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.