The first two weeks of August, the kids were in a virtual summer camp through DigiPen.
Katie took 3D Art and Animation and
Mikey took 2D Game Design.
The camps were half day camps, so the rest of the days were spent in various pursuits.
Most of them being video games, binge watching shows like Gravity Falls on Disney+, or playing Dungeons and Dragons.
I spent time in various virtual meetings for PTA, virtual meetings to get ready for the school year, and virtual meetings with our school district superintendent helping to give parent perspective to the reopening process.
Huzbend worked.
Our Oregon vacation at the end of July, which happened to include hours of Food Network watching, inspired Mikey.
He decided that he wanted to make "Meatball Mac n' Cheese Burgers" for his next "Mikey Meal of the Week".
In case you want to make these bad boys at home....
First, slather some Thousand Island dressing on the bun.
Next, add the burger.
Then, on top of the burger, add the home-made flattened oven-baked meatball.
Top that with the Mac n' Cheese.
And, finally, lay on the American cheese slice.
Here is the finished product.
(Add carrot sticks, because you have to have a vegetable or fruit with every meal)
It was quite a challenge to eat.
He enjoyed it and was proud of his creation.
Katie was assigned a task to "make something for someone".
I think it was for a Girl Scout badge.
She decided to make me a cake.
Very nice of her, I must say.
Katie was still on her elimination diet for EOE.
So, no eggs, dairy, soy and all the other things she can't (or chooses not to) eat already which includes wheat, nuts, fish/shellfish.
We had not found a good substitute for eggs.
The egg replacers just didn't work for us and apple sauce can only go so far.
The consistency of the cakes was a bit "playdohish", according to Katie.
She didn't eat much.
I thought it was okay.
Not being able to have eggs in cakes is a big challenge.
Katie created stick figure Bat-Man characters.
Hilarious.
The following week, it was time for "Katie's Meal of the Week."
She decided to make Red Beans and Fries (instead of rice).
These are her homemade fries.
Soooooo, yummy.
Fluffy the Moth (from back in May) stopped by our house for a visit.
Glad to see he's doing okay.
Katie created the perfect bunny hotdogs.
She was very proud.
This is what counts as excitement during quarantine summer.
The evening before Katie's birthday, I had rented out a firepit at a local tourist attraction/farm.
I had seen an advertisement earlier in the summer for a "socially distanced" experience and the price was right. We hadn't been able to go camping this summer due to COVID so it sounded fun.
I'll tell you, I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.
The campfires were super far apart and very clean.
There was only one other family there when we were there in the late afternoon.
I'm assuming they were busier at night.
The price included the firepit for 2 hours, plus hotdogs, bun, beverages, and s'more fixings.
Of course, I had to bring our own "safe" versions of all that food, but whatcha gonna do?
I also brought along carrots, raspberries and condiments.
Katie was ready to get her s'more on.
But, first, dinner.
The kids got to work.
Katie had her hotdog au natural.
After dinner, the boys went off to stick sword fight while Katie and I chilled at the fire.
Time for s'mores!
Huzbend skipped s'mores and just ate a whole Hershey's bar.
In honor of the soon-to-be birthday girl, it was unlimited s'mores and marshmallows.
The kids got straight to work.
Huzbend tried to create a make-shift headband to keep Katie's hair from getting all
marshmallowy.
It worked for about 4 seconds before it fell off.
That did not deter her.
I ate s'mores too!
Probably TOO many s'mores.
Mine were extra delicious.
I chose to add raspberries.
I'm so hoity toity.
I have no idea who that man is.
Tired of putting together s'mores, the kids moved on to just plain marshmallows.
Hmmmm.
Maybe "no limit" was a bad idea.......
Soon after that "crazy eye" picture was taken, Mikey moved on to burning marshmallows.
Not so he could eat them, but so he could see how burnt he could get them.
Here is his crowning achievement.
Burnt to a crisp, but still on the stick.
Family photo time!
Not bad.
............................
I guess burning stuff looked fun....
Sigh.
Our two hours were up.
One last picture.
This is as close as I can get Katie to stand to Mikey nowadays.
The next day was Katie's 14th birthday!!!
Happy Birthday, Katie!!!
She opened presents as soon as she rolled out of bed (with some prodding from me).
