Spring Break Getaway

As spring break approached, the kids started a chorus of "what are we going to do for spring break?" and "Where are we going for spring break?" (Basically, Eric and I are idiots for taking them to Disneyland for spring break last year and now have them thinking spring break is actually a fun thing  filled with excitement and adventures. What fools we are!!)

In all honesty, a little getaway sounded great to me, too, so I took a peek at our timeshare's website to see if I could find a near-ish location with openings. Lo and behold! The Birch Bay location (one I've heard good things about from another school family) offers mid-week specials. Perfect!! I booked a two-bedroom condo and started our packing lists. Unfortunately, Eric wasn't able to go due to work stuff, but we talked with him each night ... and whenever I ran into technical issues (sorry for waking you up with a computer question, Sweetie!!)

There are quite a few perks to the Birch Bay timeshare ... first, it is close enough to drive to without too much hassle (1 hour, 45 min), second, it has an indoor/outdoor pool and hot tub (win!), and is close to Canada. Why is the Canada thing a plus? Well, apparently we are slacker parents who have never taken their son to Canada even though it is only about 2 hours away.... and haven't taken their daughter there since she was about 4 months old, and has no memory of being there so it doesn't really count. DUH!!!

We left around noon on Monday (I worked from home that morning to reduce how much time I needed to take off from work and knowing we couldn't check in to the condo until 4 PM) and meandered our way up to Birch Bay. Before leaving town, we stopped at the flute repair place (and found out Annika's flute is basically a POS ... awesome), which put us a bit later than expected but no biggie. We also  stopped in Marysville for lunch at MOD Pizza (win!); yes, I made the kids suffer brief starvation to get out of  Seattle and Everett before stopping so Friday freeway traffic didn't become an issue for us. After meandering around the shopping area in Marysville for a bit (picking up some last-minute items and just seeing what we could see... we were on vacation, time is more fluid on vacation!), we continued north and eventually made it to Birch Bay.

The kids immediately wanted to get into the pool after we checked in, the van was unloaded, and our stuff was sort of put away. OK, why not! Rainy weather? Who cares! I happily enjoyed some hot tub relaxation while the kids played "penguin" (aka going back and forth between the pool and hot tub) until we decided dinner was needed. After we ate, it was "chill out time", which was perfect for everyone!

A panoramic view of our condo

The poos area

The epitome of vacation post-pool relaxing

As soon as the kids saw the timeshare building has an arcade, stopping at it was mandatory for them. Normally, I avoid arcades like the plague, but this one was small and not over-run with too many people.  I agreed that we could pop in before we headed The kids played pinball, a hockey foosball-esque game (really quite fun), and a crane/grabber candy thing. Each kid had two dollars to blow and (SHOCKER) they spent about half of their allotment on candy.

Conor and the hockey game
Final score: Conor 2, Me 1

Once our arcade time was behind us, we took a quick walk across the street to the beach, where rock throwing/skipping, bird watching, and general frolicking took place. Of course, the kids wanted to fill their pockets with all sorts of neat rocks to take home as souvenirs, but I put the kabash on that right away. (I have found way too many rocks in our washing machine to fall for that request.)  The tide was really far out, so there was lots of  space for the kids to run and explore. Annika's ankle and a rock had a bit of a run-in, so as she sat and nursed her scrape, Conor continued to gallop all over the beach.... when it was nearing our time to go, he slipped off of a driftwood log and landed ankle-deep in mud. His shoes, socks, and pants were encased in mud ... on an up note, both of his shoes stayed on his feet!

On our way back to the condo, we came across a phone booth (I mean old-school phone booth ... like the kids Superman would change in). Knowing how rare they are now (and I can only imagine this trend will continue), I stopped the kids, explained what a phone booth is, and took a few quick photos of them in it. Both kids pretended to call Eric on the phone so they could tell him about the beach, Conor's muddy feet, and the phone booth. We also came across a metal totem pole, which got Conor started on explaining all about the symbols and shapes included in the design. (Thanks, Ms. Fairbanks for being such a good teacher ... I have proof that Conor actually listens to and learn from you!) :)

Hello? Daddy? We're in a phone booth!

