The end of the school year is always busy. I cannot believe the kids are out of school in less than 6 days! Saya is graduating from kindergarten, Aly and Noah are going to be second graders and our big boy Sean is going to be a fourth grader! In our school district, sixth grade is the start of the junior high, which means Sean will be graduating from elementary in two years. Now I feel old. The time is flying by faster than I'd like to admit.
On my previous post, I wrote about the camping trip we had gone on the Memorial Day weekend. I was going to log on the next day to write the next story, but I have been having a hard time at night to sit at my desk. My desk lamp is broken! A thing as minor as that is enough for me to not get near my desk.
So where do I begin? I wrote about the first day at the camp, so I suppose I will write about the second day!
I just love waking up at the campsite in my tent. The soft morning light filtering though the tent and listening to all the birds chirping, you feel like the richest person in the world. We slowly get up and walk to the communal bathroom. The campground is still quiet, some people are starting the fire for breakfast. I like to take a peek at other people's campsites. What are they making for breakfast, I wondered. I was pretty sure that Jen's breakfast is going to be the best one at the whole campground. She brought a mini oven to toast her croissant!
Kids started to play as soon as they got out of the tents. They reluctantly ate their breakfast since they wanted to continue to play. We took it easy enjoying our coffee and chatting by the camp fire. It was a beautiful sunny day and the forest was soaking up the sun. We decided to explore the beautiful island and see what it offers. Sean had a minor meltdown since he wanted to go back to the beach he went on the first day. We convinced him that there are many more beaches to explore and although he was skeptical the new beach would be as cool as the first beach, he finally agreed to get on the car.
We drove around to find a public beach quite a bit as many of them are private. It must be nice to "own" your own beach! We finally found a peaceful beach at the southern end of the island. It was like a cove surrounded by rocky hills with evergreens. It was perfect because it was quiet and was a sandy beach where kids can dig and play. Sean was pretty impressed with the new beach and forgot all about the drama he had. The adults sat on the log and stared at the ocean. Kevin and I took a lot of pictures simply because we were inspired. Kevin was a professional photographer many years ago so he and I can talk photography for a long time. He thought Alyson and Sean are good photo subjects. I told him that is because I've been taking many pictures of them since they were little. We spent a long time at the beach taking pictures, climbing some boulders, examining vegetation and feeling very happy to be in such a beautiful place. I truly felt lucky that day.
The dinner was grilled chicken drumsticks and corn. They were delicious! I want a fire pit at home to duplicate all the yummy food we ate. Must be the air, burning wood and the real roaring fire. I understand why there are many camp fire songs out there. You feel calm and happy looking at the warm glow and listening to the rhythmic crackle of burning wood. It's like my mind is getting a massage and I feel more relaxed and cleansed after sitting by the campfire. I slept better on the second night and felt sad that we have to leave the next day.
The last day was spent packing up. It takes time to undo the comfortable home we built there. We noticed that we were the only campers left on the big campsite when we drove off. We left about 2 pm. We soon found out why when we got near the ferry station. There was a HUGE line to get on to the ferry. Lopez island is the last stop before getting to the continent, therefore can't pick up too many cars as the ferry is already full. The attendant walking by informed us that we are lucky if we are able to take the ferry at 10 pm. My jaw dropped. 10 PM? That is like 8 hours wait time in the car. Kevin has to work the next day and so missing the ferry at 10 PM wasn't an option, either. After trying to figure out how to get Kevin on the mainland with the transportation to Bellevue, we came up with an equally exhausting solution! Kevin takes Sean, Aly and Parker with him and board the ferry on foot, takes the airport shuttle bus service to Seattle and have Mike pick them up. It sounds crazy but doable. We discovered that there is a ferry leaving in about 10 minutes, so I ran with three kids. We ran like there was Godzilla chasing us while bored people lining up in the car watched. There was a good mile to the ferry and kids and I were huffing and puffing but we pushed it. I handed over kids to Kevin and ran back, this time an uphill to the car. I gave my key to Jen in case the line moves. If the line moves, Jen has to first move my car forward and then go back to her car and move hers. She pleaded me to come back really fast, so I ran again like I am turning the last corner to win the gold. The hill was big and again, those bored people in the car... I was such a cheap entertainment.
We ended up waiting until 8:30 pm. Suddenly the line kept moving and I was on the 8:30 pm ferry and Jen barely made it on the same boat. She was the last one getting on! While waiting, I pulled out my grill and we heated up some food for dinner. Some people had their chairs out and were playing card games, reading etc... It was a strangely fun time we spent. We waited for at least 6 hours, but it didn't feel like it was that long. Jen has a special spell on me. She has a power to make time goes really fast when we are together!
I had a GREAT time camping with the Collins. The island was beautiful and even the mishaps at the end is a very good memory now. I am looking forward to our next camping trip together. Where might we go next? We will avoid an island for sure :-)
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