James Island Part 2

I know I already posted twenty photos, but there are more. This was such a beautiful day and I just have to share these with you.

Some sort of fungus. Yes, you all have permission to laugh at me for taking a photo of fungus, but it's nature- I love it!

Death Camas

The Mr. and I. I was out of breath from climbing the hill.

It's so neat how the tides ripple the water. Sometimes you'll be going through a rough patch with huge smooth circles in it and you can look ahead and see a line drawn across the water that separates the rough from the smooth as well. So interesting.

The Mr. stepped close to the cliff to get this photo while his mother and I squirmed and screamed to get him to step back from the edge. Scary.

A Black Morrel mushroom- I can't believe this is edible, it looks so weird.

Field Chickweed

Pulling into Friday Harbor on San Juan Island

A boat with the same name as someone who reads this blog. (Hi Lisa!) We stopped and looked a a few shops before getting fish and chips at The Hungry Clam and ice cream at San Juan Ice Cream Co. (I heated a gluten free dinner up on the boat for myself and had chocolate for dessert from the kitchen shop on Spring street. MMM.)

Off we go again.

A boat with the name of someone else we know, our dog! This time at the Blaine marina.

A really really old boat. I forget the year that is on the smoke stack but maybe when I remember I will come and edit this note. It's an incredible boat that I hope someone is fixing up.

The Cormorants are on their nests now. I wonder what the babies will look like.

James Island

On the 21st we had a wonderful day. The Mr. and I took MomJ out on the boat for the second time. The only other time she was on our boat was our maiden voyage so it was about time! We visited an island we had never been to before called James Island. It was recommended to us by my Rheumatologist, twice actually! He told us it was a place we should definitely visit, so we made plans to do so.

The view from the boat as we drifted and ate a cold lunch. Little did we know we were just a few miles from our destination, but we were hungry so we stopped and drifted while we ate.

Our arrival at James island. The Mr. and his mom walking up to the island.

The traditional boat at the dock photo.

We definitely want to camp here sometime! It is the James Island Marine state park, which includes 113 acres and 12,335 feet of shoreline. It is one of the most rugged, but beautiful of the San Juan islands. If you camp here, you need to make sure and bring enough water with you, there is no well. This is the first island we have visited that has no running water.

The view from our favorite camping spot on the island. I bet this spot fills up fast!

Mt. Baker

James island has beautiful hiking with amazing views.

We thought this boat had a great name. A few days ago I did a bit of searching and actually found a blog written by the couple on this boat. They are on their way to Alaska! They are living on the boat with their cat. :)

The smell on this island was incredible. I think it had to do with all the fresh grass and flowers mixed with sunshine.

Field Chickweed
I bought a new book that tells you about the foliage and flowers on the islands. So bear with me as I guess flower names. :)

Pacific Banana Slug

Oxeye Daisy

There's our boat way down there. The boat on the other side of the dock was owned by an older man who was by himself. He had spent the night at the island and was just hanging out around the island for the day. We had a great talk with him and learned quite a bit about the island. He told us that he had actually seen deer on the island but had not yet found their source of water. I've heard of deer swimming from island to island, but that would be so weird to see. He also told us about a band of raccoons that were really smart. They would come onto the boats during the night and open cupboards and latches and coolers and get into everything. He mentioned that this season he hadn't seen them yet, so maybe the state caged them up and took them to a bigger island!

Stay tuned for part two. :)

Verses and Choruses

(I've been having problems with uploading photos, sorry for the long break in posting!)

I love Sunday School Treats. The kids are so cute standing up there all by themselves and this year all of the kids were very brave! We had a talk for the kids, then the four classes gave their presentations and books were handed out as a reward for Sunday School attendance. After that, there were games for everyone. One of the games was a crazy relay that involved drinking water out of a cup, eating an entire licorice shoelace, eating a doughnut hole that was dangling off a string in the air, unwrapping, chewing and blowing a bubble with a piece of Hubba Bubba and you had to do all of that with your hands tied behind your back. It all happened so quickly that I didn't get one shot that wasn't blurry but it was so much fun to watch! After the games we had a nice supper and lots of time to relax and visit. I took Petra with me to the meeting room for the first time. It was her first time in Canada actually!

Heather's class.

Dave's class.

If you would like to follow along with the songs and verses in the videos below, I posted the lyrics and verses to YouTube. Clicking the video will take you to it's YouTube page and then click on "more info" on the sidebar to the right.

My Class

(Excuse my nervousness that made me prompt way too much, the girls knew their stuff!)

The Toddler Class

"Can't I go run and lick all the kids to death?"


"No? Okay, I'll just sit and watch."

Playing a matching game where they had to search their friends for people with matching hair color or eyes etc.

Marshmallow and toothpick building contest.

Boys will be boys! We looked out the window to see these two little boys climbing around in the trailer with BARE BOTTOMS. It was hilarious and SO cute, but the moms showed up and "ruined" all their fun! I guess this stage is just another part of potty training?

Thanks for putting smiles on our faces boys, even though you were "rescued" and clothed.

Where the Men do the Cooking

Mother's Day in my husband's family means the guys do the cooking. Our traditional meal includes steak on the BBQ, mashed potatoes, Parisienne Salad, garlic clove encrusted bread, and sautéed mushrooms, Martinelli's sparkling apple cider and cheesecake with fresh strawberries for dessert. Above, LJ is working on the sautéed mushrooms and mashed potatoes on the left and The Mr. is slicing the bread on the right. Sallad is outside grilling the steaks, but I forgot to take a photo of that.

It's actually pretty nice to sit back and relax while the guys put lunch together and try and find their way around the kitchen. This year Sallad and Grace were our gracious hosts. Grace's kitchen is nice and open so the ladies were able to see what was going on the whole time and suggest what needed to be done next appreciate all the hard work that was going into the meal. The food turned out SO good! Here are a few shots I took that day. I didn't get a photo of the yummy dessert because we had to leave early in order for The Mr. to get to work on time. He ate his off of a paper plate on the way home!

Sallad and Grace have a sunroom off their kitchen that is just lovely. It is so handy for hosting large groups. Isn't Grace's decorating beautiful? I was blown away.

This is a photo of someone else's plate. Mine wouldn't have bread of course. :)

On a side note, Bri is one now! Actually, she is one year and one month and one day. :) It seems like just yesterday I was posting about her arrival. In celebration of her birthday, here is a little group of photos that I am sure will make her grandma smile. I love this girls personality. She is so happy!