On a Whidbey Island Whim.....

finally home. no point bringing all the filth into the house.

lining up for lik's famous pancakes.

doing the makorania!!!

a roaring game of Star Wars Monoply.

no washing machine + 7 kids=improvising.


maxwell grant




typical jackson (nice pink boots). this kid is confident! :)



samuels sweet hand holding the only star fish found all weekend!


second grade men

sideline whale show

the crew-minus eli

my favorite beach boots!

i like last min. plans so when my SIL,lisa called a few weeks back & asked us if we could be ready in 7 hours to head out to Whidbey Island for a long week-end, i was ALL over it!

Lisa's family has had this cabin in their family for years. lucky for us, they are also willing to share. The cabin was snug for 11 of us but we didn't care.

we were on an island...

on the ocean.

we rolled in on thursday evening, 'set up camp', tossed the kiddos in bed (strategically spread them out on the floors) and vegged out. which i might add is what the adults did all weekend.

bliss. pure bliss.

friday morning the kids were up LONG before the adults, itching to hit the beach. you must know that technically, it was still winter so hitting the beach means something entirely different in the month of February than it does in July. stinking cold if you ask me.

but whatever, they are kids. temperature doesn't much matter to them.

there was adventures to be had.

when i tell you that all 7 of them spent a total of 10 hours outside that day, i'm NOT kidding!

i must mention socks. i must give a small tid-bit of advice here. when you pack for a weekend away, near water, where it's wet AND sandy, two pairs of socks per kid is NOT recommended! these children made their mothers CRAZY! "i can't find a match. that one is gross. that one is wet. that is Zach's. i'd rather go without than wear Max's smelly sock". well, you get the picture. in fact, i'm posting a picture of all the dirty, wet socks just because it ended up being sorta funny.

i guess you had to be there.

it was funny in a maddening sort of way.

lis, bai and i snuck away to the antique store (one of the Best ones i've been in in years) a few different times! such fun treasures.

on friday morning, while SOME OF US, (TIM) were still sleeping, we heard MUCH cheering from the kids. wouldn't you know it, a MASSIVE WHALE WAS SWIMMING BY OUR WINDOW!

i know, you must be thinking, 'how big could this thing have possibly been'?

it was GIGANTIC!! i have never, in my life seen something SO massive and so graceful. it's like it knew we were watching him (could it have been all the screams of delight?) and he put on a big ol' show. doing these perfect 'little' back flips! really, really amazing!

the rest of our time was spent combing the beaches, making 'forts', board games, movie watching, watching COPS, food, lots of food,eating far more sugar than humans should consume in a given weekend (robin egg candy), scavenger hunts, Apples to Apples,even a little air soft war.

and laughing, we did a LOT of laughing.

such sweet, sweet memories.

thank you denbleyker/fisher family!