September: Vancouver, the Peninsula, and Pilchuck

The month started out with Labor Day weekend, which was so, so incredibly wonderful. Friday night Rusty and I went out on a date to Traxx where we rode really fast go karts and then played on the velcro wall. It's this incredibly hilarious bouncy house type thing that was covered in velcro. Then we put these suits on that are covered in velcro and jumped up so we stuck on the wall haha. It was HILARIOUS! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Then we went down to the Everett waterfront and watched the sun set. There was this seal that was doing barrel rolls and splashing all over the place; it was awesome!

Saturday we had a lazy day and built a fort and watched the Jungle Book before doing some work on the house. Then we went for a bike ride and enjoyed the beautiful weather. I love crisp, clear fall days! Sunday we went to church and had a family over for dinner. The mom only speaks Spanish and it has been a long time since I have spoken Spanish, but it worked out! I started remembering things and we had a good talk. 

Monday we took a day trip to Vancouver. I think it is so fun that we can go on day trips out of the country. We went to Stanley Park and walked around the Sea Wall which is a path that winds along right by the water. While we were walking we grabbed some lunch and played at a playground. I stood up to put Henry in his stroller while Rusty went to get some ketchup for our fries and all of a sudden a seagull and a group of crows flew right over my head and stole the fries! I squealed and tried to save them but to no avail. Everyone stared at me and I couldn't do anything but laugh. Rusty came back to my face bright red, laughing quietly to myself, no fries, and everyone staring.

Where the birds ATTACK!

The Seawall

He loves swinging on the big kid swings!

Then we went to the Vancouver Aquarium, which I have been wanting to go to for a long, long time! It is one of the top ten in the world and when we got there it smaller than I thought so I was kind of surprised. But they did so many awesome shows that it was impressive! We saw a shark, dolphin, and a beluga show. I've never seen beluga whales do anything other than swim, which is graceful and cool anyways. But this time they were jumping out of the water, and it was so great!

These stellar sea lions were barking and making the LOUDEST sounds! We couldn't stop laughing

A Pacific White Sided Dolphin

A false killer whale

Beluga!

 To end the day we wanted some dinner from this place called the Peaceful Restaurant. We've seen it on a Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives and have heard such great things about their food and their homemade noodles. It was made more difficult though by the fact that we didn't have internet in Canada and we had no address. So we drove around for a while before finally stopping to ask some guy at a gas station. He gave us an address and then we used our GPS location and followed the dot around the city until we got close to it and eventually found it. I went in and they said only cash or debit, so that wasn't a problem until I saw that it said No American Debit. I checked my wallet and I only had like three bucks. I looked at the guy and asked if he could take my American card, and he looked at me and said, "Hmmm. Only today. Not tomorrow. Just today." So it was my lucky day! We got delicious stir fry and the best orange chicken I have ever had. And as an added bonus, while I was in getting our food for take out Rusty saw a lady get mugged and a bunch of people tackle him and hold him until the police came. What in the world?!

We also spent a weekend camping on the peninsula. It had been a while since we had gotten out there, so we were pretty excited to get to spend some time there. And the biggest thing was that we got a camping spot at Kalaloch! It is pretty much impossible to get anything there, but we lucked out big time and got a beautiful spot. It is right on the beach and just a five minute walk down there. We could hear the waves while we were sleeping; I mean what is better than that? Amber and Kenny came and it was lots of fun. We watched the sun set, sat by the fire and then had dinner and delicious dutch oven cinnamon rolls. Then Rusty and I went down to the beach to look at the stars. I have never seen anything like that! There were more stars than I've ever seen, and it was like we were in a planetarium because it was so wide. The moon was bright orange and we watched it set and a few shooting stars. 

The next day we went to Ruby Beach. It was really foggy in the morning but it was still pretty and fun to walk around and see everything. 

