August 4-6

Wednesday

Wednesday we took the boat to Lake Stevens.  It's our first time there.  It's a bit faster for us to get there than Lake Goodwin.  The launch area is nice because there is a bathroom right there (at Lake Goodwin it's quite a ways up the hill) and there is lots of dock space for me to wait with the boat while Dode parks the van.  The lake was choppy so it'd be nice to know what the conditions were at Lake Goodwin that night to compare.  Elizabeth tried some knee boarding before we got out the tube.  She's so light, she can knee board behind the boat when we're hardly moving. 

William was our flagger while the kids swam

Isaac found this straw hat floating in the lake and claimed it as his own

Miriam has been sick this week with a cold.  It hits her in waves of feeling miserable. 

Here she is ready to be done and go home.

We're sure glad that my mom and dad bought the boat years ago, and that Dode is able to maintain and fix what goes wrong inexpensively.  The kids really enjoy going out in it.

Thursday

Thursday, our playing was at Jetty Island, a park off the Everett water front.  The only way to get to the island is by boat.  The parks department runs a free ferry which takes 3 minutes to cross over to the island from the mainland.  You can only make reservations for the ferry if you live in Everett or are part of a large group.  For the rest of us, it's first come first served.  We got there at 9:30 when the passes first go out and there was a mad scramble for them.  The first boat leaves at 10:00.  I'd sent Isaac ahead while I parked the van and he's not the most agressive child.  We were able to get passes for the 10:45 sailing.    We went to the "standby line" and were able to get on the 10:15 boat.  Because the passes are free, people who make reservations often don't end up showing up.  Even though the wait for a boat can seem long, by using the standby line, we've always gotten on the island fairly quickly.  Once on the island, we stopped at the only bathroom on the island, a floating port-a-pottie, before heading across the couple hundred yards of the island to the beach.  The tide was way out (about 1/4 mile) when we got there and the big kids headed down to the water while the little ones played in the wet sand closer to the high water line.  The views were wonderful of Camano Island, Hat Island, and Whidbey Island.  We could watch the ferry between Mukilteo and Whidbey Island coming and going and several large airplanes bound for Paine Field passed overhead.  We stayed for five hours and over that time, the tide came in fast. I like being there when the tide is coming in because it causes the kids to get closer and closer to me.  There have been visits when the tide is going out and when it's time to head back to the ferry, the kids are in the water 1/4 mile away.  They can't hear me when I call because the wind blows off the water towards the beach and I have to trudge across the sand and then the mud and be almost next to them before I can get their attention.  Those are not relaxing times!

 

I never moved my chair but my toes were inches from the water when we left . 

The kids were playing right in front of me.

Isaac spent some time reading as well as helping smaller children build sand castles and floating in the waves.  He's sitting here with two younger children who befriended him.

The water at Jetty Island is warm from the sand and it stays shallow for a long ways. 

The little ones were safe and warm floating right in front of me.

William standing in a big hole he helped dig

some clams she found in a tide "puddle"

The girls are balancing on a log

Isaac (straw hat), William and Miriam on the ferry waiting to head back home

I love going to Jetty Island because once you get there, you can't leave until your return tickets say, for us that was 3:15.  My life is so busy, I'm always thinking about the next thing we need to get done and have a hard time enjoying the thing we're doing then.  With Jetty Island, we're stuck and I can just relax and enjoy the "forced" down time with no way to hurry us along.  I love watching the kids play in the water and sand.  There have been summers when I've made it over to the island every week.  Those were perfect summers. 

Since bringing Anastaya and William home, we haven't been able to make it.  William has always been a big napper and without his sleep, he's a very difficult child for everyone in the family.  For the past 3 years years, I've cut almost all playing out that didn't allow us to be home for nap time.  It was a huge adjustment for the children who were used to our lots of playing style of parenting.  Gone were hikes, day trips, anything that couldn't be accomplished in a four hour round trip.  When we'd decide, this activity will be worth it, we'd pay the price with lots of misbehaviors, meltdowns, and screaming fits.  As we'd lay in bed that night, frazzled to the end of our wits, we'd decide yet again that it just wasn't worth it.  He's growing up and now if I can get him a nap every 2-3 days, he seems to be able to manage with just a bit more behavior problems than normal.  So, Friday will be nap day which will make Saturday and Sunday more fun for everyone, William included.

Miriam still wasn't feeling very good.  She'd come curl up in my lap and whine, "When can we get out of this place?   I want to go home!"  Then, in the next breath, she'd be gleefully running into the water.  All in all, we had a great time.  We'd brought plenty of food, water and toys and the hours went by quickly.

Miriam's Surprise

Is there a child out there that doesn't love getting mail?  I know I don't have any in my house, even the large almost adult one!  Miriam got a fun treat this week when her Boma sent her a new nightgown in the mail.  We saw Boma on Monday, but getting the nightgown in the mail later in the week made it so much more special!  She's going everywhere with her wand that came with it. 

She's on a continuing effort to "fly" off the end of our bed.  For at least a year, it's part of her daily routine.  She's tried pillowcase parachutes, umbrellas, special flying words and flapping her arms really quickly.  She's convinced that with the aid of the wand, she's able to stay aloft just a little bit longer.  It truly is a magic wand!  Thank you Boma!