Our August Trip to Priest Lake

We just returned last night from our annual, August trip to Priest Lake. We make this trip every year without Ron since he is always back to school full-time by now. Usually, this is our "family reunion" in the summer, but Hawaii took the place of it. As a result, only a few other people were able to join us since a lot of the grandkids had to attend high school band camps, were participating in EFY, or needed to stay home and work to earn money for college. We are definitely starting to see a change in summer availability as so many of the grandchildren are now in high school and even college.  Besides the grandparents, Brent and Kelsey came over from Montana for our first weekend there.  In addition, Natalee was able to join us for most of the week with her three youngest and Bryce.  Our small group had a lot of fun amidst the crazy amounts of smoke in the air that had come down from the fires in Canada.  We enjoyed the usual activities of swimming, skiing, playing games, eating, and just enjoying cousin time.  Luckily, my three kids match up really well with Riley and Trenton which made for some great times although most of the family was absent this trip.

Since Sunday, August 19th, turned out to be the smokiest day of the week (we couldn't even see the other side of the lake!), the kids were not in a hurry to get down to the beach in the morning.  As a result, I helped them make an epic, blanket fort that took up most of the catwalk upstairs.

Ella and Lia playing in their section of the fort.

Logan and Trenton doing the same.

Although we could see the other side of the lake on Monday, August 20th, it was still pretty smokey.  However, it made for a beautiful sunset that night with a red/orange sun setting over the mountains.

The little and big kids enjoyed playing some games throughout the week.  Here are the little ones playing, "Pop the Pig!"

Tuesday and Wednesday, August 21st and 22nd, were our best days with very little smoke.  The kids all enjoyed playing in the water and at the beach for several hours. Here are Trenton and Logan paddling around on the inner tube that always ends up getting tied to the dock.

Cute Lia cruising around on the paddle board.

This is the first trip ever that Logan started jumping off the dock and swimming around without his life jacket.  After Trenton saw Logan doing this, he started doing the same thing.  It was pretty fun to see these little boys swimming like the big kids.

Ella decided to do some action shots for me after running down the gang plank.  Look at those straight legs and pointed toes.  I need to get this girl in gymnastics this school year.

Here's another shot we got.

Recently, Ella has fallen in love with Riley and enjoys wrestling with him.  Riley is so nice and always just tolerates this abundance of affection.  Here she is attacking him on the dock.

Riley standing up with Ella on his back.

Another exciting thing that happened this trip was Lia and Callie finally learning how to dive.  Although I have worked on diving with Lia the past few summers, it has never quite clicked.  But one afternoon, I was able to talk both Lia and Callie through it and they did it!  As a result, the two of them were constantly diving the rest of the week.  Here are Lia, Callie, Riley, and Bryce all lined up to dive in the water.

And here they go!

All four kids diving in the water.

Although it was a much smaller group this summer, grandma still agreed to plan a scavenger hunt for all of the kids to enjoy.  Natalee and I helped the younger set while the older set was on their own.  Here are Logan and Trenton climbing around a ladder to find one of their clues.

Natalee helping the kids find a clue on the sundial.

Trenton and Ella running off to find another clue.

The big kids reading a clue found in the neighbor's wood shed.

All the kiddos with their loot after the hunt was complete!

Riley and Lia enjoyed some tubing one afternoon.

Riley showing off and kneeling while the two were tubing.

Since Bryce is fascinated with all things electronic, he often times ended up in the boat listening to music.  One afternoon, this evolved into a spontaneous dance party with all of the grandchildren.  It was absolutely hilarious.

Ella busted out some of the funniest moves while standing on the back of the boat.

Trenton rocking out in the front of the boat.

Lia was able to go skiing every morning while we were there.  It has been so fun to watch her participate in this sport this summer.

Another shot of Lia on the glassy water.

Most of the kids hanging out in the bow of the boat.

Lia went tubing with Callie another afternoon.  Here they are being pulled past the dock at the beginning of their ride.

And finishing up afterwards!

Logan has always loved this green bucket that has a funny, shower head attachment.  Although he has used it for various things over the years, he discovered a new purpose this summer and offered "dockside hair washing" services for any willing customer.  Here Logan is washing grandpa's head off before heading out on his afternoon swim.

Another shot of this funny, dockside scene.  For some reason, it was the funniest to watch Logan rinse grandpa's hair.

By Thursday, August 23rd, the smoke had returned a quite a bit.  Natalee and the kids left this day, so we spent a more quiet afternoon at the beach with just the grandparents.  I realized that I had not had a single picture taken of me all week long, so I finally asked grandma to take this photo to record my presence on this trip. :-)

Lia and me in the water together.

Touching toes!

Logan and Ella spent a bit of time on Thursday afternoon building little houses in the sand.  It was so cute to see what they had come up with!  That evening after dinner, we began packing up and doing our cleaning after deciding to drive home a day early.  Between the smoke returning, the cousins leaving, and feeling like we had been gone most of the summer, the kids and I decided that we would rather go home a day early to see papa.  And, so with that said, we headed out Friday morning, August 24th, to make the long trip home grateful for another wonderful, smokey week at Priest Lake!

Ella's Big Girl Bed!