She received a bunch of Katie-ish things.
Books.....
....spring form pans for cakes....
....a popcorn maker....
("Hmmmmm. I wonder if they'll let me eat popcorn for lunch?")
....a trench coat....
.....Ooooo!
A surprise dual present!
In recognition of our trip to Japan last summer, I picked up some of their favorite snacks.
Mikey busied himself reading the news while Katie finished unwrapping.
Before COVID shut down schools, Katie had just finished a giant
research project for history on Marie Curie.
In her research, she became fascinated with the fact that radioactive materials were advertised
and sold to people.
There are still products floating around that are radioactive, but not so radioactive as to hurt you.
Like, less radioactive than a banana.
One such thing is uranium glass also know as vaseline glass (due to its color).
They glow under black light.
I was able to find this cute little mousy.
She also got her most fervent wish for these past 6 months or so.....
Her very own suit.
With a very special tie.
Thank you for all the thoughtful gifts!
After the excitement of present opening, it was time to settle in and read all those books she got.
After a few hours of reading, Katie spent the rest of the day baking herself cakes.
Yes. CakeS.
She made two.
Her first cake was going to be an "Anime" cake.
This is the cake you always see in Japanese anime.
Vanilla frosted cake with gorgeous plump strawberries.
Here's a picture:
She got to work cutting her strawberries.
We found this AWESOME vegan buttercream frosting mix.
It was DELICIOUS. No lie.
And really, really easy to mix up.
We also candied some strawberries to give them that extra flashiness.
All those hours watching baking shows finally paid off.....
Check out the concentration.....
TA-DA!!!
Not too shabby.
Makes you drool, huh?
Time to get to work on cake number two.
This one would be covered in Katie-safe fondant.
She put her muscles to work kneading the fondant until it was soft.
It's hard work.
The next step was to roll it out thin so that it could lay over the cake with enough to cover the entire thing.
BLAMMO!
It was still a little thick.
But, not a bad job for her first time.
A little finishing touch to the decoration....
Voila!
A "Salute To Sharks But Mostly The Whale Shark" cake.
Happy little whale shark.
She literally spent ALL afternoon on these cakes.
Poor strawberries couldn't take the heat of the super hot sugar and started to collapse inside their candy prisons.
They still tasted good though.
The culinary delights didn't end there.
Huzbend cooked up Katie's favorites for dinner:
Filet minon, brussel sprouts and non-dairy mashed potatoes.
And, then, the doorbell rang....
A surprise "drop and run" gift from a friend.
Costco sized Fruit by the Foot.
It made her day.
"Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuu..."
"Phhhhbbbtttttttttt!"
They even had a little party for her in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
We had a little visit from this skull faced spider.
So much evil in such a tiny package.
The boys had a rousing water blaster fight in the back yard.
It kept Mikey occupied for at least an hour...
Reload!
Ralph wasn't having any of it.
He hates being squirted with water.
Which is weird.
Give him a body of water to plop himself down in (lake, ocean, stream, river, kiddie pool or muddy puddle) and he's a happy doggo.
Taking a time-out.
For Mikey's next "Mikey Meal of the Week" he made fettuccine alfredo.
As you can see, he was quite pleased with his creation.
The Digipen summer camps came to an end.
The kids wanted to pick some blueberries as the season was coming to an end.
Mikey lost his regular hat (still has not been found at the end of August) and borrowed this one from Huzbend.
Not the best selfie.
We made a pretty good haul and made sure to shove some in the freezer for the berry-less winter months.
HEY!
So sneaky....
Later that same week, the kids and I headed out for a hike.
The last time we tried to go on this hike it was back in March and it was SUPER crowded so we had to leave and head somewhere else.
It wasn't so busy this time around.
It was a mile hike down to a beach on Puget Sound.
We took a walk along the beach for a bit.
Ralph had a good time sniffing all the detritus on the beach.
So sandy.....
We found a shady spot to sit and eat some snacks before making the mile trek back up to the car.
SMILE!
Mikey attempting to balance on a log.
While Katie tells him what he's doing wrong.
Just a typical family hike.
Time to head back!
It's mostly uphill.
Phew.
We had to take some breaks to catch our breath.
Mikey had no such issues and went off to explore while we panted on the side of the trail.
