Whidbey

The sky and grass were beautiful from the deck on the first night. Olympics to the right, Mt Rainier visible in front, but mostly water - the Admiralty Inlet - ahead.
We're on a spit of land called Keystone, just to the right of Fort Casey on the map. The inlet is the major passage for ships and salmon towards the mainland.

The ferry from Pt Townsend to the dock near our cottage. The larger ferry was discontinued - had a hole - so this tiny Christmas ornament replaced it. Many of these boats date back to the days when San Francisco, which opted out of a ferry system, sold them to Washington.

Bringing the Moores, with Calvin at 15 months. Travis and Jack exchanging shots.

Calvin strained to see "plane!" Pointing his index finger

reminded us of our first days with Michael (adopted at 15 mo.).
With an endless supply of driftwood for evening fires, roasting marshmallows became an evening ritual.

as was throwing rocks.

Travis sells exercise equipment, so got the kids in shape.

We first met Travis and Ariana in So Cal; both were Pepperdine students attending our church. Ariana studied art, taught Michael regularly; they were his first sitters! They moved to St Louis while we were in Lausanne. Even with the kids around (and even though they've moved), I think we got to know each other better; mundane life out the window, you dig a little deeper.

We drove to Langley, taking in an arts festival, eating non-Costco fair fare (no branch on Whidbey), and M & J took an ice-cream break, playing chess in the parlour. The 8+ variations of coffee flavored shakes reminded me I was in the PNW.

Hippies seem to inhabit islands (Madeline Island, MN similarly afflicted). Bereft of civic responsibility, these bohemians were likewise unstructured in their dance - a live band closed the fair - driven purely by a lack of inhibition and the desire to "let it all hang out," as they used to say. Cute when it's Jack, but...

Anyway, Patrick and Jayne & Thomas & Katherine pulled in! They brought tons of food and drink, which we plowed our way through. Dad & son are a tradition, but the whole gang came this time.

It was fun to see the foursome at play. A week earlier, Jayne made us a wonderful salmon feast with hot dogs for the kiddies, as in our Chinese adoption lunch (my hot dog intake has definitely gone up since being a dad), introducing us to

This little guy can spell.

Thomas was born 5 years ago, during our LA move - we got the call while in Watsonville, CA. It's handy to tell time by human scale: Thomas = our years in So Cal.

Eating pistachios, drinking beer, coffee - unstructured time, after a year's break. Patrick teaches comparative politics down the hall at UPS, where I used to work, bringing cigars, stories of Iran (went twice), Tacoma news, etc.

***

Next door was empty, until the Yardleys landed. Jim was the NYT bureau chief in Beijing, now assigned to New Delhi. Brother Bill was a journalist in the Seattle office. Nice folks who kept commenting on things like breathing clean air. I was impressed by the jet-setty vocation, but they were actually a bit reserved about it. Then it hit me: dying industry.

Anyway, Jim inspired a swim. OMG. Freezing.

Absolutely loving water & beaches, I used to have a similar need to experience place by ritual baptism - Minnesota lakes, Lake Cayuga in Ithaca, Lake Geneva - but years in the NW ended that for me.

Island activities: kayaking

Cool car gawking:

Berry eating: rasp-, black-, logan- straw. Michael, who has a bowl of fruit during his bedtime story, was in heaven.

Chocolate chip muffins for the kids. I broke down and bought mix - useful for biscuits, waffles, pancakes, etc. Kid clock: Jake Miller (below, 11 yrs) = when we moved to Tacoma.

Kite flying

Aunt Suzanne came and introduced hiking and her nephew, Sam, a beer meister with an artsy bend; knew a lot about Japanese ceramics.

Just past Ft Casey, where the army used to surveil for Japanese ships and submarines. You can explore the abandoned bunkers.

This was our longest stay on Whidbey (10 days). It's very familiar to the boys; a place to anchor their childhood. My memories work like a coat or hat, requiring a peg to hang upon. People & circumstances change, as we found out this trip, due to struggling finances, bumps in marriages, children going through disappointing periods, and serious illness. Not sure how long this stage in our family life will last, but we had another wonderful time renewing friendships. It's good for now.

