A Day on Lake Washington

We "won" a day on Lake Washington at the Helping Hands charity auction last fall. We've never won a live auction item since those usually get bid up too high for us to consider. We paid 250 dollars.

When J spoke to the boat owner to arrange a date, he mentioned the possibility of seeing the Blue Angels from the water. I was so excited! That was something I'd wanted to do for years! We picked August 3rd which worked for all of us. 

We met the owner and his wife at Log Boom Park in Kenmore (near Kenmore Air) which has plenty of parking. We brought along Dawson, C's friend, since the trip was for 4 people and A was away in St. Louis. Here's a funny photo. J took this to text to the owner so he would know what we look like.

First we went along the east side of lake Washington to the 520 bridge. 

Here's a nice house:

Just south of the bridge is Bill Gates' house.

This was our 2nd time seeing that. We first saw it with my parents on an Argosy cruise back in June 2002. I noticed that it has more trees in front of it than back in 2002, better for privacy.

One thing I noticed was that several houses have a funicular (a cable railway) in order to get from their house at the top of the hill, down to the water.

We went further south and then our captain set an anchor. We had to stay 500 feet away from the I 90 bridge. We saw police from 3 different divisions: Seattle police, King County police and the Coast guard.  The boys went out in floats to enjoy the view and cool off. 

I wished that I had worn my swimsuit so I could've done the same. This was where we watched the Blue Angels.

Sometimes they flew directly over us and quite low!

We were treated to an onboard BBQ as part of the experience. We didn't need to bring anything. We were offered the choice of hotdogs or skewers with chicken and vegetables. We also had an appetizer of basil, mozzarella cheese and tomatoes on skewers. 

We saw this boat that was a charter for a group, designed like a pirate boat.

After the show was over, we went along the east side of Lake Washington. Then we went under the 520 bridge 

and headed toward the Montlake cut aka the Montlake bridge which is right next to the UW. Here is the football stadium.

Here is the Montlake Cut.

After that we stopped at Aqua Verde (a Mexican restaurant). It was cool to arrive at a restaurant by boat.

I'd like to come back and eat there. it seems like a fun place with a beautiful view. 

There are a lot of houseboats in Portage Bay (near Aqua Verde).

We went back to the main part of Lake Washington to head back. 

Our caption put his foot to the floor, as it were. One of the kayakers we passed didn't appreciate our speed. He shook his head at us. We returned to Kenmore at 4 pm. 

I should have taken a few more pictures. My contact at Helping Hands wished that I had taken a group photo with our hosts. She could use that for promotion for the next auction. I was concentrating on both being a good guest and enjoying this very special experience. Sometimes it is nice not to take too many photos!

One problem with spending a long time on a smaller boat is there is no bathroom! We did stop at a Aqua Verde in order to use the bathrooms. I bought a drink there since I felt that was the right thing to do since we used their facilities. 

Pin It

Graduation Party for 2023

Note: I don't have many photos. I was a chaperone and couldn't think about photos. 

I helped with the planning for the party. I was the only one on the committee who had previously helped plan a grad party. The planning committee was quite large. About 20 people. The two ladies who were the lead organizers are moms of C's friends (Micah and Eli). I was secretary for the meetings. 

The party went until 2:30 in the morning. I wasn't a big fan of this but I was in the minority opinion during the planning. The pool was booked from 10 pm until midnight, after it was closed to the general public.

First was check in at CPC. The graduates lined up. There were about 73 kids who came to the party. We checked off their name, they were asked to sign their name on a thank you card for the hosts, and they received paper wrist bands and raffle tickets.

Once we had our final count of kids, the two charter buses left. I was a bus chaperone. The bus company required two adults on each bus.

First stop was the property near Maltby. The moms and dad that were already there and preparing welcomed us with music on speakers and cheering and they videotaped us walking up the long driveway like we were a sports team. It was funny.

