Deception Pass Vacation (Days 8 & 9)...

DAY 8 (Saturday):
By the time Saturday arrived, we had officially been camping for ONE whole week.  I will admit that I was very apprehensive about tent camping with three little kids for NINE days.  I thought that we might last about four days before the melt downs began but to my surprise when day eight rolled around we were all feeling a little sad knowing that we only had one day left.  Emily pleaded to stay twenty more days, the boys were  happy as can be and Bryan and I were having the time of our lives. 

Since it was our last BIG day we decided to go out with a bang.  Grandpa Jim and Grandma Patti went into Mount Vernon for the day to attend a funeral, Jenny and Zach went home so we set out for a day full of adventures.

We started the morning by attending the Junior Ranger activities down by the beach.  We did some origami, went on a nature hunt and colored some pictures...

Then we headed back up to camp and decided to go to Fort Casey for the day.  This is one of Emily's most favorite places ever.  She LOVES exploring all of the princess towers and creating stories all along the way...

I can totally admit that I was a nervous nelly allowing the kids to explore the towers.  All of the surrounding signs that read: "Falling may result in death" and showed a picture of someone falling, sure didn't help calm my nerves....

Jack loved exploring the cannons...

Hey...this fort had a great name!

Going through each tunnel was filled with adventure as well...

When we finally made our way to the top we stopped for some amazing pictures of the surrounding beauty and explored a few more towers on top of the hill...

Just as we finally reached the highest point, the ferry left from port...

 Emily discovered one last area to explore...

Then we carefully walked down a million stairs, landed on the plush grass and the races began...

This is my most FAVORITE series of pictures of Emily from the summer 2011...

We finally reached the lighthouse and went inside for a little tour....

We ALL began to ascend the treacherous stair case (the same falling to death signs were posted all over inside here as well) but this time my pleas were heard and Jack, Charlie and I descended a little early and let Bryan and Emily pursue on their own...

They went to the very tippy top!  Can you see them in there waving at us?

When they came back out we all reentered and hung out with the tour guides for a little bit.  These old guys just ate up the kids and gave them a special lighthouse treatment...

After all of the hiking, running, hiking and running we assumed these kiddoes would have passed out cold on the way back to camp but as we approached Coupeville and noticed that they were WIDE awake we decided to take another little side trip.

I have driven through Coupeville a million times but I had never been down to the old part of town before.  This place definitely went on my most favorite places list.  LOVED IT...

Bryan really wants me to go kayaking with him but so far I have been a bit of a wimp.  The whole idea of tipping over in the middle of the ocean or bay makes me a little nervous.  Maybe sometime when we don't have the kids with us I will get the nerve to try it out but for now I am resorting to taking pictures of those brave souls...

A nice lady noticed our family and offered to take a few pictures of us....

Inside the kids were amazed at the full sized whale, sea lion and sea otter skeletons that hung above us...

When we were done exploring the pier we made our way back to town in search of ice cream...

We found the most perfect place just off the pier.  I cannot remember a time when I had ice cream this good.  The kid cones even came coated in a layer of sprinkles....

Jack doesn't like ice cream, or anything cold for that matter, so he ordered his blue bubble gum ice cream and then offered it up to Charlie...

With our bellies full we toured the rest of down town and then headed back to camp just in time for the evening concert...

Charlie seemed to be the ONLY one enjoying the music so we snuck out early and headed over to the beach...

The sun was starting to finally set but I had one last stop to make before our trip was over.  I had promised Emily that she could go sit in "The Giving Tree" and play awhile and had yet in our trip to make it there.  So we piled the kids on the bikes and headed to the tree and to our "tee pee beach" for our final night...

Emily serenaded me with her "Tangled" song...

The sun began to set just as we arrived and it was absolutely perfect.  Thursday had been our actual anniversary but we decided that this evening on the beach was more like an anniversary night for us.  Charlie was asleep in the bike carrier, Emily and Jack ran around on the beach and Bryan and I sat against a log watching and LOVING all of the joy around us...

This is my most favorite picture of Jack for summer 2011....

There really could not have been a more perfect way to end our vacation...

DAY 9 (Sunday):
On Sunday morning my dad and Patti took off early while the kids and I played down at the beach.  While we are content with our tenting arrangements, the set up and pick up are A LOT of work.  It took Bryan over 2 1/2 hours to get everything packed up.  The kids and I arrived back up to camp just as he was finishing up and we headed on home.  We spent a few hours unloading and then checked our messages and found out that the Joneses were having a camp out in Grandma and Grandpa Jones' backyard so we piled the kids back in the car and headed up north to join their camp...

These two boys found each other again and spent most of the evening together...

Charlie got some quality time in with Grandpa Jones...

...and Emily scored a delicious fruit smoothie...

The kids ate some dinner on the lawn...

...and then got right back to playing...

Grandma Jones even made a bouncy house in her tent...

Charlie got some blueberries from Grandpa Jones...

...while Jack found Auntie Manda's lap to play ball for awhile...

You will have to check out Auntie Manda's blog for the rest of the evening.  The boys and I headed home since setting up our tent again felt like a little too much work but Emily stayed behind for a camp out with Grandma. 

Looking at all of these pictures is a true testament of how fortunate we are to have such incredible families.   I LOVE watching our kids grow up surrounded by so much love and so much fun!