"Why do our hikes always go uphill?"
Asks Forky/Katie.
Another break.
This time after a pretty steep section.
Just a pretty sunset picture.
Katie had a follow up endoscopy at the end of that week.
She had been off of the top six food allergens since the beginning of June.
The doctor was going to check to see if things had improved.
She's always so upbeat going into these things.
The endoscopy went fine.
Katie said that she wishes that she could sleep that fitfully in real life without the anesthesia that tastes like nail polish remover.
Her esophagus and stomach looked normal. We just had to wait a week for the biopsy results to see if the inflammation levels were the same, better or worse.
Time for silly Ralph pictures to lighten the mood.....
Katie put her new popcorn maker to the test.
Grandma had included flavored toppings for her popcorn.
The first one she tried was churro.
Mmmmmmmmmm.
We finally went through Mikey's bag of things that he picked up from school in June.
This is his Science notebook.
Hmmmmmm.
That must be one interesting Science class.
We decided to head to Orcas Island for one last summer get away.
We'd never been.
Heading to the San Juan Islands requires a ferry ride, of course.
And the ferries are notorious for being late.
This one was about an hour and a half late.
The kids kept busy with various devices.
FINALLY!
It was recommended that riders stay in their vehicles to slow the spread of Covid.
We were lucky to have a open window near our car and no one behind us.
The boys took a minute to get some fresh air and freeze their booties off.
And, then, it was nap time.
It takes about an hour to get from Anacortes, the mainland terminal, to Orcas terminal because there are a few stops on other islands.
It was only about a 20 minute ride from the ferry terminal to our very eccentric and whacky AirBnB house. We stopped for groceries on the way.
Wandering around the property was an experience in itself.
Overgrown and chaotic, it was fun to explore all the mysterious nooks and crannies.
A tiny bamboo forest.
A very weird wrap around porch.
There were no less than three (or maybe four) entries into the house.
Some of them locked.
Part of the wrap around porch was connected to a roofed sun room with a door on either side.
He finally made it back to the front door.
While we explored, Huzbend cooked up some pasta for dinner.
We selected our bedrooms and called it a night after watching some Food Network and Legend of Korra.
The next day, we headed to Moran State Park for a hike around Cascade Lake.
Hobbit hole or landscaping shed?
You decide.
The hike was fabulously UNcrowded.
We didn't have to wear our masks for a majority of the time.
We spotted this mini-waterfall along the way.
And, it was so quiet that we stumbled upon a mommy and her baby grazing beside the trail.
NO. Not THAT mommy.
THIS mommy.
And, there's her baby.
There was all sorts of wildlife out and about.
After taking a wrongish turn, we got back on track and finally made it to the lake.
Slow pokey Katie, bringing up the rear.
"Yeah. Yeah. I'm here. I'm here."
Time to walk around the other half of the lake.
It was a perfect day for a hike.
A bit breezy along the lake but the sun kept things comfortable.
About three quarters of the way around we came upon this bridge.
It was rumored that people jump off of this bridge.
And, we did indeed see some people jump into the lake below.
It was a nice view from the other side of the bridge.
We decided to take a break for a snack.
Mikey went out to investigate the bridge.
Why's he got that big mischievous smile on his face?
Oh. This is why.
He decided to jump off the bridge.
Didn't take him long to make up his mind and jump, did it?
He swam around a bit after his jump.
The breeze made it bit chilly and he wasn't in a rush to exit.
Happy boy.
After we figured out how to allow Katie to change into her swimsuit without anyone seeing, she was on the bridge to jump.
Here she goes........
Phew!
Katie said it wasn't scary to jump off.
She said the scariest part was when your body realizes that it's falling and the drop is much longer than it anticipated.
Love to see them smiling and laughing.
Now came the hard part.
Getting them out of their wet swim suits and back into their clothes, on the side of a increasingly busy hiking trail with no bush or tree coverage around.
Thanks to my years of changing clothes on the sides of sports fields, I was able to help both
of them get changed without much drama.
Post jump, post change-into-dry-clothes family photo.
We finished our round-the-lake hike with lunch at a picnic table.
We were accosted by yellow jackets and had to eat quickly and pack up.
Moran State Park is home to Mt. Constitution, the highest point on the San Juan Islands and the second highest point on an island within the 48 contiguous states.