The kids could put away their bags and then line up for food which was Qdoba. Qdoba is Mexican food, build your own burritos. There was a caricature artist. We hired a DJ so there was dancing.

A blurry photo of kids dancing.

The DJ called names for the various raffle prizes. Some were large (an Apple watch) and some were small.  One gift was a set of towels to take to college. Prizes were donated or purchased with the ticket money. $175 was the fee for the party. This allowed us to charter the buses and pay for the food and the pool rental.

The outdoor games included corn hole, spike ball, and playing with a giant beach ball.

At 8 pm there was line dancing led by an instructor. I like line dancing because you are told what to do.  We also had some country dancing which is with a partner and quite simple and similar to square dancing. Back to more line dancing. I enjoyed watching this one girl who has been in ballet for years who danced so effortlessly. 

I forgot my jeans at home( I was wearing shorts and knew that I'd need something warmer once it got dark) so I asked A to come bring them to me. He was happy to have an errand since he was a bit bored.

Next it was time to get back on the buses and go to the Snohomish Aquatic Center.  I had never been to this facility. Lots of fun things to do there. The highlight was the Flo Rider surf simulator. I took lots of photos of the kids doing that and sent them to their parents. Here is C, first with the instructor and then alone.

There was also a water slide. C spent lots of time playing dodge ball in the water. For dry activities there was karaoke and a room in which to play board games. In the hallway was set up free popcorn and Italian sodas.

At midnight we loaded up the buses. We had to do multiple head counts since a few kids left and or changed buses. It was stressful for the main mom in charge. We went back to the property for snacks and hot chocolate.

Kids gathered around the fire pit. They recounted funny memories. 

The evening finished with a devotional from John Shorb which was a lot of good advice. Shorb (as we call him) was the Bible and drama teacher for many years. He is now the principal of the Lynnwood CPC campus.

At 230 am, kids and chaperones boarded the buses to go back to CPC.

C was planning on driving home but his contacts were bugging him so I drove. The Jeep needed gas so by the time we got home it was 3:30 am. I woke up and was able to go to church the next day even though I told everyone not to expect me.

Christopher really appreciated the party and said he had a really great time.

Pin It

Christopher's Graduation

My baby graduated from high school on Saturday June 3rd.

Early in the morning, I got my hair blown out and curled by my hairdresser. I took a selfie. 

We had some last minute scrambling. The dress pants C intended to wear were too short and the next candidate needed ironing. I did that at the last minute, even though I told him to get his clothes ready the night before. C forgot his tassel (for the cap) at home. I'm thankful that A could drive home to get it. 

We had to get there early (11 am) to line up for seating. A's graduation had assigned seating but that was a much smaller class size and it was still during Covid protocols so there weren't tons of people crammed into the sanctuary. J stood in line. Once the line started to move, we realized that the tickets we needed were with C and not with J. Luckily, a mom of one of C's friends had an extra ticket to give him. I was parking my car at the time. We got some good seats in the center section. Not super near the front but that was fine. Here we are waiting for the show to start.

I was surprised that C and B were the first to walk down the aisle. C's friend Brenden was the valedictorian and Eli was the salutatorian. B and E got to choose a friend to walk with and B chose C.

The speeches by B and E were excellent. I am proud to know these young men. One of C's friends was wearing bread shoes. Actual loaves of bread as shoes!

The graduates:

Here is the cap toss.

Afterward I tried to get as many photos as possible. There wasn't a designated photo location unlike in 2021. C was hard to nail down since he wanted to see all his friends. 

Here's an explanation of what's around C's neck. The yellow cord is for a high GPA, the blue and gold ribbon leis were for student leadership, the medal for STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) honours.  The orchid lei was bought by a friend's mom. She ordered and bought about 20 or 30 for other kids and I paid her back. The weather was perfect. This is me with the valedictorian's mom. 

We know them from soccer. C carpooled with her son B for many months this past year. Some more outdoor photos.

C and I went home to change and get ready for the big party. 

Pin It

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. 

Pin It