Poppa time!

Ella and Liam both soaked in all the Poppa Time they could get. We are so sad to live so far away, but so lucky to have opportunities for such wonderful visits.

Beach time

These kids couldn't get enough of the sand, shells, rocks, sticks, water, etc. A beach is a perfect playground, no equipment necessary!

Back home

After the big catch, we all hustled home to clean and cook the fish. Will asked my dad for a fish cleaning lesson and he got so inspired as to strip down for us. How manly! Check out Liam's reaction - that face!!

Fish on!

The salmon were back this summer, which made fishing on the beach a whole lot of fun. In these pictures, you see Ella helping her dad, then celebrating when she heard he had a fish on the line and later showing Liam the big stick and explaining how to kill a fish with it. Liam looks a bit wary of that fish, eh?

Playing with Hero

Ella looks up to her cousin Hero quite a bit and relishes play time with him. One day, the three of us build a house in the sand with all the driftwood, shells, rocks, feathers and garbage that collects on the beach. It was a really special day.

So much sand, so little time

Liam, who used to raise his feet in the air (insisting that they be wiped off) the minute they touched sand, now rolls around in it. These two loved all the beach time out on Whidbey.

Whidbey and the swing

My dad had the idea to hang a swing in the wonderful Maple tree in the middle of the yard at Whidbey. Whether it was to challenge his son-in-law or entertain his grandchildren I know not, but it certainly turned out to be the highlight of the stay - both the hanging of the swing and the swinging of it! In this first photo, Ella was watching her dad head up the tree. As he got to the top of the ladder, she said "Bye, Dad." which humored and worried us all!

Dew drops on a spider web

After a particularly good play session with the hose (on mist), Ella ended up with what looked like a hair net of diamonds. It was beautiful and not totally captured on film, unfortunately...

Seattle Aquarium

It's an amazing place and we've had such great visits there. Ella was particularly interested in the sea horses and octopus this time. And I love their cheeky pose on the otter sculpture.

Gardens with Grandma, Posicles with Poppa!

To each his own...

Learning new things

Liam learned how to use a bike pump, how to do a somersault and many more things. 18+ months is an incredible age of discovery!

Really?!

We went to the beach with Cousin Hero and had a fantastic time, but were quite impressed and almost horrified at how far into the water (50-60 degrees?) these two got! Wow.

Playing

We had a great two weeks in Seattle. We experienced a bit of sibling tension and fell into some tough sleep patterns, but no travel is stress-free with kids, right?