Peeking out from behind a totem pole

With our arcade and beach time done, we piled into the van and headed north to Canada day (MUCH more appealing than the arcade, in my humble opinion!). I joked with the kids that we were fleeing the county, which caused them to think Canada was REALLY different from the U.S. After spending about 20 minutes in Canada, Annika said, "You know, this doesn't look any different than home!"

The border crossing was a breeze (no lines - woo hoo!) and I gave the border guard a good laugh when he asked, "How long do you plan on staying in Canada?" and I replied, "Oh, we're just here for lunch. Speaking of which, can you suggest a place we can go? Somewhere kid friendly?" He pointed us toward White Rock (a place I knew of from my college days), parked the car, and blindly picked a place for lunch.

We found ourselves at West Beach Bar & Grill and the menu posted by the door looked promising. That was when it occurred to me, I have NO CLUE about the rules about minors going into bars in Canada. Are they allowed like in California so long as food is served, or is it like in Washington where they are strictly forbidden? I caught the waitress' attention and she confirmed the kids were permitted. That's a great thing because the food we had was amazing!! All three of us had burgers and fries. Annika proclaimed that hers was "the best burger EVER" and Conor was sad that he was too full to eat all of his yummy food. (I doubt most adults to could finish all of the food - the servings were very generous). If you're ever in White Rock, stop there for a mighty fine burger!!

Waiting for lunch

After lunch, we meandered up and down along the rows of shops (making a mental note to stop of gelato as our last hurrah of the day) and then eventually wandered down to the beach. Because of the very low tide. we could walk for days without hitting water, it seemed. The kids ran, explored tide pools (filled mostly with very tiny, very fast fish and mucky gunk), dug in the sand, and watched seagulls drop clams onto the rocks and pier in hopes of breaking the clam shells. It was all very easy paced and relaxing... until I told Annika she couldn't climb on top of the huge white rock (ummm.... remember 11 weeks in a cast, m'dear???). I was less fun after that, but I'll happily wear that badge if it means she goes to Ireland with four limbs that function properly!

We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather, especially considering the rainy day we had just the day before. We had blue skies, comfortably warm temps, and a breeze that kept the air from being stale. Per-fect!!!! And the fact that we got to visit a beach while enjoying such weather? Amazingly wonderful!!!

Knowing our parking meter time was ticking down, we pulled ourselves away from the beach, found a gelato spot (yum!), picked up souvenirs from the White Rock museum's gift shop (Conor got a basecall cap; Annika got a little bottle of sand and a magnet), and then we started our trek back across the border, back to the U.S. Once again, our crossing was easy and quite quick. This whole "not crossing the border on a weekend" is really the way to go!!

We wrapped up our day with another trip to the pool/hot tub and then watching Lion King on TV. Can't complain about that, if you ask me!

Day three was our "pack up and go" day. To simplify the process, I pre-packed some of our things the evening before. We had to be home in time for Conor's PT appointment, so timeliness was a constant on my morning radar. Fortunately, all went smoothly and we got out of the condo right on time. The drive home was a breeze (only stopping briefly in Bellingham for gas at Costco) and we had the added surprise of seeing Eric's car in the driveway when we got home. Hurray!!!! I didn't expect him to be home when we arrived. Bonus!

We were tired, but in a good way, and glad to be back home. We had a great time being away, but being back home and with Eric was the perfect thing for us.

Thanks Birch Bay and Canada ... we had a great time!!

2017 Skagit Tulip Festival

A few weeks ago, I made the executive decision (as I am known to do) that we should visit the Skagit Tulip Festival because it conveniently coincided with the kids' spring break. My reasoning, you ask? Well, not only did the festival work with the school schedule (and trust me, you do not want to go to the festival on a weekend if you can avoid it), but neither of our kids nor my sister (who was in town) had ever been to the festival. 'Nuf said ... going was our only option!