Adoption Reunion

This year's PNW trip dovetailed beautifully with a reunion of our first Chinese adoption trip of February 2004. There were 12 girls, 1 boy in the original group (Michael is second from right; White Swan Hotel, Guangzhou):

9 made it for the weekend at Ballard.

Michael was popular among the girls - a natural babe magnet among the adoption community of females.

w/Tessa

w/Joy

Good, abundant, cheap Chinese in a hot, crowded take-out joint was the kick-off event, followed by cooling off at a nearby park.

Freeze tag:

I was surprisingly moved by the whole scene; the goodwill of the folks who worked so hard to pull it off, seeing people who traveled from far-off New York and China. Without trying, we fell into the same, positive group vibe and I managed to get to know a few of them a lot better. Seeing Michael reunited with all these children felt right somehow, perhaps accentuated by the fact that he (& Jack) have no other cousins in our rather tiny family network. A sense of belonging is something we work hard at, which, in our case, means travel, since, for us, belonging registers in a few discrete and scattered spots.

Some travel is self-imposed, some not (as in M & J's orphan history).

An early reunion: Michael's Siping orphanage gang, whom we visited before leaving for Guangzhou to file US paperwork. He was only there a few months - a waiting period after leaving his foster family upon learning he was to be adopted, but the walls of Siping Orphanage helps me understand why Michael's favorite color is pink. By our firsthand account, it was a very happy atmosphere.

The first meeting

Group shot of all the siblings

Back to Ballard. After lunch we walked down to the locks to watch the boats

and the salmon travel their respective journeys

Afterwards, we hightailed to Mukilteo where we caught the ferry to our beloved spot on Whidbey Island!

Cute parting shot. The boys got to bathe in our B&B's elderly tub,

which reminded me of a Japanese OFURO. Seattle's Uwajimaya used to sell these.

Tacoma

Our annual visit to the PNW reconnected us with dear friends, including some pleasant surprises, too, such as the Zodrow clan (minus sick Chris), who had moved to crunchy Olympia with news that they are now moving to Oz. Sonja has family there, so it makes certain sense, but these guys get the prize for the "just do it" award. Being 50 and coming up for tenure this fall, thoughts of "what's next do something different it's now or never" are on my mind, as well.

For now, I blog.

It was hot while there, so we got a sprinkler hop scotch to entertain the kids for our July 4th bbq.
Stayed with Aunt Suzanne, again. The kids were scouting for the racoon family to scale and harvest the front yard cherry tree. A man came by recently, telling Suzanne that 50 years ago his son planted a cherry pit hoping for a tree, when the father replied, "Nothing's gonna grow from THAT."
Tell that to the racoons. Anyway, we fizzled out on the normal plans to go down to the festivities on the water, and hung out at the Proctor farmer's market.

Local delicacies, like raspberries, blackberries, loganberries, clams and oysters.

Perfect weather for casual picnics outback, even in the evening, when you normally feel a bit chilly during Northwest summers.

Suzanne's new project - raising honey bees - was the week's entertainment.

as was picking her raspberries and blueberries.

Another change this year was making it to Michelle's home on Vashon, where we shared a lovely lunch on her organic farm, where Elle worked last summer. Jack here reaching for one of daughter Annie's cookies, next to Cianna (?). Michelle's adopting two daughters from China was our inspiration several years ago.

A tire swing!

Coming home, we stopped at the old Ruston soda fountain, playing checkers and downing blackberry and espresso shakes.
Another morning we visited Jim, the "bee man," tasting honey from the comb, after picking blackberries and cherries.

Honey bees don't sting, unless provoked, so it was wild to see Michael and Jack walk nonchalantly with bees swarming overhead.


The tiny black one is a wild blackberry, whose painstaking picking yields a vastly superior pie.

We were graciously hosted for several meals by Patrick & Jayne - tried recreating cheese bread the other day - the Pribyls, Margie S, while Suzanne organized a big after church picnic for us. I'm always appreciative of the priority on people and families that shines through the Tacoma community every time we visit. The houses are older, maybe less tidy, neighborhood gardening is big, less concern for surface looks, the latest local restaurant venture, etc. You just ease back into it.