Whidbey Weekend

Whidbey Island is full of beauty.  It has been a few years since we've headed to the Island for a bit of relaxing.  But a week and half ago we had the opportunity to spend some time there.  Tadd has a co-worker who generously loans us his house there every once in a while.  Were we ever thankful!  We arrived on a very cold and windy Friday afternoon.  There were kite-boarders everywhere (I'll show some pictures  of them another day).  The temperatures were much colder than we have been used to this mild spring.  I'm afraid we showed up unprepared for the weather.  Right off Daddy headed out with his kite and his Nora--the only one willing to brave the cold at the time.

 Pretty soon the others were convinced to leave the puzzles, games and Wii behind to go explore.
 Shell and crab carcass collection were a favorite activity.
 

Hey, what do you know, it's me.


Oh boy!  What could I possibly be cooking???

Don't worry, it was only sweet potato crisps to go with our hamburger supper.  One of the many things I love about this house is how well stocked the kitchen is.  It's not your typical vacation home kitchen!  Griddles, sharp knives, pie plates, juicer, fancy cake plate, baking supplies--I don't have to worry about bringing anything from my own kitchen other than food.  During dinner this gorgeous rainbow appeared right over Useless Bay.

Stunning!

Hot chocolate with marshmallows was the perfect dessert to enjoy that chilly evening while snuggled up on the couch for family movie night.  We stayed up way too late watching Swiss Family Robinson.  I loved that movie as a kid and had much fun watching my kids enjoy it.  It's every child's dream--being ship wrecked with your whole family and all the fixings for the fort of your dreams.
The next morning we enjoyed some delicious french toast with berry sauce and whipped cream.  Yum!





The wind had died down and it was much nicer Saturday.  The forecast called for showers and sun breaks--but the morning was one big sun break.

Don't let my girls fool you--it still wasn't really shorts and t-shirt weather.  I was wearing a sweater and coat.  They have always been very cold tolerant.




Useless Bay is full of driftwood.  It's lovely to look at and perfect for fort building.

Later that day we had some visitors.

One of the visitors forgot his rain boots and had to be carted around by his wife at low tide.

And then Grandpa and Grandma showed up too!  What fun.

If you look closely,  you can see the fish grasped in the hawk's talons.   He flew right over our heads.  The bald eagles were also out in full force and one of them carried a squirming eel right over us--but I didn't have my camera ready that time.

The kids snuggled in for story time the next day with Grandpa.

There are so many perks about this house at Whidbey.  The two families that own the house both have children.  So it's stocked with toys, books, games, puzzles, sand toys, tether ball....the list goes on and on. 

We did lots of puzzling.  Well, I worked on one of them with the kids the first night and then Grandpa took over and worked on about half a dozen with them.  The house also had the full set of Little House on the Prairie tv series.  The kids loved watching those.

My Mom's red coat popped off the landscape so prettily (I spelled that "pooped" the first time around, hehe).

Grandpa also took over fort building with the kids.  He's pretty nice to have around.

Watching the next door neighbor trying to get his kite board up and running on a not-quite-windy-enough afternoon.

I have so many more pictures to post....but I'll stop for now.