There is a teenager living in my house.

My firstborn is now 13. I still can't quite believe it.

Since his birthday fell on a day not around Labour Day weekend, we were able to hold the party on his actual birthday. That doesn't happen often.

He had 5 boys join him in celebrating. Four of them slept over. The first activity was jumping from the roof of the playhouse onto the trampoline. We joked that this was the initiation into A's gang. It was pretty nerve wracking to watch.

They went to the high school field for a while. They had pizza. A really wanted to have a rocket league tournament (A's favourite game on the XBox).

Once it got dark they played murder in the dark and "killer." Brutal sounding names but they are completely harmless games.

What was funny is how late the guests slept in, the next morning. At his younger brother's sleepover, the boys woke up a lot earlier. What a difference two years makes.

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Olympic Peninsula Vacation - Ocean Shores

We stayed two nights at the Polynesian Resort. We had a living room with a fireplace, a kitchen, and one bedroom. The man at the desk told us that Kurt Cobain had worked there as a teenager. The hotel is right on the beach. Well, there is a 5 minute walk through some bushes and dunes to get there. You can hear the surf in the room. I loved the sound and the fresh sea air.

You can drive on the beach.

We didn't go farther than this since our car doesn't have 4 wheel or front wheel drive.

In the morning we went to Sharky's first. It is a t shirt and souvenir store.

We went to the Jetty.

J and the boys walked/climbed along the rock wall. I found more sea life in tide pools.

Lunch at Subway, again. Up next was mini golf for J and the boys. I went shopping. There isn't too much shopping in Ocean Shores. There is one good shabby chic store where I found some treasures and I also visited a thrift store.

There are lots of deer hanging out in Ocean Shores. By the side of the road and behind our hotel.

The sun finally came out. We went to the beach.

I can't believe I can get the results above with a phone.

I wanted to stay longer at the beach but we came back to our hotel to take advantage of the early bird dinner special for $10.99. We felt like seniors.

Friday morning after we finished this puzzle

we headed for home. Our car wouldn't start after stopping at the grocery store in Ocean Shores. Found someone to give us a boost. I guess our car didn't want to leave the ocean.

It was a very good vacation. Lots of variety of places and lots of natural wonders. I think what I liked best was that we did a hike or walk every day except for the day in Ocean Shores.



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Vacation - Days Three and Four - Forests and Beaches

On Tuesday, we left Port Angeles and drove farther into the Olympic National Park. We went on a hike to Sol Duc Falls. Lots of moss here.

The standard photo of these falls, with both the bridge and the falls in it, is pretty impossible to achieve. Unless using a drone? Here's the bridge:

Here are the falls:

After our hike we ate the custom made sandwiches that we brought along from the Safeway in Port Angeles. J and I went into the Sol Duc Hot Springs. The boys were repelled by the strong sulfur smell so they didn't get into the pool. They stayed on the benches. It was quite hot and sunny at this point. The pool water was very hot.

We then drove to the town of Forks. C and J went into the Forks Timber Museum. I went into the Forks Visitor Center.  It is Twilight central! That's a vampire book series and movie, if you were wondering, which is set in Forks. Here is Bella's truck.

We did a short hike at the Hoh Rain Forest called the Hall of Mosses. My boys love to climb up onto logs or trees.

The moss covered trees are pretty amazing.

We had dinner at the Hard Rain Cafe. We all had burgers - mine was salmon. We had wild blackberries for dessert since the one and only ice cream place in Forks was closed at 8 pm. We stayed at the Olympic Suites in Forks. We had our own bedrooms and a living room and kitchen. We were able to cook our own breakfast there.

The next day we went to 2nd Beach near La Push. Yes, 2nd Beach is really the name. There is a 2 mile hike to get to the beach. It is an amazing place. There was quite a lot of fog so my photos aren't that great.

2nd Beach is one of my all time favourite places.

We enjoyed looking for sea life in the tide pools.

