Sometimes Piper or Kyla get invited to a party where the host has a little bro Wesley’s age. It’s kinda my thing to invite said boy (and any others left behind by their sisters) over to play sans girls. Then the ninja’s really come out! Until it’s popsicle time, anyway.
Wesley (of course) threw his beloved boomerang into a tree where he and I simply couldn’t get it out.
(Tiny red speck in top left hand quadrant.)
And don’t think we didn’t try. What I’m not showing is the short stick, the long stick, the metal pole, the extended handled brush, and the rake we threw up there after it. I simply couldn’t lift the lawnmower high enough to toss.
[I’m not going to lie—mostly because the pumpkins give it away—I grabbed this stock photo from Bing.]
Sixteen years is not a particularly special anniversary, but no reason not to celebrate with something that we’ve wanted to do for the last 15 years (only because we didn’t know about it 16 years ago).
Dinner at the Herbfarm met every single expectation we didn’t even know we had, over 9 courses and innumerable selections of wine. Again, honesty compels me to admit they were only innumerable because I stopped paying attention halfway through.
We began with a tasting tour of the gardens…
… and met the composting pigs, who may or may not become truffle hunters someday, but will never become dinner.
Dwayne and I are always looking for new building projects…
…and I thought this one had a beautiful green floor before I stepped through the algae into a few inches of water. Slosh go the shoes…
I don’t recall why I posed with the jackalope, but if you remember, I don’t know how many glasses I had.
Dinner was every bit as fancy, fun, and delicious as it is reputed to be. We’ll see if we make it back before another 15 years go by.
Dwayne and I skipped our actual day in favor of convenience. Both girls had their last day of camp on our anniversary, and had to be picked up in opposite directions at the same time, and I think Dwayne even worked late that night. But I said I would plan our anniversary; with only the shadows of our European and New York trips (that he surprised me with) to mock me.
But I was determined that our kids, a major by-product of our union, should be part of the celebration and so after my first 3 ideas fizzled, I planned a family adventure to the Saint James festival at Camlann Village, a medieval living history experience.
Dwayne loved it. I thought it was amazing. Kyla was thrilled. Wesley hated it. Piper yawned.
[Truly, our children refuse to come to consensus on anything, and seem to sometimes dislike something just to be contrary. Kids are so ….augh.]
The musicians were talented and entertaining.
The archery (which Wesley may have actually LOVED) was really cool, and we learned how the longbows were handcrafted.
Master Payne was a marvel.
My daughters were beautiful.
The handcrafting (candles, woven belts, spun wool) was authentic and tedious-looking.
The the final magic show? Well, Master Payne was magical, but Kyla stole the show! (See minute 3:50 for the highlight.)
We followed up with an early dinner at a Duvall bistro, followed by time on a nearby river-beach, and topped it with ice cream.
I think perhaps #17 can be done sans children.
Back when Wesley was in preschool, two grandmas with boys Wesley’s age, and I became as good of friends as our boyz did. Wesley, Westin, and Charlie are still buddies and manically play the few times a year we can get them all together (Wesley and Charles have been in the same classroom since Pre-K, but Westin is on the other side of the district while Grandma lives on the Hood Canal.)
Summertime is especially sweet—these two couldn’t stop jumping in Cottage Lake!
Again, with sisters gone and me recently rescued from a monster, Wesley needed to have a special Mama-Day.
He loves to build [verb, def. 1) to create something new from various materials, 2) take Mama’s tools and leave them scattered around.]
Luckily, Mama had a building project that was both simple and instructive. I had enough leftover materials from the garden bridge I built at the cabin to build a second mini-bridge.
This is the original bridge. Do you see how we cut the side braces into arcs? The inner arc was just garbage…
…so Wesley and I took the leftover Trex board. I drilled the holes and he screwed it together.
What a great mother-son project!
This kid is my hero! Do you wanna know why? It was the first day that both sisters were away at camp, when I came up the stairs to this:
That would be a snake curled up there. Alive? Dead? I didn’t want to investigate.
Wesley got the whisk and scooped up the [alive] snake, and then ran all around the yard trying to rehome it.
He saved me and the house. Thanks, Wes!
This year’s camp of choice for Kyla was a week long overnight wilderness survival camp. She needed her own tent, knife, and mess kit. It was a really good week for her.
First of all, can we all agree that this is a clever slogan?
We’ve made the opening day of the Island County Fair a tradition. Friend Emily has become a bit of a fair junkie, so she brought her girls out for most of the day as well before going all day Friday, as well.
Her girls live in my heart snuggled up to my own kids!
The small, homegrown fair inspires many locals to enter exhibits. This is one of many that caught my eye.
Em’s hubby entered his wood crafting! 
This year, Moana, Cinderella, Jasmine, and Spiderman meandered around, often going on the carousal with kids wanting some extra hobnobbing time. Really fun addition for the youngsters!
It’s worth it to me to get each kid the $25 ride bracelet, and I buy a few extra tickets so that I can go on the Egg Beater with Wesley. We play “Don’t You Dare Touch Me!” game, which is not only impossible, but keeps us laughing hysterically the entire ride.
Piper’s friend, Juliana, joined us, and the girls did the Zipper over and over.
They demonstrate their state-of-mind before the ride…
Chalk up another day of memories!
An itch to build something. Something big. Something that takes too much time, money, and effort.
How about another wall, Babe?
Before:
And currently:
We actually got the front of the wall done in 2.5 days, but that just started the project. We ran out of materials, gravel, dirt, dirt, and dirt pretty quickly. I had a few mornings of being on the 7am ferry to cart back as many 80 lb blocks the minivan could handle (spoiler: not many). As our two weeks wrapped up, we realized that the 30 yards of dirt we got was not enough. The 20 more I ordered wasn’t deliverable for a week. Which is why I am here today, anxiously awaiting a dump truck in the next hour.
And then? After all that dirt is shoveled into place?
Then, we will have finally built our blank canvas and can actually start the project.
Did I mention that Dwayne is back at work and it’s just Me & 3 at the cabin?
Sigh.
