A Quick Trip to Whidbey

As crazy as it seems, I planned a trip to Whidbey Island for the day AFTER we arrived home from our marathon trip to North Carolina.  My friend, Kristina, usually hosts a get together at her parent's house one day every summer for her good friends from high school and all of their children while she is visiting from Colorado.  It is has always been such a fun and magical day for my kids as they get to play with all of the other children on the beach and back at the Weber compound in their amazing yard/garden.  As a result, I knew that Lia would not want to miss this and so I convinced Kristina to schedule it on the one day that Lia would be home between our trip to the Outer Banks and leaving for Girls' Camp.  So as exhausted as we were after getting home at 9:30 on Sunday evening, I managed to get the kids and I out the door by 9 a.m. the next morning.  We actually made good time and arrived at the ferry terminal at 10:25 and were able to catch the 10:30 ferry which was such a miracle!  We all laughed at the fact that we only had to wait in the ferry line for two minutes in comparison to waiting THREE HOURS last Thursday for the ferry to Ocracoke Island!  What a difference that was!  

We then spent the next five hours on the island enjoying running around Kristina's parent's yard, eating a delicious lunch that Kristina had made, and playing on the beach.  Unfortunately, due to some scheduling conflicts, the evening portion (including dinner) was cancelled this year, so our day got cut short and we caught the 4:30 ferry back to the "mainland" instead of one several hours later.  Since I was in no mood to make dinner and was dreading driving home in rush hour traffic, I called my mom from the ferry and asked if we could swing by her house for dinner on the way home.  Luckily, she agreed, and so we enjoyed making a detour there which allowed us to see them for the first time in a few weeks and get caught up.  However, the four of us were one tired bunch when we pulled up to our house 11.5 hours later at 8:30 p.m. which was really 11:30 p.m. East Coast time.  As exhausted as we were, it was so worth it!

I asked Ron weeks ago to work from home on this day so that I could leave Emmett behind to have a restful day and a much needed nap in his own bed.  As a result, the three older kids and I went to Whidbey without him.  Here we are on the ferry ride over to the island.

All of the children posed for me while hanging out down by the barn where the giant swing is found!

Kristina's husband, Nick, was kind enough to push all of the kids on the swing several times.  Here is Logan flying through the air.

Ella doing the same!

Four buddies from high school (me, Jessica, Kristina, and Heather) posing on the steps of Kristina's parent's house surrounded by beautiful hydrangeas in bloom.

The kids agreed to pose for me one more time in between rounds of hide-and-go-seek in the amazing garden.

Logan found an awesome jelly fish floating in the water soon after we arrived at the beach.

Ella posing between Lia and Sofia.

Kristina's cousin, Anna, joined us a little bit later.  Here are all of the kids (including her two girls) down by the water.

The five moms hanging out on the beach.

Someone else found a large, red jelly fish in the water that both Logan and Ella picked up with their new shovels we bought in the Outer Banks.

Lia swinging darling Ellis around the beach.