Orcas Island Camping

1 They are really tucked in! Thankfully they love being cozy!	2 Having to say goodbye to Gramma and Richard, too. Boo hoo! That was a great two-month visit!!! Can't wait for the next one. Less work for you guys, though!	3 Waiting for the Kingston ferry. The Port Townsend ferry was cancelled due to fog so we had to regroup quickly and figure out how to get up to Anacortes to catch the San Juan Islands ferry without killing a lot of time which we'd otherwise enjoy in the campsite ;)	4
5 Sam sending a few texts. He has the FUNNIEST sense of humor via text. I can't tell you how much fun we've had getting his notes. I will have to figure out a way to dump Sam's first week of texts for a keepsake.	6 Grownup Eagle is still among us and happy!	7 In the San Juans at last!	8
9	10	11 After all the fog burned off we got beautiful weather.	12 A tradition was born last year when I took the boys - Jelly Beans on the ferry!
13	14 One stop at Lopez, then on to Orcas.	15 Ben took this picture. Thanks, buddy!	16 That's where we'll land!
17 Oh boy - getting silly!	18	19 At the site! It takes 6 hours to get here, but there's a lot of time spent in and out of the car so it doesn't feel like a long drive, because it isn't. It's really relaxing just getting there. Our site is on the water. So nice! This is Cascade Lake. Eagle checking it out, too.	20 See the color of the water?
21 Thanks to Mountainsmith I have three functional travel cubes that hold all the boys' stuff and mine for trips. I love them!	22 I have pictures of Sam doing this from age 2 to age 9 now! This year he set up the tent nearly all on his own.	23	24 Gettin' cozy!
25 Another tradition - get cozy, then take a picture out the front door over our feet!	26 The boys are going to sleep over there. I am taking this picture from where our tent will go. The water is over the log to the right.	27	28 Testing it out - pretty chilly! 60-65 or so, maybe a little warmer in the shallow parts.
29 Ben says as he poses "I don't want it to be blurry."	30 In this one he's actually pounding.	31 First swim! In later pictures you'll see that the boys played in the water for over 3 hours one day. They were so tired and cold they almost needed a clinical rewarming strategy. Sam especially. He was loopy!	32
33	34 "Bulbous butt" created lots of laughs!	35 Dave was trying to nap. He said that Ben's voice and the echoes of laughing traveled very far!	36
37	38 Hmmm...a bit chilly for me!	39 Ok, I'll give it a try. They really wanted me in! I have a hard time refusing the cuties!	40 Dave and Ben...
41 The Sam Otter still playing!	42 Getting to kayak on his own again. Each year he gets more skill and confidence. This year he really could do what he wanted with it.	43	44
45	46 Our site is the first two tents. The next site was empty both nights. How lucky!	47	48
49	50 The boys like "Daddy style" camping as there are a great many more food options and niceties. He nicely reminded them that there are certain things which are hard to do when you're just a mommy taking two very young boys as I did for many years.	51 The approach to the site.	52
53	54	55	56 Ben likes s'mores, just not the stickies!
57	58	59 An "A" for Awesome!	60 We put Ben to bed (or so we thought) and gave Sam some grown-up time. Can you see the time stamp on the picture? It is 8:57PM. Ben is still in the tent talking and whispering in his whisper-hiss. We can also hear him making other noises which Sam says are common when Ben is falling asleep. It was so funny - trying to have a chat with Sam but with the constant and entertaining interloper from the tent.
61	62 This is still at 10PM! Can you believe it?	63 Next morning. Everyone did ok - it was the first night the boys had their own tent. Dave thought he had a queen bed for us...but...guess what? He had a TWIN bed which happened to be a double-high! That is why it had so much material that it looked like a queen bed. We were quite cozy!	64 First morning at camp!
65 Playing with camera settings. We enjoyed "cartoon" :)	66 Now playing with "auto-detect smile" - it found me right away.	67 It did NOT find Dave until he did this! The craziest smile face he could make!	68
69 Good morning!	70 And the boys are up, too!	71	72 Sam showing us some of his movies. He is a funny videographer as well! We were all laughing out loud.
73 Ben liked the cartoon setting I showed him of Dave, so he did the same thing. Notice he closed his eyes just like Daddy. Very observant!	74 And Pythie likes cartoon!	75	76
77 Daddy making breakfast coffee!	78 And character pancakes! This is a snake, can you tell? Last year the bubbles showed up right away where the eyes and nose should be!	79 Eagle, with his feathers!	80
81 Eggs, too!	82	83 Mommy cooks better over a fire. See, no black pancakes!	84
85 Visiting Mt. Constitution - a highlight for Dave!	86 That's how our ferry came through - you're looking back toward Anacortes in this view.	87	88 Mountain Lake below us.
89 "The most adventurous gummi in the world" says Sam. He brought it with us on a hike, carrying it in his hand.	90	91	92 Last year I had only two boys on this bridge. So nice to see a threesome!
93 Rescuing caterpillars on the "rescue boat." This also got to be a very loud endeavor, Dave reports.	94	95 Two otters.	96 Lots of diving for seaweed.
97 Driving the rescue boat! He was so excited talking about rescues that he got a "drool beard"!	98 Just like in Hawaii. So fun to see him having a great time in the water for HOURS!	99 This is one of the rescued caterpillars. He was wet and cold at both ends. Ben says his name was Henry. He dried out in about 30 min and crawled away ok.	100 Interesting rock with lichen on it. Ben is calling it onvit. That is the rock's name. Hmmm...
101 This is the rescue boat.	102 Now they've found a dragonfly who was really wet. I tried and tried to separate his wings for him but he really didn't fare well. I couldn't find him after about 30 min so maybe in the end he did dry out ok?	103 Henry and the dragonfly.	104 Sam taking Ben for a ride in the kayak!
105 Video of Sam taking Ben for a kayak ride.	106 Here they come!	107 Sam bringing Ben back home to our site.	108
109 Sam was very careful - he did a wonderful job!	110	111	112 Otter attacking the kayak.
113 Fingers wrinkly!	114	115 Sam was SO tired! And cold!	116 I gave him my jacket, too.
117 A new friend from the top of Mt. Constitution.	118 Helping break down camp - it was raining on our final morning.	119 A nice hike up to Sunrise rock. This is right up above our camp.	120 Funny faces all around!
121	122	123 Thanks for taking this picture, Ben! I'm not really this short, btw ;)	124 Hiking to Cascade Falls before heading back home.
125	126	127 On the last ferry home. We were a little kooky for sure! Sam was showing us the movies he'd taken on his phone. They were hilarious!	128 He's showing me and laughing :)
129 Seeing his favorite part of "Kooky in Coupeville"!	130 Showing Ben now...	131	132 Almost to the funny part!
133 Wait for it!	134 This picture is my wallpaper now - such funny memories.	135