We were going to make the kids climb this monster, but opted for the less harsh Cascade Lake Loop hike.
Lucky for us, you can drive up to the top of the mountain if you'd like.
There are only a few sketchy patches of road, similar to the Mt. Washington Auto Road back in NH.
But, overall not nearly as panic inducing.
Still, I did the driving and Huzbend slouched down with hat over eyes in the passenger seat.
There's an observatory up at the top that was closed due to Covid.
Bummer, it would have been nice to get a 360 degree view.
Hence, Katie's disappointed hunched shoulders in the photo below.
We had to settle for this east-facing view.
I'll take it.
While we were hiking, Katie got a bug bite on her ear and it swelled up.
She wanted me to take a picture of it.
I don't know.
She's the same girl that likes to take pictures of cute fruit.
We took a load off for a bit and enjoyed the sun and the view.
One last peek and it was time to head "home".
I love taking pictures of Katie at weird times.
She always looks at me like I'm crazy.
As I was driving down, I gave Mikey the camera to take some
scenic pictures from his open window.
Not too shabby.
Our "house" was about 15 minutes away from the state park, so we got back a little early.
We decided to walk to the Rosario Resort which was five minutes down the road.
The resorts main building is a mansion built between 1906-1909 by a Seattle shipbuilder named Robert Moran.
We took a stop at the waters edge for a little relaxation.
Someone was a little silly....
We spotted this sea otter swimming in the bay.
He was having a grand ole time diving and surfacing.
After our brief sit-down, we headed over to the mansion.
We didn't know if it was open for business or not, so we walked around the property.
Here's the back, windows overlooking the bay.
There were quite a few picturesque garden/grass areas that most definitely are used for fancy gatherings and weddings in normal times.
Mikey: photo bomb
Katie: audible annoyed sigh
He cracks himself up.
He cracks us up too.
I have no idea what this pose is.
The kids demanded that we get our picture taken.
Katie volunteered to take it for us.
We do take a nice picture.
We got back to the house with a bit more time before dinner.
Enough time to relax and veg out in front of Food Network.
It's time that I show you one of the quirkiest parts of the house we were in.
The house we stayed in was old. Maybe build in the 60's? Not sure.
It definitely had a 60's/70's vibe.
Even though it had that old feeling, it had been updated.
For example, the three bathrooms in the house had all been redone.
The following pictures are of the master bath.
The BIGGEST bathroom we have ever been in.
When you first walked in to the bathroom on your right was a sliding door linen closet and on the left was a walk in closet.
Next to the walk in closet, on the left, was the toilet room with door.
Across from the toilet room, on the right, was this giant jetted step-up bathtub with skylight and mood lighting.
Take two more steps and on the left were double sinks.
And then, across from those double sinks, on the right, was a walk-in doorless shower with, get this,
FOUR shower heads.
We could've lived in that bathroom.
We had bathroom envy.
I can't remember what we had for dinner that night, but Katie had Indoor S'mores for dessert.
The next day was a lazy day.
We didn't have anything to do until later that afternoon, so we let the kids sleep in a bit.
When they finally got their butts out of bed and ate a little brekkie, they were sent on a scavenger hunt.
The hunt included clues, questions that needed to be answered and a time limit.
Here they are coming up with a plan.
We couldn't have had a better yard to do the scavenger hunt in.
It was so weird, eccentric and wild that it was easy for Huzbend to come up with things to find and questions to answer.
Working on their last clue....
Huzbend checked over all their answers.
They completed it in record time and got them all right.
They immediately got to enjoy their prizes.
Adding to the weirdness, the property had a huge chain link fence surrounding it.
Turns out, the fence was to keep the roaming deer out.
They certainly were cute.
"Pweeeese wet me in? Pwity pwease?"
We went ahead and broke out the camp crafts.
First up, "Make Your Own Kazoo".
Even Huzbend made one.
Mikey couldn't figure out how to make noise with it.
He kept blowing into the end and blowing off his wax paper.
After a quick lesson in humming, he was a kazoo master.
Next up for camp crafts....
Origami!
Katie's cute cicada.
Mikey couldn't go easy.
He had to go full out and fold some sort of bird.
Not bad...
Katie convinced Huzbend to try.