So, last Thursday, a rain boot-clad Suzanne arrived at our door. I handed her a cuppa coffee (it was 8:30 ... we needed the fuel!), we got the troops wrangled, and we headed up north to discover some much-needed tulip eye candy.

As soon as we were buckled, Suzanne plugged in her phone and started up the playlist she created for the trip. I was highly impressed with her song selections, as were the kids when they recognized some of the songs. We diligently taught them how to "bom bom bom" during "Sweet Caroline" and all of us did our best YMCA dance moves while in seat belts.

Before we knew it, we were in Mt. Vernon anxiously trying to find the stupid illusive tulip fields. I'm not normally one to complain, but I have to say that the signage for the festival left a lot to be desired. I kid you not, one "Tulip Route" sign pointed us down a dead-end road ... that had a mechanic shop at the end and no flowers! (In hindsight, I'm wondering if some locals were having fun with us lost tourists...)

Thank God for our cell phone GPS and Suzanne's idea to navigate to a place called "Tulip Town"... two things that got us right where we wanted to be... in the middle of fields filled with stunning tulips, which were much more attractive than the fields of dandelions we passed trying to find said tulip fields.

Because we visited the fields on a weekday, the crowds were rather minimal. We easily found parking and often were able to get photos without extraneous people in the shots. Bonus!

Sisters selfie

Talk about picturesque

Hello, tulips

Fortunately, many of the rows of tulips were marked with the tulip type. Unfortunately, many of the times, we were on the opposite side of the row from the markers. Whoops! Didn't plan that so well, did we?

Double pinks

Conor had much more fun than his expression conveys in this shot; to his credit, Suzanne was saying "don't smile!" (Conor has the reverse psychology thing figured out!)

I like how the kids' boots compliment the tulip colors

Auntie Suzanne and the kiddos

I suggested to the kids that they might want to pop their faces through the various cutouts that were on the edge of one field. Both kids high-tailed it to this one, not even taking the time to look at the cutout. All that mattered was the foot race ... and winning it. 

Yup - this is what happens when you win a race before knowing about the prize

Annika, guardian angel of the tulip fields 

 Shockingly, we didn't have a single drop of rain fall on us the entire time we were out in the flower fields. We had prepared for a day of dodging the drops. Instead, we were dry (except for the random splashes we got when the kids opted to stomp or jump in the puddles). Thanks for giving us a break, Mother Nature. We are grateful!

Near the end of our time among the flowers, we ran into a very nice gentleman who started chatting with us and asking about our visit. Lo and behold! He is the owner of Tulip Town and emigrated from Holland (how authentic!!). He told us about his acreage, the various flowers, and even a bit about their business model.

Soon enough, we realized we were tired and getting rather hungry. We bid Tulip Town adieu (after buying a few pots of tulips for our front yard, of course -- Eric later said he had a bet with himself about how many flowers would come home with me. I never asked what his guess was... I should do that!) and we headed back into civilization (aka Mt. Vernon) and gobbled up a rather tasty lunch at the Skagit River Brewery.

A final, closing shot of our trip... just a last bit of floral eye candy for you, dear readers! I envy the farmers for getting to see these beauties day in and day out. I don't envy the work they put into them, though!!

2016 Ft. Flagler Camping Trip: Part 1

I am bound and determined to write a post about our recent camping trip to Ft. Flagler before any more time has passed. We've already been home for over a week ... it is time to get this post done!

As you loyal readers may recall, we camped at Ft. Flager last year, too, and had a great time. In fact, we had such a good time that we decided (probably on the drive home) that we should return this summer. We packed up our gear and ourselves, dropped off Buca at the dog hotel (only then did we noticed we grabbed the wrong bag and accidentally left his food at home -- oops!!), made a quick stop at the closest pet store for more dog food, went back to the dog hotel (with food, much to Buca's happiness) and then headed to the Edmonds ferry terminal. Fortunately, we left early enough in the day that we didn't get caught in a long line; in fact, we got on the first ferry that was arrived.