One of the changes that I am never in a hurry to make is moving our kids from their cribs to their beds.  Part of me believes that children nap longer if they stay in their cribs longer and part of me just doesn't want our kids to grow up.  In addition, both Logan and Ella were very vocal about not wanting to leave their cribs, so I never pushed the issue.  As a result, we FINALLY moved Ella from her crib to her big girl bed tonight at almost 4.5 years old.  I know, I know, it's a bit ridiculous, but it's just when the big change finally ended up taking place for Ella.  So after Ron put in a long day's work and I finished packing for our trip to Priest Lake and making/cleaning up dinner, we started the process of changing out the beds at 7:30 tonight.  Ron took down Ella's crib and then moved Lia's old bed to Ella's room.  In the meantime, I followed him around with the vacuum and managed to clean the section of carpet that never gets vacuumed before he put up both of their new beds.  Ella was very excited about the entire process and happily helped me put on her adorable new bedding set with matching wall stickers and hanging curtains.  When it was all said and done, her room looked so cute that it made me wish that we had done this last year when I first bought Lia's new bed that she upgraded to tonight!  Oh well, better late than never!

Ella's last night sleeping in her crib on August 16th.

Ella all tucked into her new bed ready for a good night's sleep!

A shot of Ella in her new bed with her curtains and stickers on the wall.

Our beautiful girl off in a dream land a few minutes after turning off her lights.

San Juan Island Camping

After doing much research and staying up til midnight exactly 90 days in advance, I was able to secure a reservation for a campsite at the small and in-demand campground right on the beach on San Juan Island.  Although we had only been home from Hawaii for three days, we packed up and headed out early on Thursday morning to catch our 11:45 ferry from Anancortes to Friday Harbor.  We were able to get up there in time with rush hour traffic and hope on our ferry for the beautiful 1 hour and 20 minute ride to Friday Harbor.  We then spent the most wonderful two nights and three days at one of the most amazing campgrounds that Ron and I have ever seen.  By luck, I chose the best campsite of the 18 which had an unobscured view of the water and was right next to a large field that the children loved playing in while Ron and I were either working, cooking, or relaxing in the campground.  We enjoyed playing in the beautiful bay next to the campground, soaking in the stunning views of the Puget Sound, and watching Orca whales swim by for over an hour on our first evening there.  It truly was a magical place to camp in and spend time with our family.  We will definitely be visiting this campground again in the future!

Lia, Ella, and Logan on the ferry ride to Friday Harbor on the morning of  Thursday, August 9th.

The kids exploring the bay adjacent to our campground on our first afternoon there.  The weather was in the 80s on Thursday, so it was the perfect day to spend at the beach.

The kids and me on the beach.

The kids enjoyed climbing on this big rock on the edge of the shore over and over again.

The children sitting by the fire on Thursday evening while dinner was being made.

This is the field right next to us that the children loved playing in whenever Ron and I were in the campsite.  They played tag, made up dances to perform, and practiced gymnastics.  It was the cutest thing.  Here is Ella getting ready to do a cartwheel for me.

Ella and Lia putting on one of the many dances they choreographed and performed over the weekend.

We enjoyed cooking and eating s'mores after dinner on Thursday night.  As always, Logan made a mess of his face and hands.  Here he is showing off his handy work.

Ella and I relaxing by the first as the sun set.

After watching the Orca whales during and after dinner, we enjoyed a stunning sunset before putting the kids to bed.

On Friday morning, August 10th, we drove into the quaint town of Roach Harbor for a walk around the hotel, marina, and shops.  With the exception of Logan kicking one of his flip flops off from the dock onto some rocks on the beach below (and me falling while trying to scale down a rock wall to get it and getting all bruised and scratched up), we had a lovely morning exploring this town.

The marina at Roach Harbor.

We then came back to the campground for lunch and to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Here are Logan, Lia, and Ella performing one of their dance/singing numbers for us.  It was so cute to see them do this as they have never really done this kind of thing together.

All three kids in their final pose.  Look at how cute Ella looks!

We went back down to the beach for the rest of Friday afternoon.  The kids wore their swimsuits and spent quite a bit of time playing and even swimming in the freezing water!

Lia really swimming in the frigid water with her new friend, Cameron, who she met on the beach.

Logan turned a piece of drift wood into a paddle board and enjoyed paddling around the bay on it.

Logan sitting down on his 'paddle board.'

The Hartland Fam.

This is the hilarious pose I found Logan sleeping in on Friday night.  Although I usually find his head covered in blankets every night before I go to bed, I have never found him with his "comfy warmy" blanket piled on top of his head like a turban.  Oh this boy, he just keeps me laughing every day.

We woke up to a slightly cooler and windier morning on Saturday, but we still enjoyed it never the less.  After breakfast, we walked back down to the water's edge to soak in the view one last time.  Here are the kids posing on the giant, dead tree next to the edge of the cliff.

A family picture with the Puget Sound in the background.

Lia hugging little Ella.

An adorable, close-up shot Lia took of Logan and his missing tooth while playing with my camera.

Cute Logan enjoying the view of the water from a bench.

After packing up our entire campsite, we headed back into Friday Harbor for a delicious lunch of fish and chips and some walking around town before catching our 3:45 ferry back home.  Here are Lia and Logan enjoying their lunch on the restaurant's rooftop terrace that has a wonderful view of the marina.  During lunch, it started raining and rained for over an hour before stopping in time for our ferry ride back to Anancortes.  We were so grateful that the rain held off until after we were done packing up all of our stuff.  It was a wonderful end to a wonderful weekend!