Preparation

Tomorrow we leave on our annual camping trip to Cama Beach on Camano Island here in Western Washington. Woot! Woot! This year our family is staying 5 nights and while I'm excited, it's a lot of work. Now don't get me wrong, I'm fully aware that ALL vacations are work to prepare but it seems when you have to pack your own food for the week, it adds to the to do list.

The other difference to this trip is there are a number of families coming, some friends, some friends of friends and a whole passel of children. We divide the dinner meal up so if you choose, you can join in on the group meals and only have to cook one meal for several families instead of dinner every night. This has been a great way to meal plan with friends and be completely lazy the rest of vacation. I'm making dinner for Wednesday evening and our meal is BBQ chicken sandwiches on biscuits, coleslaw, baked beans, chips and fruit. I cooked up 6.5 pounds of chicken breasts in my slow cooker, shredded it and added more sauce before bagging it up and putting it in the freezer. The biscuits will be frozen too and I'm hoping will taste okay a few days later.

I must inform you the cabins are equipped with a refrigerator and electricity so I don't have to pack a cooler full of ice to keep my food frozen until I need it. I just have to pack my cooler with food and then I unpack it a couple of hours later once we check in. We go on this trip with some close friends and will meal share breakfast and our kids mooch off each other so I always pack extra snacks. It's only fair.

As our kids get bigger and the number of families joining increases, it lends to more activities and fun. This year we are having our own Olympics games. We have a professional event planner who has graciously offered to put together games. One of the mom's found plastic medals that each child will receive for participating, but they aren't just the cheesy, 'hey you played so you get a medal'. Each child will get a medal for best performance or funniest act. I'm really looking forward to watching the kids play the various games and have some fun.

I also picked up my crabbing license today as we are able to go crabbing two days during our trip. Mmmmm, crab fresh from the sea. One of the best parts of living in Seattle is fresh crab.  The weather is supposed to be fantastically sunny and I just can't wait.  Now to finish packing, packing, packing......

Orcas Island and a Ferry Boat

After coming home exhausted from a weekend of camping in the sunshine, we headed the opposite direction the next weekend and caught a ferry boat up to the San Juan Islands to camp out with some friends.  I am very blessed to live in a gorgeous part of the country that is so close to water and the mountains.  If God were to ever move us from here, I would hope for another part of the country near water at least.

Our little road trip took us north and a bit west to Anacortes for the ferry boat to Orcas Island. There are only a few boats each day, so we got up, Mike loaded the car and we were off by 9 am to catch the 12:30 boat.  Now it's only about an hour and a half drive up to Anacortes, but you need to be in line early, especially on a Friday.  We made it to the ferry line and were able to get out, stretch our legs a bit, use the restroom and hang out.

The ferry ride over was so beautiful and a bit chilly as the temperatures have been a little in the lacking warmth department. I'm a bit directionally challenged so I could not have told you what direction we were headed or what islands we were going by, but I was just enjoying the boat ride. Once we made it to Orcas Island, we drove around the island to get to the state park. Orcas is shaped like a horseshoe and we came in on the southeast tip and the state park is on the southwest tip. In the middle of the island is the town of Eastsound which is also the name of the water inlet. Our friends were already at the campsite, so we drove on in, unloaded and the kids were so excited to be with their friends.

The weekend was filled with a few walks, swimming in Cascade Lake, a little kayaking for the moms and dads, some bike riding as there wasn't a great place to ride bikes with the kids and even a thunderstorm to finish out an evening.  We of course did the camp fire with s'mores all 3 nights even though the first and third night the rain decided to join us.  Not a fan of camping in the rain which you just have to be prepared for if you go camping in Western Washington.  Although July and August are usually good bets for no rain, but there is no guarantee.

Another great part of Orcas Island is Mount Constitiution. From up at the summit, you can see Vancouver, BC, Bellingham, WA and other San Juan Islands on a clear day. Our day had a few clouds, but overall, it was beautiful. There is a watch tower the state parks department has turned into a little informational exhibit about the San Juan Islands and how they were used in the past. Now, the island is home to artists, farmers and retirees I'm sure.

Our friends had to leave on Sunday morning, so we bid them goodbye and headed into Eastsound to get online and do a little bit of normal weekend business and to sight see. The town has many cute little shops, galleries, a bookstore, several restaurants, a small inn and coffee shops. As much as I would have liked to go in some of the shops, we have to get real about the fact that I travel with four males at all times and one of those males doesn't look with his eyes very well and must touch everything, so I walk by, glance in and keep walking. We did stop into the pie shop for a snack. I must say that with a child who has dairy allergies, going into a pie shop is not the best idea, but I know that if I can find a pie where the filling is dairy free, I just give him the filling and we forgo the crust. This pie shop was good, but the pie shop on Phinney in Seattle right across from the zoo is much better.

After our pie stop, the sun finally came out and we decided to head back to the camp. The boys fell asleep so we drove around to the south end of Cascade Lake to the south camp sites where we stayed the previous time. We wanted to scope out next years camping spots and get an idea of which sites we wanted to make reservations for summer 2013. Once back, it was different without our friends there and the camp site seemed a bit bigger and more spread out and it was kinda lonely.

I'm thankful for the time we were about to have with our friends and I'm thankful for the time just our family had together. It was awesome being out in God's creation even if it did rain on my parade. And as a mom of all boys and no privacy at home, it was nice to go to the bathroom by myself for 3 straight days.

