The Greatest Vacation Ever

We wasted no time diving into all things summer.  A few months ago I got the crazy idea to add one more thing to our already full summer but I'm so glad I did.  A short ferry ride from Seattle and a 3-hour drive across the beautiful Olympic Peninsula took us to Hobuk Beach.  We stayed in a small cabin right on the beach and as soon as we pulled in, the boys immediately ran out to the beach to explore.  Of course this meant they ended up swimming in their clothes but that's ok.  We pretty much had the whole, huge beach to ourselves for the next three days.   The tide pools were full of crabs and anemones, there were big rocks to climb on, sticks to find, and sea shells to collect.  I loved that playing on the beach made everyone happy from Marcus down to Parker.  They played football and soccer, explored, swam, surfed and paddle boarded.  It was so perfect. Randy and I both agreed we haven't had as much fun or seen such beauty since living in Okinawa.  It was the perfect place and just what we needed.  We had no cell service and very slow internet so it was nice to be unplugged for a bit.

 The ferry ride never gets old and the Seattle skyline never gets old either

 Parker give back rubs.  It's pretty cute but not very effective but I love it!

 This is what we saw when we pulled up.  The beauty of this beach was surreal.

 Nothing but empty beach

 Swimming with their clothes on as the sun set

When we needed a break from the beach we drove a few miles to Cape Flattery, the most northwestern tip of the continental United States.  We hiked through beautiful green rain forest {the only rain forest in North America} out to the tip of the peninsula and the views were so beautiful even the boys stopped to stare.  And pretend to push each other off the cliffs.  Speaking of cliffs, Oh my gosh!  I can't even tell you how nervous it made me when we'd stop to enjoy the view and looked down to see that we were standing just a couple feet from the edge of a cliff.  I guess safety isn't as important on indian reservations.

 One wrong step backwards and the whole family falls off the cliff on the other side of this bush

 Bean ready to surf for the first time

 Rock, paper, scissors and surf dudes

 We saw lots of bald eagles

 Ethan surfing

 Marcus surfing

 We found a ton of perfect, unbroken sand dollars

 Tickling sea anemones

 Lots of football on the beach

When this most perfect vacation was over, we stopped at the Olympic National Park and hiked around Crescent Lake {gorgeous!} and to Merymere Falls.  The forest was full of huge trees and felt enough like the Redwood forest that I'm not feeling so bad that I've never taken my kids to see actual Redwoods.  I think they'd be unimpressed.  This was another beautiful hike with only one steep incline that huffed and puffed my way up and was a nice break from driving.

We stopped in Sequim to see my Aunt Barbara and Uncle John.  They have a beautiful home overlooking the ocean and San Juan Islands with a couple of the best dogs who love my rowdy boys.  We had to catch a ferry back to Seattle {we barely made it} so I pretty much talked a mile a minute with my Aunt Barbara while she fed us delicious food and homemade potato salad just like my mom used to make.  It tasted like home and I wanted to cry.  When I told my siblings about it I think they wanted to cry too.  As I was gabbing away with Aunt Barbara, Marcus had my phone so no pictures of our pit stop in Sequim.  Anyway, it was a perfect three days and we are planning to go back next summer {when I'm not pregnant, uncomfortable, and hormonal}  Oh, and when Aunt Barbara saw me she said, "You're not as big as I thought you'd be!"  Love her for lying through her teeth to make me feel better about my current state.
Sorry for the picture overload.  There were plenty more I didn't include.