brown, Texan, water-lovers were excited to see the beach. It was about 58 degrees and the water was COLD! But I knew they'd get their shoes and pants soaked if they kept them on, so swimsuits and jackets it was.
Dan and the misty shore...
Megan and Brooke venturing in. Megan got her feet wet up to her ankles and didn't venture much farther. Brookie got her feet wet a few times, but stayed away after that! The girls mostly enjoyed playing in the sand and climbing all over the rocks and driftwood.
Candy was content to watch from the log that was acting as a windbreak for our group on the beach.
The reason to go at high tide is so you can fish for smelt. Smelt are skinny little fish, 6 to 8 inches long that spawn in the waves and lay their eggs in the sand at high tide (or something like that). That's my little brother Tyler in the wetsuit--my Uncle Kevin, Dan, and brother Shad were letting him try his hand at smelting and make sure there were fish before they froze their own feet off.
Sure enough, there were smelt! We saw 2 sea lions splashing around in the waves feeding on them and could watch the seagulls swoop down and rise up with one in their beaks. Dan tried his hand at netting them and got some encouragement from a random smelting enthusiast.
Success!
The picture is really washed out, but look at that little fishy in his hands--good job Dan! His best catch was about a dozen or so smelt in one scoop as a wave came in. He said when he was catching fish, he didn't notice the freezing cold water, but soon enough he couldn't feel his feet and had to retire.
Before we left beach 4 the fog lifted and we got a nice picture of the beach on our way back to the cabin.
Here is our tent set up in front of the cabin. I must admit, this was a great way to camp. We were close to Kalaloch, got the "tent camping" experience, but had indoor bathrooms and access to a fridge!
The view of the beach from the cabin. It wasn't close enough to hike down to, but was a pretty view when the clouds lifted in the afternoon.
We had a potluck dinner with the whole crew (quite a few people). And since it was my 29th birthday (happy birthday to me!), we had some yummy celebratory desserts: my Aunt Kelli made a delicious dutch oven cobbler, Uncle Kevin homemade ice cream, and cousin Pat made a dutch oven pineapple upside down cake. It had been 6 years since we'd been in Washington--and I had also spent my 23rd birthday camping with family and about the same weeks pregnant with Megan. So fun to be back!
I wanted a picture of Dan and I on my birthday. And my brother can't help but photobomb :)
Shad again! What a goofball.
We slept pretty good that night--in fact, we were in the tent laying down with the kids around 8 to make sure they fell asleep and before we knew it, it was 9:15! Dan and I had both crashed. So we quickly got ready for bed and had turned in by 10. Thankfully, the low that night was only about 55, so with sweatshirts and sleeping bags we were quite comfortable and not too cold. Our kids were up early and we had oatmeal and hot chocolate before taking down our camp and packing the van. We were packed up by about 8:45 and bid farewell to the crew at the cabin before heading back to Beach 4 for low tide--when you can hike around on the big rocks and see the tide pools.
It was cool and misty in the morning on August 9, but the tide pools were just as fascinating as I remembered.
Anemones and mollusks.
Silly sisters.
Exploring with Daddy...
Megan touching an anemone.
Brooke's turn.
Starfish too!
Foggy beach.
And I had to prove I came too. This is me a few days shy of 27 weeks pregnant.
All that hiking tired Candy out. She fell asleep like that on Dan's shoulders as we hiked the quarter mile uphill trail from the beach to the parking area.
We saw a bunny by the cars! A highlight for Megan and Brooke. They even named him (but I can't remember what!)
Then we drove to Kalaloch lodge to meet up with Dad, Sally, Carrie, Tyler, and Shad and Amy and their kids. The view from Kalaloch lodge.
Grandpa and Giagia took the chance to spoil us all--ice cream cones all around and little stuffed animals for the kids. Megan and Brooke both chose skunks and named them Rose and Jewel. Candy got a cute raccoon that we named Bandit.
Those are some happy (albeit a little chilled!) girls...
We then headed back to Aunt Peggy and Uncle Mike's house and unpacked and cleaned up from camping. We met up with everyone for dinner at Torero's--yummy and good company. But with 20ish people, by the time we all got served and ate, our kids were done and we headed back for bed.
Saturday morning we had a delicious brunch to celebrate Baba's birthday. Her only living sister came up along with most of her grandchildren, many of the great-grands, and even some of her nieces and their children. It was great to just be together. There was laughing, story-telling, getting reacquainted, and kids running everywhere. Thanks Peggy and Mike for hosting!
