Happy Birthday, Merrit!

Merrit turned nine years old yesterday. He came in to wake Mike and I up at the crack of dawn saying, "I'm Nine! I'm Nine! I'm Nine!" About a half-hour later, Ollie came into our room singing "Happy Birthday to You." We had to clarify that it wasn't his birthday; it was Merrit's birthday! He was fine with that, once he realized he'd get cake, too. :)

We had two school friends over for dinner and birthday cake at 6:00pm. "Aunt" Dawn, Mike, Ollie, and I were in attendance, too.

I set the table like a restaurant for Merrit's special dinner.
He has always asked for lasagna baked up in individual
ramekins (like they do at the restaurants) so that's how I
fixed his lasagna dinner on his birthday.

The kids got goofy when placing their drink orders. "Lemonade!" "No,
chocolate milk!" "No, lemonade!" 

I had a little extra "wait staff" help from Dawn.

After dinner, Mike took the boys out on a canoe ride.

Inside, Dawn and I cleaned up the kitchen and put the finishing touches on the
birthday cake. Parents returned to pick up their kids and join us for coffee
and cake.

Aidan ordered vanilla and strawberry ice cream with his chocolate cake.

Jamie ordered vanilla with his cake.

We had one false start, when I walked in front of the window fan on my
way to the table with cake-in-hand. All the candles went out and we had to
re-light, start the song over, and go around the other side of the island to
get to the table! Merrit blew the candles out with a little help from Ollie.

  

Ollie had chocolate ice cream with whipped cream on top.

Vashon Island: A Day Trip Gem

Last night, my friend Dawn flew in from Cali and is going to be staying with us for the next couple of weeks.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We kicked off her visit with a bang. Seriously, she hadn't even been here for 12 hours (her flight got in late last night) before we were off on our first jaunt. :)

She had made a lunch date to meet up with a business associate who lives in this area; they have worked together for a couple of years but had never met face to face. He told us about Vashon Island, where he was going to be vacationing with his wife and some family friends and we agreed to meet him there. 

What a find! I did not know about Vashon Island. I'm definitely still learning about all the neat places to visit around here. Vashon is a great spot to know about because it's just a 30-minute drive + a 20-minute ferry ride from our house. Much closer than some of the other island destinations we've explored: Whidbey Island, Orcas Island, and San Juan Island. 

Waiting for the ferry.

From the ferry terminal in Fauntleroy.

After we landed in Vashon, we dropped Dawn off at
the town hardware store / diner (she said it was awesome
and we really must try it). The boys and I went to a
coffee and sandwich shop a few doors down called
Cafe Luna. Not bad. A bit overpriced, but great food.

Tuna melt, baby!

We ate outdoors. The weather was gorgeous!

After lunch, we found the public beach which wasn't completely deserted,
but wasn't crowded either. Lots of driftwood, seaweed, sand, and clam
and mussel shells. The tide was out. I love that smell.

Merrit wanted to harvest and eat some of the seaweed. I talked him out of it.

Just exploring the edge of this small harbor off the Puget Sound.

Later we discovered a tidal pool. The boys stripped down
to their underwear and played in the lightly flowing, nice
and warm water. They looked for hermit crabs, collected
seaweed, and poured water with a plastic cup someone else
had left behind.

Hours of fun.

I just sat on a piece of driftwood and caught some rays. 

No sunscreen or bathing suits. No towels or changes of clothes.
....But we did just fine....

Ollie on a hermit crab hunt.

Driftwood. Interesting.

Old tree. Weird.

Dawn sent us a text that she was done with her meeting, so I stripped the
boys down at the car and they went "commando" for the rest of the day.
Ollie's underwear dried out pretty quick on my side mirror. 

After we picked up Dawn, we stopped at a country
store / coffee shop for some cold drinks. This place was
super cute and quaint. Dawn and I had cold green tea
with coconut milk. Awesomely refreshing!

Vashon island is known for being sort of crunchy,
hippie, alternative. Love the check out gal's shirt.

The shop where we stopped. Neat spot.

We drove to the lighthouse on Maury Island, which is connected to
Vashon Island by a skinny spit of land (or maybe a bridge?). We had
to hike down a little trail to get to the lighthouse.

"This way, boys!"

Mt. Ranier in the distance, across the Puget Sound.

Other people have made driftwood forts for us to explore. This one was
really cute with its "No Trespassing" sign. :)

Drip and Donger. BFF.

In another fort.

My cutie-pie boys!

The lighthouse. Isn't it adorable? Worth the trip.

Believe it or not, from the time we left the lighthouse
on Maury Island to the time we were sipping this margarita
was about 1.5 hours. We hiked from the lighthouse to the car,
drove to the other side of the island, got on the ferry (PERFECT timing!
We pulled up just as they were loading it!), crossed the sound,
drove through Seattle, across Lake Washington, picked up
Mike from work, hit a Salvadorian restaurant, and ordered drinks ---
all in just over an hour! Awesome.

Burgers, Dogs, and Demolition Derby!

Happy Independence Day! Last year, we were in England and it felt sort of weird that there were no parties, parades, or celebrations on July Fourth. Understandable, I guess. Since the Fourth of July has always been one of Mike's and my favorite holidays, we really did miss it last year.

This year, we invited friends over for a back yard party and then at 6pm we carpooled up to the Evergreen Motor Speedway in Monroe, WA for demolition derby. Good clean fun!

Welcome to our house! C'mon in and have a cold beverage!

We invited our friends Jeff and Angie and their kids Gabe
and Brennan over for dinner. We grilled out hamburgers
and hot dogs and served 'em up with potato salad,
watermelon, black bean and corn salsa, and chips.

Nothing says Fourth of July like watermelon!

The kids ate at the counter and the grown ups ate at the pub table in our
eat-in kitchen.

Angie brought strawberry shortcake for dessert. Mmm.

When we got to the racetrack, we bought our tickets, got our hand stamped with -- what else? -- a checkered flag, and found some good seats. We also met up with another couple, Christian and Angie, and their little boy Conner.

Rock on!

Ollie and I snuggling on the bleachers. He is buttering
me up (get it?) for some kettle korn.

Angie and I hit the beer garden for a couple of lite beers.

Maybe more than any of us, Merrit LOVED the demolition derby. 

We had great seats and the kids had fun sitting on the
railing in front of us.

Oh yeah, someone bought the monster-sized bag of kettle
korn. Ollie scored! (We all did. It was so yummy.)

This stunt driver made a full lap around the track on two wheels. Then,
another stunt driver named Mr. Dizzy went about setting a world record
for flipping a bus. Mike got some great footage:

As dusk set in, the figure eight races began. Merrit was INTENT on that
action. After the "plain old" figure eight races, they did it again, this time, pulling
old boats along behind. Sheer madness! (But fun to watch for sure!)

BOOM!

GREAT FIREWORKS DISPLAY! One of the best we've seen.