Hood Canal

I have spent time at Hood Canal almost every summer of my life.  So has my dad.  His family started going there when he was young and eventually they bought a tiny cabin right outside of Belfair, Washington.  During my junior and senior years of high school, my dad was gone off and on while he and his brother, Bob, built Bob's retirement house where the original cabin had been.  (Years before, my dad and Bob had traded some properties, and the Canal property became Bob's.  We were always welcome.)

Bob died suddenly in November of 2002 (heart attack), so the house now sits empty much of the time.  My cousin, Scott, and his family use it as much as they can on weekends in the summer (they live in Seattle).  Thankfully, we're still always welcome.

The kids and I spent a total of six days at Hood Canal with my family at the end of August.  Nate joined us for a few of those days after his Hood to Coast Relay (which he really enjoyed, despite having developed Plantar Fasciitis a week before the race).

It's harder to all fit there now that there are multiple children who need quiet places to sleep.  This year my parents rented a house so we could spend time with Scott and his family and still have plenty of room for everyone.  The rental house had everything we could possibly need and was just over a mile from Scott's.  Perfect!  Other than naptime, we spent our days at the Boyd house.  And, after the weekend was over and Scott and family headed home, we "moved in".

Even with help from my parents and every other adult around, keeping an eye on Cooper was exhausting!  She LOVED the stairs (which had no gate), and after she fell on her head the first night when I looked away for a few seconds, I knew I had my work cut out for me.  :)  Outside was no better.  She was constantly shoveling pea gravel into her mouth by the handful.  Nevertheless, we had a terrific time and Judson's "swimming" improved so quickly!

As usual, there are way too many pictures here. You're used to it by now, right?!

Day one: First dip in the water

We tried to keep the binky in her mouth (in order to keep the rocks out). Eventually we gave up and let her lick the salt off the rocks (the Canal is saltwater), as long as they were too big to choke on.  :)

Morgan and Macy

Eric Boyd (almost nine)

First "swim" out to the raft

Bonfire on the beach.  Judson, Ryan (4 yrs.), Eric, and Wendy (Ryan and Eric's mom; my Scott's wife)

Definite size discrepancy!

The  tide was coming in and eventually just put the fire out for us.

This guy spent hours over the course of our trip throwing rocks in the water.

He only jumped off the raft once.  The rest of the time, he carefully lowered himself down.

Wendy, Eric, and Ryan....Eric learning to row

Scott, Ryan, Morgan, and Judson

He rowed his mom around all by himself and was pretty excited about it!

Nate (blue) and Morgan have a little adventure on the "high sea."

Nate flipped over and had quite a time getting back on.

These two play so well together (for the most part)!

Grandparents and their grandkids

Minus Macy, who screamed through most of our photo opp. 

Heading out during low tide (which wasn't very low...never found a single starfish.  I know, they're really called sea stars now.  Whatever.  :)

Can you tell how much she loves stairs?!

Judson was so brave about jumping in and going clear under in the hot tub.  It was a pretty big deal, since he's not brave about much these days.  (Other than when he gets hurt.  He's quite tough when it comes to injuries!)

We always loved catching those little tiny crabs when we were little.  There are so many!

It was quite a bit colder during low tide the next day!

An estuary walk the last day

What a terrific week we had!  I love making these memories with my kids.  We are blessed.

**Anna and Morgan went up a couple of days early and our time with her only overlapped one day before she had to head back to work.  :(