After Ruby Beach we went and took the canoe out on Lake Quinalt. The weather was absolutely stunning. We were lucky all weekend with sun and clear days, but taking the boat out was just perfect! We had a nice picnic and then went out on the water. The entire lake was empty and we had the whole place to ourselves!

Then we hung around the campsite and had a fire and made dinner. Rusty and I played Uno after we got Henry to bed, who by the way LOVES his chair that is just his size!

The next day we packed up and drove over to hike out to Seconds Beach. This is, I have decided, one of my favorite beaches on the entire Pacific Coast. I LOVE THIS BEACH! It was not crowded but perfectly beautiful. The hike out wasn't very long but the woods were beautiful and then you got sneak peeks of the ocean. We had a great time playing on the beach!

On the hike down we noticed this tree that had all kinds of treasures inside of it. I got really excited and called it the Treasure Tree and insisted that we each get something to put in it on the way back. 

The next stop was to go to Rialto Beach, which we have both heard so much about. It wasn't my favorite compared to Seconds, but Rusty liked this one better so I guess we were both happy! We brought the blanket and had a little picnic. 

The last stop was a hike up to Marymere Falls. It was right next to Lake Crescent, which is I think one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen! The hike was short but ended at cool falls.

Then we went on the ferry to get home, and we had a little time before loading. So we walked around Kingston and got some yummy pizza and crepes!

Rusty and I got to go riding up by Machias one afternoon. It was a strangely freeing and exciting experience for me! I did a lot of new things and was pushing myself to get better. Before I was only doing it for fun, but this time I was genuinely trying to get better and to do things that I was scared of. And it felt so freeing to say, "I'm tired of feeling afraid; I'm going to do this!" We ended up at this beautiful viewpoint that Rusty found a few months ago with a friends where we had an uninterrupted view of Mt. Pilchuck. It was beautiful and we just sat on top of this huge pile of logs and talked.

For a long time we have been wanting to hike Mt. Pilchuck, and we finally got it done! The weather was foggy but we were hoping that it would clear up. On the way up we got some clear patches, and at the very top we had a partial view but not much. The hike was beautiful, but we both decided that the actual trail was not our favorite. It was pretty rough, but we made it! One more thing off the Seattle Bucket List!

At the end of the month, I took Henry to Remlinger Farms. I had misread the hours though, and got there when they were closed... after an hour drive one way. Blast. But, we got to go inside and play on this cool train for a while. Then we went back the next day with Amber and Bennett and had a blast! They got to ride on a real train, a little fair ride, see animals, drive tractors, buses, and fire engines, and then go through a little maze with a huge pit of straw at the end. So fun!

Rusty and I also took the chance to go scuba diving one last time for the year! It was SO cold, but we saw lots of cool things. I think we both have decided that cold water diving is just not as great as warm water though haha. But, when we came up after our second dive we saw the most beautiful sunset!

Henry's Highlights:

• He puts his hand on his forehead and closes his eyes when he gets annoyed.
• When he gets really excited his hands go crazy and he starts shaking his head.
• He still loves to say, "No!" It is either a staccato word or he says it a few times while he shakes his head with his eyes closed.
• He would rather play with markers by putting the caps on than actually coloring with them.
• He has become obsessed with his blanket and giraffe. He takes them everywhere, and when he gets tired he tickles his face and ears with the fury part of the tail.
• CARS! Everything is cars. He waves at every single one we see, says "car" all of the time, and carries one around with him at all times.
• He laughs hysterically whenever he hears us laughing and he wants to be included.
• Henry takes the silverware out of the dishwasher and puts them all in the drawer. He loves to help
• He can go down the slides at parks all by himself! He is getting so old.
• He's fascinated with snaps, buckles, and belts. 
• He loves driving, and always runs to the steering wheels at the park.
• He will grab my hand and drag me around wherever he wants to go. I'm going to miss it so much when he doesn't want to play with me all of the time. 
• He likes to take all the pots and pans out and try putting the lids back on.