J and the boys had fun feeding crabs to anemone. Here's a collage of the sea life we observed.

Here is J on top of a boulder.

We had Subway for lunch. We drove down the west coast of Washington and stopped at Ruby Beach. What is unique about this beach is the rounded rocks.

I would've liked to stay longer there, collecting rocks, but A had some tummy trouble. Our next short stop was at Kalaloch. Here is J by the "Tree of Life"on the beach. It is also known as the tree cave. It is a tree that survives without any soil.

Our next destination was Lake Quinault Lodge. What a gorgeous place.

My husband says that his highlight of our vacation was the time we spent here, enjoying the view.

We could have had dinner at Lake Quinault Lodge but I got a tip that the food was a better value at the Salmon House just up the road. My salmon with dill sauce was delicious. We did have quite a long wait for our food. A had salmon, of course.

We drove to Ocean Shores. We stopped in the tiny town of Humptulips (yes, really the name) to buy a phone charger since our cell phones were both dead since we left a charger behind in Port Angeles.



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Olympic Peninsula Vacation - Sequim, Port Angeles, Lake Crescent.

In the morning we had free breakfast at the hotel and then drove to Sequim (pronounced Squim) which is only 25 minutes east. This was the day that we did FOUR activities!

First on the agenda was the Olympic Game Farm. I wasn't sure if my boys would be too old for this but they thoroughly enjoyed it. At the Olympic Game Farm you drive through the property. At the beginning of the tour you can park and get out of the car to feed deer.

The llamas were pretty funny. Here's one at our car window.

There is a Siberian tiger who was at a safe distance.

Olympic Game Farm is known for its "waving bears." They are hilariously lazy. You have to throw the bread right to them (from your car window) or they won't bother picking it up. They will wave if you wave at them.

This was my favourite bear.

Our car windows had a lot of animal slobber on them (from deer, llamas, and bison) after we left.

Next stop was a quick tour of a lavender farm. I picked Washington Lavender for the picturesque setting and they advertised a labyrinth.

We should have bought some lavender to help with hotel odours. Next time!

Our next destination was Hurricane Ridge. We took some standard photos here.

Next we did a short hike for some exercise and better views. If you click on the next photo and look closely and you will see me and A on the path.

From this spot you can see Victoria.

Deer are frequently spotted at Hurricane Ridge.

In the afternoon we drove to Lake Crescent for some canoeing. What an idyllic setting! This is the view from inside the Lake Crescent Lodge.

The lake is so clear. My son A and I took turns canoeing with J since we renting a boat for an hour.

The dinner prices were quite steep at Lake Crescent Lodge so we tried out Granny's Cafe along 101 for supper. I was happy with my fish and chips. We had a mini blackberry pie for dessert. We stayed in Port Angeles for a second night.


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Olympic Peninsula Vacation - Day One - Port Townsend and Sequim

Victorian style building in Port Townsend

We originally planned to leave on Sunday afternoon via the Edmonds ferry. A hot tip from a friend at church (thanks Kathy!) saved us sitting in line for an hour or more. We drove to Whitbey Island (the north way via Deception Pass) and took the Coupeville ferry to Port Townsend. It was cheap, fast, and there was hardly any wait. I enjoyed the unique view from this smaller ferry.

We spent a little time in Port Townsend. The ice cream was delicious! "Local Raspberry" was my flavour. Here is an old ferry dock.

You can see Mount Rainier (faintly) in the background. You can watch lots of boats from the shore in P.T. We went to Fort Worden State Park. That place is huge! Mom, here's a lighthouse for you.

We walked on a couple of beaches. I was hoping to find a "glass" beach but the one that was recommended failed to satisfy. We drove to Sequim for supper. We stumbled upon the Black Bear Diner. It looked fun.

Apparently it is a chain restaurant but we've never encountered one before. My son had this huge taco salad and managed to finish almost all of it.

We stayed in Port Angeles that night. I was exhausted and fell asleep before anyone else.


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