Our Crazy Beautiful Life: Our Fun-Filled 4th of July Vacation

We took some vacation over the 4th of July Holiday and spent our time enjoying family and exploring the land. We started off at the general Samish council meeting, which we enjoy every year. We spent the weekend attending cultural events, and spending time with family. It was a great weekend with so many great memories!!

We headed out on the ferry to explore Friday Harbor, and that was such a beautiful ride!! Friday Harbor was gorgeous and SUPER HOT! Goodness gracious, it was hot! We had a lot of fun walking around the town and exploring all the little shops... We also ate at Fridays Crabhouse right across from the ferry terminal. I want to say that it had the best fish and chips that I have ever eaten, and we also had the nicest server. Her name was Victoria, and she was spectacular. We had some special requests that were handled very easily by her and she took amazing care of us! We all wrote restaurant reviews about her and the incredible food, and also I called the manager to let them know how much we appreciated her hospitality. Its a must eat for sure if you ever get out to Friday Harbor!!

Isn't my husband handsome?? HAHA

Aboard the Samish Ferry!

We also spent some time in Bellingham exploring my brother-in laws stomping grounds... we toured Western, Saw Tyler and Liz's apartment and spent time at Boulevard Park at sunset which was one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen!! I blew out a flip flop, so I walked around WWU barefoot most of the time, and no one seemed to notice... Got to love the hippies up there :)

I am going to have this one framed! From Left to right - Ryan, Tyler, Liz, Blake, Me, Kyle, and Luke :)

We went Blue Fox Drive-in in Oak Harbor... OMG- HOW NEAT!!! It was all retro... decked out with black and white checker tiles everywhere - the food was amazing, and the bathrooms were super clean (we all know how important that is) there were go-karts, and arcade and the best part was this amazing bed Kyle made in the back of the truck with cushions from the table in our trailer and matresses from the kids bunks... HAHA I could have slept in there all night and my kids thought it was the coolest thing ever! They made it through the first movie - Inside Out - but fell asleep 15 minutes into the Avengers. Kyle and I stayed awake through it and by the time we packed up after the movie and drove back to the trailer, it was 3:15 in the morning! OMG I haven't stayed up that late since before we had kids. Kids went right to bed, but of course, and then they were up at 7:30! It was a lot of fun though, and I would totally do it again!!

Thank you Tyler for the picture :) Snug as a bug in a rug!

I married into this...

We also spent some time on Whidby Island to visit a family that we know and also happens to be someone that both Kyle and Monty work with. Kyle, Monty, Tyler and the boys went early and went crabbing... everyone got their limits and they limited the day before also, so there were a lot of crab! like 60 something... and oh, it was hard to not eat too much since I kind of need to be careful about my seafood intake, but I still bet that I ate way over my quota for the week, in just that one day! Whoops!! Whidby Island is beautiful, and full of deer! It couldn't have gotten any better - great food, great friends, and beautiful scenery!

The 4th was great! We had some friends come up and celebrate with us in Anacortes, and the RV park that we stay at overlooks the harbor, and they had a great fireworks show, and we didn't have to worry about people being stupid and shooting each other with fireworks. It was really nice. I kind of wish the kids got to do some sparklers or something, but oh well, I am sure that they will survive :) We celebrated with fresh Salmon and Halibut that Kyle just caught in Alaska, and even more crab... yes, I over did my seafood intake... whoops! I just couldn't help myself, it was so delicious!! I mean, how much more all-American can you get?? An apple pie would have been the icing on the cake, but that's just my sweet tooth talking :)

We had a lot of firsts this vacation too! Blake finally was ready to take those training wheels!!! YAY!! Monty went and got him all these pads so that he couldn't be scared to fall, and with his help, and Daddy there to catch him, he figured it out! He almost ran Luke over, but now the kid is pro!

Kona, who I thought only liked to walk in water up to her ankles; never thought she would like to swim... she just walked out into the water, and kept going. We just stood there with our mouths open in shock, and she was swimming.... she's really good at it! You know when you see a dog swim for the first time and they look like they are drowning? Not Kona, she was so graceful and stayed out there forever! She ended up swimming next to me while I was in the kayak, and we had to make he go in. So proud of our girl!!

Blake learned to paddle his Kayak by himself! We still have his boat attached to ours, but hes got his rhythm down, and before long, he's going to be on his own!

We had a lot of fun playing on the beach, getting dirty, playing in the water (it was so warm) going on walks and just enjoyed taking some time to slow down. We LOVE camping... we cant wait until our next adventure!!