Langley in Summer

Langley is charming on so levels, starting with the flowers that grow like, well, weeds all over town. The library is on a corner lot of 2nd street, and the children’s section overlooks the water perfectly.  There’s two places for ice cream, a free whale museum, an old fire station that now produces blown glass—and bubbles—, darling alleyways and shop, and one of my favorite thrift stores.  We also have several choices to get our morning coffee with friends.

Cabin To-Do(ne) List

1. Install the cell phone booster.  Check!

That’s a small, non-descript box on top of the pantry.  I now almost always can take and make a call or text, and often even get email on my smart phone.  Dwayne still wants to do some small adjustments to it and needs to finalize it’s installation, but it works!

2. Install new kitchen faucet. Check!

It has a pull-out nozzle and adjustable spray, which is about 20 generations beyond the original model, and since we do not have a dishwasher, this makes the job much easier.

3.  Install large screen TV. Check! 

 

4.  New Washer/Dryer.  Check!

Look, it actually rinses and spins the clothes mostly dry! And then the dryer actually dries them…in under in two hours.  It’s a modern miracle…and necessary for actually leaving the cabin before the last ferry leaves.

5. A new thermostat.  Check!

I arrived at the cabin on a cold November evening and the main propane stove wasn’t working and the back up wall heater also wouldn’t turn on.   Lots of phone calls (before my cell booster or my smart phone so I had to pack up all the kids and drive a mile down the road with a phone book), lots of time, lots of money, and ahem, once I plugged in the stove, the thermostat connected was broken.

6. Taking down the alders trees in the front corner of the yard.  Check!

 

These trees were nothing but a caterpillar attraction, and a convenient way to litter our yard and our neighbor’s.  Dwayne will eventually dig out the stumps, but it’s a first step in getting the yard to a more pleasant, less upkeep state.

7. Repurposing old wall heater space.  Check!  Since “we” (thanks again, Jim!) just did this today, it’s currently my favorite project. Since we took out the broken wall heater, we’ve had a big hole in the wood wall as well as a extra electrical wires. “We” built an alcove bookshelf to house the XBox, DVDs, and games and most impressively, installed an outlet in the hobbit hole to plug in all media behind the scenes.  We were able to take out the tangle of wires and the old TV cabinet.  I love it!

8.  New deck.  Not yet. In June, hopefully.  Right now, there are about 3 spots that you almost step through when you walk on it. 

 

Wow, cabins take a lot of…resources. Still like it, though!

Mini-Mamas

You’d never know we have 6 beds at the cabin—4 twins and two queens.  The kids squeeze in as close as they can and, in the case of Piper and Cecily, squeeze me out of my own bed. 

The girls and I had an agreement.  For some reason, Piper and Cecily have really hit it off lately. (Cynics may say because they have the potential to be equally…spirited… children in spite of their angelic looks.)  So when the cousins spent two nights at the cabin, Piper became Cecily’s mini-mama.  To the point, Cecily would squeal, “That’s my Mommy, that’s my Mommy!” whenever Piper was around.  Piper dressed her, brushed her teeth, got her in and out of her car seat, slept with her, read to her, played with her, lifted her in and out of her high chair, and generally took really good care of her.

Kyla took over the care of the boys (who called themselves mini-daddies).  Of course, she had twice the kids but a lot less work.  And her ability to fully hold responsibility doesn’t shock me one bit, but I still can’t forget to give her full credit.  Well done, daughters!

Why I Like Coupeville

What to do at the cabin with four kids and a really rainy February day?  We drove up to Coupeville!

It’s small, but the museum has wooly mammoth bones, arrowheads, the first car ever on the island, a history of telephones, and old toys and clothes.  We’ve been there once before, but it’s a great place to wander as it rains outside.

 

A short walk from there is the wharf.  We go there because I like the three skeletons of sea mammals hanging from the ceiling.

 

Cool, huh?

 

There’s more to do in Coupeville (I could wander the Victorian-style homes around town for hours).  But taking four kids to a shop and finding food that fits Kyla’s diet?  We drove back to the cabin and invited cabin friends over for a tea party instead!

