Words to pictures

So I thought I might want to put some words to those pictures from the past couple weeks.
Obviously, I was on vacation from work, but not from family! We had a nice time, the kids and I and then the kids and My Honey and I, but I must admit, I am looking forward to a hockey tournament or two where I can get away from them ;)

Lets begin with Beach Love.  I kind of explained what we were up to, crashing my Dad's vacation, but not where. The kids and I took off on a Wednesday after work and stayed with my Dad in Issaquah, then we all caravaned to Long Beach (WA) which was a 4-ish hour drive from their place, and it was as beautiful there as the pictures show. They rented a cute little house a half-mile from the beach and a couple blocks from downtown, so we were set. We spent a fair amount of time at both places. Both kids have gotten more into shopping since they are earning a little of their own spending money and its interesting (albeit frustrating) to watch them make buying decisions. I must admit they did a great job, both of them even came home with money left over.

Saturday we left to head home. I had my nephew staying the night so we had to gitty-git-git!! The drive home was just over 6 hours. I must say it wasn't nearly as bad as some of my other travels with the kids, which seem to be getting better as they get older. They are both finally into listening to music and we upgraded our car stereo so it was a much more entertaining ride. I tried to find some fun, kid-friendly (but not kids singing) music to keep them and me entertained, and I must admit I did pretty good. Or at least I thought so.

As far as the pictures go, there was this crazy HUGE snail on the path by the beach. I took a walk one morning (6 miles, baby) down this wonderful Discovery Trail, what a treat! I'm glad it was there. While out I nearly stepped on this poor guy. But I thought he was cool so I took a picture. There are a couple of the kids playing on the beach, an adorably noisy birds nest above a women's restroom door at the beach, some crazy rained on dandelion-type thing, a heart in some drift wood and finally, exactly what I would do if I had to live in a rainy world. Paint it BRIGHT! COLORS! And use FUN! fabrics! I loved the interior with all the fun, bright-ness. Just what a place on the beach needs.

Mo Beach Love were just some other things I took pictures of. Some funky purple flower I saw everywhere, one of the many dew-dropped spider webs I came upon on that trail and a crazy white door on a blue building. I see doors photographed all the time, I never see ones I like so it was a win-win.

We came home for one night, packed up Sunday and headed to Leavenworth for some Campin Love.  I gotta tell you, KOA camps ROCK! Pool, store, outdoor theater, full hook-ups... It was pretty nice. The kids could ride their bikes around, I could sit by the pool, Leavenworth wasn't far away. Probably a do-over. So there is a picture of the pool which I posted to FB with a note to all my friends "How are you spending YOUR day? What day is it, anyway?" a picture of Bubba whittling (toward his chum, not his thumb) me in my new Maui Jim's (LOVE those glasses), and the juvenile fishing pond we found by accident.

The Last Bit of Vacation Love includes a picture of my niece dressed for her Shakespeare play. They did the Taming of the Shrew this year. She was Tranio and she rocked it! My sister, our kids, my mother in law and I were all there for opening night. What a treat! Its fun to watch kids interpret Shakespeare, throw in a few lines about current events and get all dressed up. There is a fish from the juvenile pond that Hannah caught. Crazy story; we were shopping in Leavenworth and one of the guys at the sporting goods store just loaned us two fishing poles to take the kids fishing with. It was super nice! A picture of the kids fishing and a picture of the moon on Friday night, my last day of vacation, from a moonlight cruise on Lake Chelan. It was a really lovely evening, warm enough I didn't need a jacket at all even on a boat, and the moon was gorgeous!

And that, friends, was our vacation. Oh wait! There's more ... We head back out on vacation Thursday! hahahaha!! Just a couple more work days to get through and another ten days off. We are taking the camper north for most of the month of August.

Standby, there will surely be pictures of our adventures.