Birch Bay, Big Foot, and Birthdays, OH MY!

Our trip to Washington was packed full of fun! We flew from LAX to SEATAC on Virgin America. It was awesome! I've flown a lot in my life, and this was a great experience. The planes have cool screens and handsets at every seat where you can play video games, watch TV, watch a movie, order food, watch your location on google maps, etc...and most of it is FREE! We also enjoyed our flight attendants and the pilot gave all the kids the opportunity to take a picture in the cockpit before the flight began! In the chaos of loading two kids, we missed that opportunity, but he willingly took a picture after the flight.

After arriving in Seattle, we rented a car and drove up to Bellingham where we stayed the night. During the early summer months the bees pollinate the berries up there, so the beekeepers in our family spend those months in the Bellingham area. It's a beautiful area! My dad recently told me about how he bought some property up there and was going to build a "pole building" to have as a cabin/storage area. I really didn't know what to expect. If you know my dad, you know why. I guess in my mind I was picturing a metal warehouse type of building.

After breakfast the next day we set out to "the cabin" which is north of Bellingham, about 6 miles from Birch Bay. To my surprise, "the cabin" is a HUGE house! Seriously people, this "cabin" is triple the size of my dad's current house in Porterville! He's worked hard his whole life, and he deserves a nice house. I'm so happy that he is finally realizing that! It was only framed, but he has designed it with a huge soaking tub and an upgraded kitchen, etc! The "cabin" is built on a small section of the 10 acres he bought because the majority of the property is protected wet lands, so there are several building restrictions. One of the restrictions is that the house can only have 3 bedrooms. Basically, with the exception of one bedroom and bathroom, the entire top floor will be a rec. area (basically the size of my whole house). I can't help but picture a pile of sleeping bags in the middle of the floor as cousins pile in and make memories that will last a life time! I also love the lush green forests that surround the cabin. Can you tell I'm excited??

Since the cabin is only 6 miles from Birch Bay, we headed over the bay for a bit before we started our drive to Moses Lake. Aubrey drew her name in the sand, and Josie showed me how to catch live crabs! It was quite chilly, so we didn't stay for too long, but I could definitely see the potential fun that future summers on the bay will provide!

On the drive home, my dad had planned a few kid friendly stops. The first was to see Big Foot! I LOVED the movie Harry and the Hendersons! It was fun to see the location where it was filmed and check out all the Big Foot statues. After Harry's place, we headed to Leavenworth, a little dutch (I think) city that looked like a big version of the Matterhorn ride. Aubrey took a carriage ride while Juliet stretched in the grass. Finally, we went to this awesome produce market with a ton of cool things for kids to play on. There was a petting zoo, tricycle track, cow train, roping area, swings ect. The kids enjoyed the break from driving.

We finally arrived at my Grandpa's house. My grandpa bought all kinds of fun stuff in anticipation of our arrival. He bought a bike, scooter, dolls, etc, but I still think the pool was the biggest hit...much to our dismay because it was COLD! It was in the 60s most of the time we were there, so it's a good thing the pool was heated. We also went for a ride in the ski boat, but about 45 minutes into our ride, the engine started making some really scary clanking sounds, so we had to cut the trip short.

During our trip, we took the kids to visit our old stomping grounds, Silverbow Honey. Since my grandpa owned/operated it when we were growing up, we spent many summers labeling bears, riding forklifts, or just exploring the big warehouse. My uncle is in charge now, but he was of course willing to show the kiddos all the cool parts of Silverbow.

The day before our departure, we celebrated my dad's 61st birthday. He didn't have a big 60th b-day party, so I tried to make up for it by sending out some e-vites to family. Thankfully, several out of town relatives were able to make it and it turned out to be a mini-renunion of sorts! If my dad could choose a gift, I'm pretty sure he would choose family! I love my cousins, aunts, uncles, etc, so I'm so happy I got to see so many of them!