Day Trip to Whidbey Island

I love Whidbey Island. I think I could live there some day. There is so much to see and do. I talked J into taking a day off to go there on Friday. I knew that the laburnum arch was in bloom and I wanted to go to take advantage of that.

We took the Mukilteo ferry and left about 10 am. Not much of a wait. Our first stop on the island was Whidbey Coffee. Next was Bayview Gardens. When we parked the car, we saw a climbing rose that completely covered the chain link fence.

I love this laburnum arch.

Bayview Gardens is a great place to walk around and admire plants of all sized. They have an interesting gift shop as well. We could've eaten lunch at the Flower Café at Bayview but it was a little bit early. I've eaten there before.  Next stop was Greenbank Farm.

We ate lunch there at Old Spots Bistro in the small building in the above photo. We ate outside in the sunshine. I had chicken pot pie and J had a cod sandwich. This restaurant was previously Whidbey Pies but they still sell pies. I spotted a laburnum tree.

Next we drove to Coupeville. I visited one of the shops. We hung out at Greenville Cider in Coupeville and enjoyed the sunshine and view of the water.

Coupeville is a very old town and the store front facades are preserved.

We didn't go to any beaches on this trip. I'll save them for my next visit which will probably be in June.

Next we went to Deception Pass. 

J had been there in April with C's scout troop. He helped lead an emergency preparedness drill. I got out of the car to take a few photos. You can walk across the bridge but I feel a little uncomfortable since its so high.

view from the shore, next to the bridge

Our final destination was Mt. Erie. I only heard about it a few days ago when I was googling ideas of places to go on Whidbey Island. Mt Erie is close to Anacortes.

We drove up the windy road to the lookout. I'm thankful it was a clear day. 

note: we're very safe, on a cement platform with a railing

There are multiple ways to hike up to the top. J recommended this location to our boy scout troop's Scoutmaster for a future hike idea.

We didn't need a ferry to return home since we drove around the north end which is connected by the bridge. We had such a nice day. A great way to spend the day before J's birthday. 

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It Was Sunny The Entire Time

The blog post title is a nod to my husband. He thinks of Victoria as always rainy and miserable. I joked about having this title for my blog post and here it is!

Moss Street

J and I went up to Victoria on April 11th to spend some time with my parents. I chose the week of C's Spring Break since I wouldn't need to worry about him getting to school every day. We decided that C was mature enough to handle a few days on his own.

Our trip on Tuesday was uneventful. We were surprised that the border wait getting into Canada was the shortest we have ever experienced. We did have to wait a long time for a ferry since we arrived in Tsawwassen between sailings. 

J took these photos.

We stayed at Marketa's B and B. We learned that we've been mispronouncing her name for years! We stayed in the basement and didn't really like the noise of feet above us. 

The breakfast served at Marketa's is delicious. I had eggs benedict most mornings and pancakes for some variety.

When J and I were driving in the city we saw a garden which we'd never visited before - Government House. It is the residence of the Lieutenant Governor (The Crown's representative). The grounds are beautiful even though most things haven't bloomed yet.

 I was impressed by the view of the Straight of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic Mountains. 

Here is a statue of James Douglas, the first governor of British Columbia. He was known as the father of B.C.

I love camellias. 

Some magnolia trees in bloom.

I took Mom on a drive to see the cherry trees in bloom and the view from Dallas Road. I found that Moss Street seemed to be the best spot for blossoms. I went back later to take more photos. I liked the combination of this blue house with the pink flowering tree in front.

We took my Dad out to dinner twice. My mom wasn't feeling up to going out to a restaurant. The first night we went to The White Spot and the second night we went to the Penny Farthing (a British pub in Oak Bay).

J enjoyed reading the menu full of British items. One funny item is "Chip Butty" which is a french fries sandwich! Here is the shepherd's pie my Dad and I ordered. 

One goal of the trip was to help my mom with planning for their upcoming 60th wedding anniversary party. I usually do some small tasks for them: laundry, ironing, mending. I took my dad shopping and we found some new shirts and a pair of pants. Before we left we took some family photos. 

I'm thankful that J came with me on this trip. I've made the trip alone many times in the last year and a half.

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Missions Trip to Puerto Rico

C joined ten other students and two teachers for a missions trip to Puerto Rico. The teachers are both Spanish teachers and each have five kids/young adults. They left on March 13th in the evening and returned on March 18th at midnight. 

His group was one of the smallest groups going out from his school that week. The most popular and large groups (and the ones which his friends chose) went to Ireland and Belize.

C was in the role of a leader since he was more mature than the other seniors on the trip. They stayed in a hotel (many boys to a room) and their meals were from local take out places and an occasional sit down restaurant. 

The weather was very warm. They painted a building. 

Here is C in front of his completed work.

The painting must have been done over two day since I notice that C is wearing two different shirts!

They played basketball with some local kids, they did crafts with kids, and they worked in an orphanage.

They tried to minister to homeless but they didn't find many homeless people. A good problem to have! C also said that the orphanage didn't have many kids in it.  They played on the beach when they weren't working.

On the last day they toured the old city of San Juan. 

Here are some other photos that were shared but I don't know much about them.

C has mixed feeling about the trip. He enjoyed going to a new country. He wished that he was with his friends. The teachers loved having C there. They had so many nice things to say about him. They want him to come back next year as a chaperone. The chances of that are slim since the missions trip week will likely not match up with his college spring break. 

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Senior Dinner 2023

Another milestone has come and gone. The dinner for parents of seniors was on March 26th, my birthday. I joked that this was my largest birthday party ever!

What is the Senior Dinner? The parents have the opportunity to speak a blessing over their child as they prepare to graduate. It was held at Thomas Farms in Snohomish in a large beautiful barn. We got there very early. I wanted to make sure we were seated with C's friends. 

In a change from the dinner in 2021, the letters were just read to the table, not the entire group. C's graduating class is much bigger than A's was. There are 90 some grads this year. There were 65 in 2021.

There was a slideshow of photos which C really enjoyed. We had two speakers. The first was a young lady who graduated with A in 2021, who goes to Northwest University in Kirkland. She gave advice and encouragement to the students. The second speaker was Mr. Bryant, the superintendent of the school. 

The food was delicious. I heard that there was salmon for the gluten free people There was no line for that food, so on the encouragement of the table, I went and took that.

J spoke for 6 minutes. I know that because I was recording it. The limit was supposed to be 4 minutes but it didn't matter. J will likely print out his remarks for C to keep. 

The flowers for the centerpieces were given to the family that had their last child graduating. That was me!

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