Adventure in the San Juan's

In case you just came across my blog over the past couple of weeks, I should probably mention that I have two other quite amiable children that are spending most of the summer days out in the backyard... Here are some pics of Nathan and Jamie playing with Evelyn and the neighbor kids.The slip and slide was one of Nathan's birthday gifts and wow, everyone loves it! Here's that bug research that Evelyn was interfering with... They ended up catching a frog instead...... which was released into the wild soon afterward when we realized it wouldn't eat the dead flies the boys were trying to feed the poor thing. Phil took that picture - I don't think I'd be standing that far away... They were playing Ring around the Rosie.And here they are looking at a library book. I just noticed that Nathan doesn't have his glasses on in any of those pictures. We need to keep reminding him to put them back on again after playing in the water!
Speaking of water, our friends Nate and Jen invited us on a 100-year-old sailboat for a 3-hour excursion through the San Juan Islands for their daughters' birthdays. We sailed last Saturday out of Friday Harbor on the Adventuress! The birthday party had a pirate theme, and the parents had provided crafts for the kids to make before we boarded the boat - Pirate hats! And everyone got a few temporary tattoos as well. Arrrrgh!(Evelyn spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa's house... It's a good thing too. She would have been over the side of the boat in a flash!) As it was, we had our hands full enough with the boys wanting to explore up and down, and around the boat. The crew was great with the kids, and sang sea shanties while everyone helped pull the rigging for the sails. They had build-your-own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the galley, and even provided some education about the history of the boat, watershed conservation, and more. Here I am telling a fellow knitter all about Ravelry. I couldn't believe it... Her mom owns a yarn shop and she had no idea...

It was a beautiful day and there were many other sailboats out on the water... We'd all wave to each other as we'd sail past. We had fish and chips in Friday Harbor before taking the ferry back to Anacortes and heading back to Bellingham where my parents were watching Evelyn.

Back at the house, Phil has been home the past two weeks working on the new deck. He's designing it himself and so far it looks great! Nathan and Jamie have been helping out by handing him nails and screws and the occasional hammer. He looks pretty proud of himself, doesn't he? :) I can't wait to sit out there with my spinning wheel!