Sun Lakes and a dam

This past weekend was spent together as a family camping in the heat and sunshine of Eastern Washington.  It is pretty mandatory that if you want to go camping in the summer and have a specific state park you would like to stay at, reservations must be made a few months in advance.  Unfortunately, I wasn't on the ball like I should have been, so by the time I got to getting online to reserve a spot, most of the state parks we like to visit were booked.

Bummer.

But (silver lining here) I did find a pretty decent campsite at Sun Lakes State Park where the temperatures can reach triple digits in the summer due to the desert like topography.  I didn't take too many pictures since it's kinda hard to be out in the sand, dirt, water with a nice DSLR since my point and shoot is still in need of repair.  We had no cell service and certainly no 3G service so our little family was unplugged for the weekend. 

After setting up our tent and giving the boys boundaries of where they could play, we spent some time hanging out as a family.  Luckily, there was a rather large section of grass behind our site that backed up to the golf course, so we let the dog off his lead and tossed the ball around to him so he could get some exercise.  Dinner was hot dogs and s'mores over the fire since my chicken hadn't thawed yet.  I also learned how many items I had forgotten, but how you can improvise with what was in the camping box.

Saturday was spent having a yummy breakfast, a walk around the park with the dog and then Mike took the older two boys plus the dog to the water to play.  I stayed back to try to get the little man to take a nap.  Futile effort, but I did get to read some of my book.  After the boys returned from the water, we had lunch, naps and then went back out to the water all together.

That evening was a chicken salad and more s'mores over the camp fire.  Camping and sleep is always such an anomaly and my boys were no different the first night than the second, but we survived and had a fun time together as a family.

After packing up our site and hitting the road, Mike and I took a little road trip to see the Grand Coulee Dam.  It is quite the sight.  There are three sections of the dam that generate power and the amount of concrete that was needed to build the dam was phenomenal, 12 million cubic yards.  Crazy, huge!  We did drive up to the visitors center and would have liked to have taken the tour, but the temperature was over 90 degrees and there was no where for Oreo to hang out, so we just turned around and headed for home.

We took a detour into Wentachee for Sonic Drive-Thru and honestly, the only thing going for them is their drinks.  Lunch was heh, but we ate it, and drove on to home.  Road trips are always an adventure and we saw a truck pulling a travel trailer on the side of the road on fire.  Luckily it wasn't engulfed in flames, but I felt so bad for those people who owned the truck.  Due to the location of the truck, it was 20 minutes down the highway before we saw a fire truck and on the other side of Stevens Pass.  I did send up a few prayers for that family.  What a way to end your weekend.  We got about 20 miles from our turn off on Highway 2 and traffic was dead stopped.  Apparently, we managed to come across at just the right time to get stuck in lovely 2 lane traffic. It took an hour to go 8 miles and there are no alternative roads until you get a few more miles down the road.  Yay for google maps on the ipad, because that was my saving grace.  I was driving and Mike was looking for alternative roads and we discovered on in the next town over that would take us directly to highway 203 and onto home.

It was a fun, crazy, hot weekend.  No one got sunburned, PRAISE THE LORD!  And we all still love each other :)

Day 225

A Day at the Beach
Ocean Shores

Day 236

It only took a month, but the sleeping bags from our Cama Beach camping trip have finally been washed, dried and ready to return to their rightful place in the garage and not my basement. I'm just happy I can cross something off my to-do list.

Day 207

Two families, three nights of camping, four parents and five children. How much stuff did we bring again?? For the next few nights we are having the privilege of staying at Cama Beach State Park in the waterfront cabins. Some dear friends of ours booked the cabins back in October of last year for these few days and invited us to go along. One of the neat perks of the camp site is no cars are allowed down by the cabins, so you must shuttle all your items down in the van. It only took one truck and one shuttle car to get all of us and our stuff down to the cabins. Let the vacation begin.

Day 206

This morning we headed to Camano Island State Park for our annual Sunday school class camping trip. Mike and I are only staying one night because of Mike's travel schedule, but one night in a tent is fine with me. Andy had been running around with all the other boys and was completely filthy at this point and he decided he needed a rest. Mom was just enjoying the fellowship with friends and not having to worry too much about what the kids were up too.

Day 136

One of the cool things God created on Orcas Island was Mount Constitution. It's 2,400 feet above sea level and the view is just WOW! You can see all the way to Canada on a clear day and back down towards Seattle, although not quite that far. One of the gals that was up there offered to take a family photo and even though it's all camping glamorous, it could just end up in the Christmas photo. Or not.

Day 135

This morning I got a phone call from my husband asking what our plans were for the weekend. This weekend was wide open with possibilities and one of those choices was going camping on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands. The weather looks promising with sunny skies, so why not. We hurriedly packed the car, the boys and the dog and took off for a weekend of family fun.

For those who are not familiar with Washington state, going to the San Juan Islands takes a bit of time and knowledge of the ferry schedule. Luckily, Mike went online to find out that we need to catch the 6:30 boat or wait 3 hours for the next one. We made the ferry and settled in for a bit of a boat ride. The boys were troopers about the long car ride and were rewarded with some time to run around the ferry. I believe this was Aaron's first ferry boat ride as well. They really enjoyed "sailing" as Andy put it and I think the photo proves it.