They made some stars.
It took all of his willpower not give me the middle finger in this picture.
For Mikey's next fold...
A fish.
Hmmmmm.
He was quite amused at his lack of origami skill.
Right around that time, a huge wasp-looking thing with a long tail buzzed around our heads.
(We researched it and think it was a saw fly or horntail - the long tail lays eggs in trees)
(I won't post a picture, because they are decidedly NOT cute. You can look them up if you want).
We retreated indoors.
Mikey continued his origami experience by creating some tiny hats.
We took a break from crafts, ate some lunch and headed out for the afternoon.
We had a boat to catch at 3pm.
Orcas Island is not very big.
There are a few main roads that traverse the island.
And, of course, the one we picked to get to the marina had road lines being painted on it!
It made for a nerve wracking "Will We Miss Our Boat?" panic.
But, we made it on time.
We found a whale watch business that was offering a discount for private charters.
I guilted Huzbend into reserving one.
As we boarded, we got the bad news.
Orcas had been spotted earlier that day, but were bouncing back and forth across the Canadian border.
Usually, this wouldn't be a problem.
But, because of Covid, the border was shut down and being enforced.
Yep. Even in the middle of the water.
We had a choice of going south and seeing some minke whales that were in the area or turning north towards Canada and taking a chance on the orcas.
We decided to chase orcas.
Off we go!
It was pretty chilly on the boat even in the sun.
Mikey and Huzbend chose to sit up front.
Katie and I sat in back.
On the way to our destination we were able to see some harbor seals, a harbor porpoise or two and lots of birds (including a bald eagle or three).
The naturalist came back with the sad news that the orcas had turned north into Canada.
But, we were able to spot a duo of humpback whales just past the Canadian border.
We could see "fluking" (see their tails sticking out of the water) and spouting with our binoculars.
I guess the whales and orcas like Canada better.
Boo.
We began to slowly make our way back to port.
On the way, the captain and naturalist made sure to point out many other inhabitants of the islands.
Mikey tried to stay warm.
We got to see an island populated with exotic sheep and deer!
This island has quite the history - check it out.
They eat grass on the cliffs.
Here's a close up.
You know who else likes to hang out on Spieden Island?
Funnin' and sunnin' Harbor Seals (aka Orca Snacks).
"Whatchoo lookin' at?"
Caught a glimpse of a sea otter too.
That's his little head sticking out of the water almost in the center of the picture.
We were also able to see giant Stellar sea lions (aka Orca Fine Dining) swimming about in some kelp.
To get an idea of how big they are, males can weigh up to 2,500 pounds and females up to 800 pounds.
It was really hard to get a good picture of their heads popping up in the kelp.
Sorry.
All in all, it was a good trip.
Although we did not get to see orcas, we still felt like we were able to see
a lot of the marine life that makes our corner of the U.S. special.
We'll see you eventually orcas.
When we got back to the house, Huzbend started to make dinner and I dragged the kids back to Rosario Resort to go inside the mansion.
It was open for viewing.
Although the kids were all "awkwarded out", we walked right in and began to explore.
On the second floor, there was a museum.
They had rooms that you could walk through showing what the mansion looked like back in its heyday.
Bathrooms still had the old lighting and plumbing fixtures.
One room had this really skinny double secret door walk-in closet inside the wall that was behind the bed.
Old hotels are creepy and cool.
The centerpiece of the mansion was the Music Room.
It featured a, "two story 1913 Aeolian pipe organ, 1900 Steinway grand piano, a Belgian stain-glass window picturing the harbor at Antwerp, and two mezzanine libraries overlooking a Tiffany chandelier, which depicts various performing arts."
Pictures don't do it justice.
I guess in normal times, they still have concerts in here.
Bummer.
I continued our tour of the empty mansion.
We found a fancy lounge.
And, I even made the kids go downstairs and we found an indoor pool, an old laundry room....
....and a giant walk-in safe!
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
The kids yelled at me for getting too close to a bee.
On our walk back to the house, we had some close encounters of the deer kind.
They were everywhere.
I think they were following us.
The next day, we decided to hike around Turtleback Mountain Preserve.
It was a loop hike and we decided to get the steep part of the climb out of the way first thing so we didn't have to twinge our knees going down it.
The boys quickly pulled away.