I let the pros (i.e. my sister Jamie and my cousin Chris) take the pictures at Baba's celebration. I'll add more as they become available. This is my Dad, all 5 of his kids, Baba (Ethel), and her sister Mildred (Annie Mil as we all called her growing up).
My sweet Candy. It was cloudy but not rainy and not hot for the party. Hurray!
After Baba's celebration, we all piled into the cars and drove 2 hours to my Uncle Mark's house (well his neighborhood clubhouse really) for a wedding celebration. He lives on the Hood Canal and it was a perfect sunny afternoon and about 75 degrees. My Aunt Marci passed away about a year before my Mom, so we were happy to hear that Mark was getting married. He and Linda married in Hawaii in June and had an open house and a luncheon to celebrate on August 10. We are so happy for him and it was fun to meet Linda.
The grand-nieces and nephews really enjoyed the park at the clubhouse. After seeing a few more family members and enjoying some yummy salmon, we were on the road yet again.
On the ferry. Brooke is showing us her best side.
It was a little breezy!
At the locks. That big boat was making it's way through.
Watching the salmon swim through the locks. And you can see from the last picture and this one how cooperative our kids were by this point (it was about 7 pm). Megan was running a fever by the time we got back to Mike and Peggy's, so we gave her some Tylenol and put the kids to bed.
Sunday (Aug. 11) was a nice low-key day (with no long drives)! We went to the ward of 2 of my cousins at 9 am, had some reheated Papa John's pizza for lunch at Baba's (thanks to my Dad for lunch), and then enjoyed the 80 degree weather with an impromptu kickball game in the grassy field behind Baba's house involving Jamie's family, my family, some of our cousins and their kids, even Dad and Sally got in on the action. Megan's fever was well controlled in the morning with alternating tylenol and ibuprofen, but around 7 pm, she felt very, VERY hot. Her temp was 104.3 (whew!) and I spent some time on the phone with our insurance's nurse line. They recommended we take her to an ER to get checked out, so Dan and my Dad gave her a blessing, I dropped Dan and the younger girls off for bedtime and Megan and I got to the ER just before 9 pm. The wait was short and by 9:30 pm we were settled in a room with ice packs under Megan's arms, a cool cloth on her forehead, and all the juice and ice water I could convince her to drink at her side. She did a urine sample and by 10 pm, the doctor came to tell us that she was suffering from a UTI. Poor kid. She got a loading dose of antibiotics via a shot in each leg and we headed home with a prescription for oral antibiotics to start the next day. Yay for antibiotics. That high fever was the sickest I've seen any of our kids and I was grateful to see her vast improvement by morning (although her fever held on for almost 48 hours after the first dose of antibiotics but it was in the more manageable 101-102 range).
Monday morning (Aug. 12) we slept in a little and watched to see how Megan was doing before heading out for the day. We picked up her oral prescription, kept giving her tylenol and ibuprofen, and drove into town. We spent the morning at Pike Place Market wandering through all the vendors, enjoying some farm fresh peaches, and eating a lunch of fish and chips at Ivar's. Tyler came into town with us and with Megan in the stroller, we were glad to have him to help us cart Brooke and Candy around :).
Brooke's awesome pose with some of the pretty flowers.
A genuine smile from our Brookie--rare to catch on camera these days. I guess we just need a giant bronze pig.
Steep downhill streets!
By the sourdough bread shop. Yum. We bought a small loaf to share.
Lunch at Ivar's. The kids had fun sharing their fries with the seagulls.
After lunch, we headed back to Baba's house to drop off Ty and then followed Dad, Sally, Baba, and Tyler up to Paradise--a viewing location for Mt. Rainier. And it was the most beautiful day. I think Paradise probably does look like that!
At the Paradise visitor's center...
On a little hike up to a waterfall viewing point...
Heading back down the hill...
We enjoyed ice cream cones courtesy of Grandpa yet again (even Megan enjoyed hers while she shivered with a fever--poor kid) and drove the 2ish hours back for a late dinner at Mike and Peggy's. We said our goodbyes that night and our flight left EARLY (at 7:20 am) on Tuesday Aug. 13. The kids did pretty well on the flight but it seemed longer since on the flight out they slept most of the time. It was nice to get home in the afternoon. It gave us enough time to unpack a little, take naps, and get to the grocery store. It was such a whirlwind trip. We were exhausted when we got home but thoroughly enjoyed our time with family (and our break from the August heat of Houston!). Hopefully our next trip out there will be sooner than in 6 years!
