Lopez Island Camping Trip

We took a great camping trip over Memorial Day weekend with three other couples. We camped right on the beach in Lopez Island-and I mean ON the beach. In fact, we had to park about a half mile up a hill and hike down to our campsites.

We started the trip with a drive to Anacortes and a ferry ride over to the island. We left the house early Saturday morning in hopes to catch the 8:40 ferry. The ferries to Lopez don't run very often so they are very spread out. Despite arriving an hour early, we missed the ferry by TWO cars! As we looked around we noticed that all of the couples we were meeting (minus one who made the ferry) were within 3 cars of us. So, we pulled out the snacks and lawn chairs and spent the morning in the parking lot with all the kids. It was a long morning, but we were so thankful for the company. Four hours later, we boarded the ferry and headed off to Lopez.

Views of the San Juan Islands and Mount Baker from the ferry. It was a short, but gorgeous ride! We had awesome weather the whole weekend. Very chilly nights, but very warm days-about as perfect as May can be in Washington.

As I said before, it was quite a hike straight downhill to the campsite. We had to load up wheelbarrows with all the camping gear and hike it down to our site. Okay, Mike had to hike. I made the trip very few times. This is the dogs tied to the wheelbarrow attempting to make themselves useful. Not totally successful, but very entertaining. The campsites in the background are all the other couples. There were not very many campsites in this area so it was pretty much our private beach for the weekend. The dogs were able to run loose and the kids could run from site to site. In total we had 7 kids under 5 so they had a blast running loose and camping away from cars and parking lots made it possible for us to relax a bit while the kids played.

This is the view from our tent. Not bad to wake up to in the morning...

On Saturday the "big boys" rented kayaks and paddled around the islands for a few hours. Ian loved it and I guess they spent some of the time racing each other so Mike was consistently instructed to "go faster Papa" as they paddled. They both had a blast!

The boys stopped by our beach to say hello on their trip.


Ian and Papa taking a break.

The season was off for crabbing, but clamming was in, so a few people went out at low tide and dug for clams. This is a picture of their haul that was later turned into very tasty clam chowder and steamed clams. What a treat!

Doing a little cooking of our own (both on the stove and "in the oven"-this is about 27 weeks along).

William sleeping in one morning (following being up from 4:30am until 6am). At this point in the mornings it was still very chilly so he is all comfy and bundled in the tent, sleeping in the sun.

Ian and Brody playing in the grass with, what else, trucks. Another good shot of the view.

Although we didn't get to go clamming, we did take a nice walk to search for shells. Ian was reluctant at first, but soon he got into the search and was eager to find different shapes and colors. He just insisted on not getting his feet wet so we had to carry him over the tidal pools and streams.

Papa and his boys strolling...

Carrying our bucket of shells. This is the beach at low tide. This area is completely under water by the evening.

What camping trip is complete without S'mores? Ian finally got to stay up late enough to taste one-he's officially hooked!
We had a great trip and are looking forward to making it a yearly tradition. Should be interesting next year with all three kiddos!

Florida

I guess I have to apologize for the lack of posts. I have been told to update so here we are.

As most of you know, my grandfather died in late April. We all went to Panama City, FL for the funeral and to spend some time with family. It was a hard week of good-byes, but it felt great to celebrate him with the whole Lloyd family and for our kids to spend some time with their cousins.

There were too many people there to all stay in my grandparent's house so Christopher, Amy,

Mike and I (and the kids of course) stayed out on the beach. All the boys had a great time playing at the pool and Ian and Will loved the beach. In fact, our fearless Will crawled headfirst into the ocean over and over. He reminded us of a little Navy SEAL, army crawling over the sand and practically challenging the waves. Don't tell him he has any disabilities.

This was also the week that Will really decided to try walking. Something about being in a new environment seemed to build his confidence and by the end of the week he was taking tons of steps. Within a week of getting home we were really able to say that he was walking more than crawling. He is doing great! His balance is horrible and he falls ALL the time, but he is officially a walker now. As with all things, it will take him awhile to get sturdy, but what a change in our house to have two boys on their feet! This place is crazy and only going to get crazier! :)

We didn't take too many pictures in Florida, but here are a few of the boys enjoying the beach.

Ian and Mama actually out in public in a bathing suit. I have made it through 2 pregnancies without ever having to put on a maternity bathing suit, but I guess I finally had to give in.

Ian and his dump trucks. He finally has gotten over his "sand issues" and probably would have stayed at the beach all day. He didn't want anything to do with the ocean, just wanted to have his trucks in the sand.

William loving the water. He couldn't get enough and we spent most of the time chasing him as he took off toward the waves!

William playing in the sand during one of the few times he wasn't headed toward the water.

Ian and Papa playing in the sand.

I will follow up soon with some posts from our camping trip on Lopez Island and a few pictures of the upcoming move. We are also getting ready to celebrate Will's birthday soon. Hard to believe he's going to be 2!