“Pet” Antics

I’d rather not have animals at the cabin, wanting this space to be friendly towards those with allergies.  However, we know more people with pets than with allergies, and our own kittens can’t be completely left alone at home so they come along with us. 

I don’t know how Timmy got up here, but since he couldn’t figure out how to get down, I had time to grab my camera before I rescued him.

 

Wesley wonders how he could do such a trick. 

 

Piper already knows…

Christmas at the Cabin

Aah, the pictures don’t do it justice, but I like decorating our cabin with my used Christmas finds.

I bet you’d never guess that a thrift store gave me this tree for free!

I actually had to pry off all the old with lights and put on new ones and cheered it up with red ribbon.  Clearly, it can’t handle the star on top.

 

 

 

 

 

Our other tree is smaller but sturdier.  Sturdy enough for the kids to decorate themselves.

 

 

 

I found these for soldiers at an after-Christmas thrift store sale.  Love them!

 

 

I probably spend more time putting lights up than we actually use them, but I like making sure Christmas lights light up the way for neighbors coming over for the annual Holiday Open House.

We don’t have the snow to make it picture perfect, but I love our cabin in all seasons anyway!

Let it Snow (ish)!

Sometimes, it’s hard to avoid adventures on the island.  Take this last weekend.  We went to the cabin partly because we were throwing a neighborhood Christmas party over there.  Wesley was being his usual obstinate self and had decided to pee on the carpet in the bedroom.  [There was evidence and testimony that this wasn’t an accident.]  This necessitated a trip to the pet store in the one strip mall on South Whidbey. 

When we went in, there was nothing unusual.  When we came out, it was snowing!  Or soaping?  The hardware store had a soap bubble machine and we had fun!

Another Cabin Improvement

My friend, Susanne, had a medicine cabinet leftover from a remodel a year or so ago.  She wanted it out of her garage so our cabin got an improvement.  Thanks, Friend!

Before:

 

After:

 

I also worked on the front yard.  There’s a circle of “flowers” (okay, mostly weeds and overgrown grass) in the middle of the lawn.  It will look better and be easier to maintain when I can dump some dirt and grass seed over it.  But it will be slow progress, done only when it’s warm, dry, and we’re not at the beach.

 

Two birds with one stone:  moving pretty purple flowers next to the deck where they won’t be mowed over and another opportunity to plant something where I want Dwayne to build.  There’s always a master plan, my friends.

 

And this tree is significant in that it’s not dead.  It was supposed to be a weeping flowering cherry, but it has grown straight and tall and was overshooting the space in our own yard.  So I uprooted it, pruned it down to size, left it in the garage overnight  before it was tossed in the back of Jim’s truck and carted over to the cabin.  Jim will be the only one more shocked than myself to see how well it is blossoming.  Seriously, how did I not kill it?  Well done, tree.  Use well your second chance at life.

It’s Bedtime. Where are the Kids?

There are four twin beds for three kids to choose from.

No one here.

 

Or here.

 

There was a kid here earlier.

 

Ah.  Snuggly like a ferret.

 

And the next night.

Flitting with the Fairies at Meerkerk

I’ve written about Meerkerk Gardens before, a rhododendron plus garden with an additional 40 acres of nature trails.  The garden also specializes in fairies, and we happened to be in the neighborhood on “Make Your Own Fairy” day. 

 

Volunteers had scoured the gardens for wings, bodies, and appropriate fauna accessories and then provided hot glue guns and some beads and ribbon scraps.

 

Luckily, the kids didn’t know about the cupcakes and apple juice until after they had spend lots of time creating their dolls.  Wesley was happy to decorate a single fairy wing.

 

And the Woodland Fairy Queen was happy to pose for pictures with the interns.

 

Piper just likes putting things on her head.

 

We meandered through the gardens until the girls came across the 1 mile nature hoop and they badly wanted to explore it.  All three kids walked the whole thing quite happily!