Crab Anyone?

Last week Keith took 10 boys up to Barkley Sound to go fishing.  I think the trip could be considered successful!

The boys had to fight off sea sickness and then land sickness (whatever that is) crab pinches, sunburns and hooks in fingers all in the name of a good sportfishing trip.  Boy it's tough work being a Boy Scout these days.

Trying not to get pinched!  Some look braver than others!

Showing off the catch of the day.

My Garden

New update!  These peas and beans look WAY better than last year's did. 

Things are starting to heat up around here, which means the garden is growing!  This is how it looked a couple weeks ago.

I love how every single seed sprouted and produced these beautiful little rows.

SUNSET!

This was the view we had from Grandma Schenk's porch on the 4th of July.  It had been a cool cloudy day, but there was a break in the clouds just as the sun was setting and we were treated to this glorious sight.

New Hike in Anacortes

On the far side of Anacortes down by the Marina there is a little park next to a big rocky hill with trails around it .  Keith and I hiked it on Friday night when it was so beautiful and warm, around 90 degrees out.  There were lots of sailboats zipping around. 

It was fun to explor a new area, and the views from this point were ridiculously gorgeous.

Out this direction we had a great view of Mount Baker.  Just couldn't get it to show up in the photos.

Can't get enough of this wonderful sunshine!

We were just above the Marina and could see all of Anacortes and the water beyond.

We ended up back by the Marina and walked around the docks looking at boats.  Lo and behold, the name on this cute little sailboat caught my attention. 

Up until a few months ago, I had never even heard of Cebu, and now it's popping up everywhere!

Dinner with my Sweetheart

This was our view while eating dinner last night.

So peaceful.

So beautiful.

And the best part?  It was actually warm enough to be outside and enjoy it!  We were in Bellingham retrieving the purse I had left behind in our attempt to make a quick getaway on the 4th of July so we could get to bed by midnight.  Since it was such a lovely evening, we got some dinner at Panda Express (me) and KFC (Keith) and  headed for the water.  This area is just south of the ferry dock.  We sat ourselves right on the grass and soaked up the the warmth and beauty of it all.

And since you can never have too much of a good thing, we drove home on Chuckanut and stopped again at Larrabee for another taste of the sweetness of Summer.

And sunsets.

Amazing!

So as soon as Keith dropped Eric off at EFY in Tacoma this morning, I get the phone call, "We're empty nesters!  What do you want to do?"  Luckily I have it all planned out.  Lots of walks and movies!

I'll spend this week catching up on work and getting ready for the cruise mom and I are taking next week! It's even starting to get sunny, which is right on schedule, it's the 5th of July, the real start of Summer in these parts.

Should be a good week.  We miss all of the kids, but we're survivors!

Barkley Sound

We know a couple who have a floating cabin just off of Vancouver Island.  It's about a third of the way up the island in an inlet on the west side.  It takes about 7 hours to get there, about 3 hours in the truck, 2 hours on a really big, nice ferry, another hour in the truck and an hour by boat.  When you get to the cabin, it has walkways all around it, but you can't really go ashore because it's a steep, heavily wooded hillside.  So you either sit in the cabin or sit in the boat when it takes off to catch fish, or shrimp or crab.  I must have been tired, because my relaxing weekend of catching up on my reading turned into a lazy weekend falling asleep a lot!  But the good news is that Keith LOVES it up there, out in the open waters on a nice boat, AND we brought home cod, salmon and crab, so we should have a good meal or two coming up.  By the way, Peggy and Ron, who invited us, are the nicest people. It was good to get to know them.

Learning more about the Philippines

http://www.ldsmag.com/cebu/

Click on the link above to read lots of articles about the Philippines, the new temple in Cebu City, how the area was prepared to recieve the gospel, and how the members there are doing now.  Great stories!  I didn't realize that the Philippines is one of the fastest growing areas of the church. They have just created another mission there, it is the 16th mission in the Philippines!  Wow!