Katie and I brought up the rear.
The boys were nice enough to stop and wait at viewpoints.
?????????
Lovely views all the way up made for quite a few much appreciated rest stops.
It was not crowded at all.
It was very nice to let our masks down for most of the hike.
We made it to the overlook called Ship Peak which gave an expansive view to the east overlooking the valley and farmlands of the island.
PHEW.
We found a spot in the shade to eat lunch.
Ready to eat.
Ready to watch all of the large birds flying over the cliff.
We're pretty sure that we saw at least one turkey vulture, a hawk or two and some raven (based on their calls).
Family photo time!
We began our hike down.
It was much faster than hiking up, that's for sure.
A nice panoramic video for your viewing pleasure.
Huzbend is always amused by my near constant photo taking.
Sigh.
Wish we had views like this at our house.
Again. Boys out front.
Katie and I bringing up the rear.
You would think this was easy to walk down, but the path was gravelly and it was really easy to slip.
Katie fell on her butt twice.
Ow.
When we got back to the "house", the kids and I went back down to the resort (again) and this time stopped into their general store for an icy treat.
They didn't have anything that Katie could have, so she had root beer.
Mikey and I had ice cream sandwiches.
When we got back, we did some outdoor activities.
The first of which was slacklining.
Attached between two trees, a slack line is a tightrope.
Huzbend came up with different challenges.
For example, "get across in 20 seconds" or "get across only holding on with one hand".
Katie got crazy and decided to try no hands.
It didn't last long before she jumped off.
Still, it was a good effort.
Not to be outdone.
Mikey also mastered the challenges.
Even "no hands" (for 5 seconds).
The kids convinced me to try as well.
I did not do "no hands".
After the slacklining, we had a potato sack race.
Uphill.
I lost.
Badly.
One more slacklining try before packing it up.
I think Katie tanked on this one.
One last Food Network hurrah as the kids waited for dinner.
The next day, we were up and out of the house before 10am.
Goodbye, quirky Orcas Island house!
We had some time to kill before we had to be in line for the ferry, so we decided to hike to some waterfalls in nearby Moran State Park.
The trail was pretty empty.
And, MAN, the trees were HUGE.
Below is a picture of Cascade Falls.
The tallest waterfall in the San Juan's at 40ft.
You can't see it, but behind those logs on the bottom of the picture, there was a backpacker dancing and washing herself in the pool at the bottom.
Awkward.
Zen video.
Caught a glimpse of this cute little guy.
And these not-so-cute water bugs.
I made Katie pose in front of the waterfall.
Can you tell?
HA!
She was mad at the boys for kung-fu fighting and ruining the moment.
This should be the Washington State animal.
Seriously.
This guy was massive.
Use of foot for scale.
Although the other waterfall was bigger, this one was my favorite.
It was called Rustic Falls.
So calming......
Big tree pictures.
We love our old growth forests.
A couple more waterfalls to see before we headed out.
Taking a quick break to breath it in.....
...or to stand and whack at gnats.
Love this moody forest picture.
It was time to go.
We drove to the ferry line and waited a whopping 2 hours for our ferry to arrive.
It was running late.
Shocker.
This time, we got a nice window section to look out of while we crossed back to the mainland.
A couple of cormorants hanging out before we left dock.
Mikey busied himself with games.
Katie looked out the window.
While we were crossing, we received the results from her endoscopy.
The biopsies had come back clear of eosinophils (inflammatory markers).
Things were looking great and the elimination diet had worked.
That meant that one of the foods she eliminated was the culprit causing the issues.
It was time to add food back in, one at a time, to figure out which it was.
Katie decided to add dairy back in.
She was ecstatic.
She was ready for a all-out dairy binge.
It was a nice way to end our vacation.
We got good news and got to see this beautiful view of Mt. Baker.
That weekend, Katie went dairy hog wild.
For example, she ate two baked potatos with TONS of real butter and cheddar cheese.
She quickly realized that she had lost a bit of her love for dairy!
What a strange turn of events!
It tasted weird to her and unfortunately she immediately noticed some of the symptoms returning.
So, it seems that dairy might be on the permanent "no eat" list after the next endoscopy.
For now, Katie is just eating all the dairy she can get her hands on.
Weird taste or no.