The crossing was uneventful (as one would hope) but mighty windy!! At one point, we noticed that Annika was standing at an angle, simply relying on the wind to hold her up ... and it did!!! The views from the ferry were lovely and made this water-lovin' gal so very happy and content. The only thing that would have made the crossing better would have been if I'd thought to grab a hair band before leaving the car, so I could have controlled my hair in the wind!

Annika waiting to set sail

Ahoy, matey! 

Happy sailors

Daddy and Conor (who commandeered Mama's sunglasses!) 

My three cutie pies

Did I mention the wind???

Hello, ferry!

Yup -- still windy!

Before long, we were back in our car, trying to flatten our hair, and driving toward Ft. Flagler State Park. After about a 45-60 minute drive, we found ourselves at the front gate of the park. As we waited for the car in front of us to finish checking in, I slipped out of the car to take some photos of this deer family. The funny thing is the park ranger asked Eric (when it was our turn to check in) how many people were in our party. He said "four", which really confused her because she definitely saw three people in the car (I was up with the deer). Sorry, Ms. Ranger... we didn't mean to make you think you were going blind or crazy!!

When we were at Ft. Flagler last time, we drove around the campground and scouted out which sites looked good to us and which were less desirable. (Smart, huh??) We decided to try camping on the bluff this year, so we could soak in the glorious view that is available.

Our view
(straight out from our site)

More of our view
(looking to the right)

And now looking to the left

After we got settled (which took a bit more doing than we expected because our site was not exactly level ... something we didn't notice during last year's site scouting expedition), the relaxation officially began. We played ball, blew bubbles, read, drew in the dirt, the kids rode their scooters, and we just kicked back. There's an initial push to get everything in its place when we first arrive somewhere, and that part can be tiring/hard work. Once that is done, though, we find ourselves breathing a bit easier and enjoying the chance to unwind.

Our camping small world story: As the kids were playing, they heard some kids at the next campsite over from ours. Annika has never met a stranger and decided that she wanted to meet the kids. Come to find out, she and Conor had played hide-and-seek with one or two of the boys at Bitterlake a few days before. Talk about random!!!!

We knew rain was in the forecast, so brought our canopy along ...
and were very glad we did when the rain came!

Conor playing ball

Good catch, Daddy

Annika getting her turn to play

 The kids had a great time going up and down and up and down and up and down the road next to our campsite. It kept them busy while Eric and I set up the camp, which was really convenient! Each time they went by, we'd hear a chorus of, "Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad! Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!"

And there they go!

Annika rounding the corner

Conor trying the seated method

We knew the forecast called for rain, so planned accordingly. We brought the canopy to act as a rain fly over our table and were glad we did because the rain came in during dinner! The first night was wet ... it rained so hard that sleep evaded us at times. That plus the howling coyotes (I'd forgotten that we had heard them the year before until we heard them this year... quite the loud chorus!) made for a tired Saturday morning for the Olsons. When I say it rained during the night, I mean it RAINED. We didn't have a lovely mist or a random sprinkle. The rain pelted our tent ... and made me start seeing the benefits of people who camp in trailers! That rain was loud!!

Because we had expected Saturday to be a wet day, we opted to drive to Sequim to tour the Olympic Game Farm. To keep this post from getting insanely long, I'll write a post about that adventure tomorrow ... stay tuned!! The long and the short of it is we had a fantastic time and enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful animals. Such a treat!! Ironically, we went there to avoid the rain, yet it didn't rain until we got back from our day in Sequim and were back at our campsite. The best laid plans of mice and men, eh???

Here's your teaser photo!

