I look forward to a time when life slows down a little bit. We have been cramming a lot of ‘living’ into a short amount of time lately. Mike’s mom has been here for a visit and although we always say that we’re going to just ‘hang out’ and have everything be low key, it never really turns out that way because she’s here for such a short amount of time. Time is just the worst thing! It always makes us feel like we have to do things in a hurry, cramming so much into just a few days. I know some quantum physics types say that time doesn’t really exist, but it sure doesn’t feel that way when we are trying to live life to the fullest over the course of one weekend.
It was Mike’s birthday this weekend. I am two years older than Mike so I am gritting my teeth until he reaches the magic age where he can feel the same sense of urgency that I do about shaking things up a little and sailing to Hawaii. Or Mexico. Where ever. Until then, I just buy him gifts that we can use on a sailboat. This year I bought him the[amazon_link id=”B005IGVY8I” target=”_blank” ]Nikon COOLPIX AW100 16 MP CMOS Waterproof Digital Camera with GPS and Full HD 1080p Video (Blue)[/amazon_link], a ‘ruggedized’ digital camera that is said to be waterproof. He’s been talking about having a little waterproof camera on the boat so he can take photos of, for instance, the engine when he takes it apart. Or the bottom of the hull when I hit rocks with it. This should work. Andrew got him a nifty little[amazon_link id=”B0019KPS66″ target=”_blank” ]VidPro Gripster Flexible Compact Camera Tripod[/amazon_link] for action shots, and Claire bought him a paper chart of the west coast of Washington, and one of the Columbia River where it empties out into the Pacific. If our Cal 34 hasn’t sold by August, I’m hopeful for a trip down the coast to further expand our sailing skills. We celebrated his day with a trip up to Seattle to our daughter’s new apartment.
How is it that our 27 year old daughter has this view? Oh, right. She lives in Seattle, not in Lakewood surrounded by trees.
Mike made this family portrait using his nifty new tripod and a timed exposure. Cool!
And because that simply wasn’t enough traveling, we took Mike’s mom, Carolyn, to San Juan Island so she could say she’d been there. I figured we’d kill two birds with one proverbial stone since we’d never driven around the island ourselves and we consider whether we’d like to live in the San Juan Islands some day. If we win the lotto, that is. Because pretty much anything with a water view starts at 1/2 million dollars. And if you want to actually live on the water…..don’t even go there. Maybe we’ll just live on a sailboat for awhile.
Down at the southern end, in the Cattle Pass area. Could I live here? What a dumb question.
But the island is lovely and when we arrived Mike and Andrew took naps while I drove Carolyn out to Lime Kiln Point to see the whales. Mike is the Whale King ever since he was surrounded by them while out for an evening sail in Commencement Bay. Mike must have been calling them for me in his sleep because they were there! So Carolyn got to see them. Here are a few photos from the weekend.
Not a great photo, but for the whale lovers in all of us, any photo is good.
The lighthouse at Lime Kiln. Classic.
This seal has the right idea. A little water and a lot of sunshine.
Mike shows the appropriate posture when napping on driftwood.
Apparently foxes live on the island.
Happy birthday Mike!!!
Thank you Cidnie. There is no greater happiness than to be surrounded by my loving family. And chocolate cake. That makes me happy too. A pony on my birthday would have been terrific but the pony has bad knees and Claire lives on the third floor.
I would like to comment that your 27-year-old daughter with the killer view does not always also have a killer double chin…usually my chin is downright stately, for the record.
I LOVE the picture and want a copy…. MOM Sounds like you had fun….
You look great, anonymous. We’ll send you the digital file, mom.
Happy Birthday Mike!! Love the photo of the whale..Getting a photo at all is a feat.
Great looking family. This post had me going awwwwwwww. <3's.
I have to call fake on the photo of the lighthouse, you undoubtedly posted a puzzle box picture. Nice try though.
Dani
Hey, all the light houses up here look like that! Probably millions of people have that same shot.
Just stumbled upon your blog from Mid-Life Cruising!!!. It’s been a delightful read; entertaining, humorous and informative. I was interested in reading your ‘Boat Review’ segment, particularly since you had experience with the Cal 34. We’re currently sailing a Cal 39 in Mexico and found your comments of interest. Another cruising couple who has been recently searching for a new cruising boat are Brittany and Scott who post on Windtraveler (www.windtraveler.net). You may find their search and comments of some interest. Good luck on your search and I look forward to reading about progress in your little cunning plan.
Hi Peter, and welcome! I am envious of your Cal 39. You may have read our review of one the recently sold up in these parts. I still regret we were not in the position to buy when we found that boat. It was the perfect size, the perfect layout, and it had a lot of newer equipment. Alas. Someone else snapped it up and our broker told us we didn’t even want to know how much the person paid for the boat. It had been sitting on the hard for awhile, so they probably got a real deal. We love our Cal 34 and wish it were the boat we wanted to cross oceans with. Thanks for the info on Windtraveler. We’ll check them out, and also it looks like you have a blog as well! We’re always looking for new readers, and also for new blogs to read! I love it that we can already begin to be part of a cruising community even though we still have a way to go before we cast off the dock lines.
I think that’s one of the best family photos I’ve ever seen! Is that Mike’s mom? How is she so young? She had him when she was 13???? At first I actually thought you had another daughter I didn’t know about. Then I remembered his mom was visiting. She looks like a very fun mom – can she adopt me?
Exciting times for Claire! I always loved getting a new apartment. And one with a view???? Lucky girl.
I do like San Juan but have only ever walked on, so didn’t have a car to explore. Whidbey has, I believe, more to offer and not as expensive. Also, much closer to Seattle for visting. (hint hint)