On our way back from the game farm, we stopped at the remaining portions of Ft. Flagler. There are some neat old structures/building/bunkers, that are open to the public (and apparently, many birds based on the amount of nests we found). All four of us had a great time exploring the nooks and crannies of the buildings. Because our kids are ... well, kids ... and don't necessarily remember a bunch of details from a year ago, all of these explorations were new (again) to them. They had a marvelous time running around on top of the bunkers, not to mention walking through the dark, dark, dark bunkers. (I'm probably mis-using the term "bunkers", so please forgive me if I am.)

Conor off to explore around the corner

Daddy and Annika 

Annika in a window opening

Running laps on top of the bunkers

View from the top of a bunker

Daddy and Conor

Daddy and Conor inside the bunker

Nest with three baby birds

Acrobatic Annika

"Conor, whatcha doin?"
"Oh, nothing. Just hanging around."

After we returned to our site, Eric introduced our kids to Jiffy Pop. They were quite fascinated when the aluminum foil cover evolved from a flat surface to a dome that was full of popcorn. Watching their faces was the best part for me. (Note to self: Jiffy Pop popcorn tastes really weird!!)

Annika shake, shake, shaking the popcorn

Conor gasping in response 

Saturday night was much dryer than Friday night, gratefully. Dryer weather, no howling coyotes, and a busy day all helped us sleep much better our second night at camp. I was still mighty grateful to have coffee in the morning, but it wasn't quite as emergent as it was the day before!

Sunday morning meant it was time to have a quick breakfast (courtesy of Chef Eric, our resident camping breakfast maker) and then we needed to tear down our campsite in order to be on the road by 9, which would give us ample time to get the ferry back to Edmonds... or so we thought! (Insert duh-duh-duh ominous music here.)

We were sooooo proud of ourselves for being efficient camp packer uppers. We were focused and thanks to everyone's help, were in the car and pulling out of our campsite at 8:59. Oh yeah, baby!! We drove to the Hood Canal Bridge, only to encounter a bit of a traffic jam ... a very unexpected traffic jam. We were 10-ish cars from the bridge and noticed a police officer was in the intersection. We figured that maybe a car accident was blocking traffic. NOPE. Lo and behold! We found out that the bridge was experiencing mechanical problems, but the DOT workers who recently arrived thought it might be an hour and then things would be fine. After about 30-ish minutes of waiting, the police officer started announcing that the bridge would remain closed longer than expected (possibly the next day), so start looking for alternate routes ... for us, that meant a drive down to Olympia and then back up north to Seattle  Great ....

Eric got the brilliant idea of high-tailing it back up to Pt. Townsend to see if we could catch a ferry to Coupville (Whidbey Island) and then drive down to the Clinton ferry terminal and cross there. It was a great thought until we got to Pt. Townsend to discover one of the ferries on that run was out of service and the only vehicles permitted on the ferry run were ones with pre-existing reservations ... oh, and there were no remaining reservations available. Awesome ....

We realized our only hope of getting home was to drive the realllllly long way home. Yup, we hit the road to Olympia and then made a 180-degree turn north toward Seattle. The drive along Highway 101 was very scenic, which made a less-than-desirable situation a bit easier to bear. Plus, the kids were amazingly cooperative and didn't complain (much) about the amount of time they were stuck in the car on a windy roadway. (I'm sure the Dramamine I gave them didn't hurt the situation!) We saw many a small town along the way ... some we'd never even heard of.

After 6 hours, we made it home (note: if all had gone according to plan, it would have been a 2-hour trip home) tired, ready to be out of the car, and incredibly grateful to be back in our own house. Almost immediately, I grabbed Eric's keys so I could finish the last leg of our journey (while Eric unloaded the van) ... I drove up to Edmonds to retrieve Buca from the dog hotel. He was happy as could be ... soaking wet from playing in the wading pools and smiling from ear to ear.

While our trip home wasn't exactly ideal, we still made it home safely. We had a fun trip to Ft. Flagler and are grateful for the chance to spend the weekend camping as a family. We also decided that if we ever have the chance to buy a vacation place, it will NOT be on the west side of the Hood Canal Bridge! :)