Andrea's Visit!!!

Last weekend my friend Andrea (who I met when we were stationed in Great Lakes) came to visit!

Things are a little different now than when we had plenty of time for beach combing, long walks with our dogs and dinners together. Still, even with two kids in diapers, we managed to have a few relaxing days together. Errrrrr... at least I found them relaxing? You'll have to ask Andrea what she REALLY thought of her "relaxing" getaway sometime when I'm not around. ;) There were hectic moments, as there always are with kiddos, but we still managed to squeeze a lot in without it feeling like too much. 

Our weekend in photos: 

After watching a tense Michigan football game, Fin, Andrea and I zipped down to the local beach for a Puget Sound sunset. We get a lot of cloudy, overcast weather here, but it was as if Andrea brought the sunshine! So beautiful!

Andrea, Kai and I also spent a fun day out and about in Langley (Dad and Fin held down the fort.) 

We explored the town a tad, had a very nice lunch and hit a couple wineries for a tasting. Whidbey Island has like... eight wineries on it! Four or five are right in Langley. The Spoiled Dog winery with its Australian Shepards was a must see for Andrea.

All of us (including Mateo) spent a super relaxing couple hours at Deception Park one afternoon. We brought along some Portuguese wine, cheese, crackers and... wait for it... super classy dixie cups. Once again the weather was perfect and the scenery was awesome!

Giant driftwood Teeter-totter anyone??? :) A first for Fin! 

 Oh! And for like 10 minutes we had an adorable little seal swimming around right in front of us! It was awesome!

After a couple very relaxing hours at the park, we headed back to the house to start making a delicious dinner. We were getting a much later start than we wanted on making dinner, but the park was well worth it. 5:30 PM is not that late to begin making dinner, but when you're making something as adventurous as homemade raviolis ... 5:30 is a little late! Needless to say between a fussy baby and a crazy two-year-old, the dinner making process was not quite as relaxing as we had envisioned. :-o 

Thankfully, the stress paid off and dinner was great. After the kiddos were asleep, we enjoyed our homemade goat cheese raviolis in a white wine sauce with cranberries, asparagus and chicken sausage. 

Our last day together was a low-key one since Andrea had to board the shuttle at 7 PM for her 11 PM flight out of Seattle. We got some things done around the house, made a yummy chicken pot pie, and spent an hour in the afternoon walking around and getting ice cream in Coupeville. It was high tide so we didn't get to see the starfish I wanted to show Andrea (photos in a future post), but... because of the high tide, we DID see another seal. He was hanging right around the docks! 

Such a great and MUCH needed weekend. Wish she lived closer!!!

POD "Late Afternoon Grayness"

Snapped this pic with my iphone from the passenger seat of a 45 mph moving car. The sunset was gorgeous and although I fully expected that I would not be able to capture the beauty on camera, I figured it was worth a try. As suspected, the photo did it no justice, but I still liked the picture. 

It may not have captured the sunset, but it did capture the high wall of driftwood that lines many beaches out here, the range of mountains that surround us, and the late afternoon grayness that often makes it hard to tell where the ocean ends and the sky begins. :) Beautiful.

All Things Fall

 The season has officially changed here on Whidbey Island. It's Fall! The sad news is it's going to get darker earlier, windier, colder, rainier; but ... it's okay because it's fall and this weather is to be expected. 

Fall is my favorite season. It's time for warm hearty crockpots and delicious soups and stews. Time to pull out my cozy sweaters, my favorite scarves, and my rain boots. (Oh wait I never actually put those away this summer...) Time for pumpkins and all foods and drinks to start offering pumpkin flavors. Time to start taking vitamin D cause I probably won't see the sun again until May... ;)

All jokes aside, we've been having fun and staying busy doing some fall-ish activities: 

Finlay and dad carved his first pumpkin! 

Fin loved playing with the seeds and insides! He scooped and dumped and separated for probably two hours! We surprised him after dinner by lighting it and putting it in the bathroom so it was waiting there when he went in for his tub tub. He loved it. I have a feeling there will be more pumpkins carved this season. 

Of course we had to show Finlay what you can do with the seeds! So we whipped up a small batch of maple spiced pumpkin seeds. Yum! 

Halloween is just around the corner so when a friend told me that the local thrift store had lots of costumes available, I had to go check it out. There were a few costumes in Fin's size but I couldn't resist the tiger. Being a tall kid, I knew that a costume in size 2T would be a little snug, but Finlay has developed a small fear of tigers so I went for this one regardless. We hoped this might help with his "There are tigers hiding in the woods that are going to eat me" fear . He might be afraid of tigers but he is not afraid of this tiger costume!

Decided this year Fin is old enough to appreciate some fall decorations! So off to the dollar store we went! Fin loved the leaves and spiders and bats so we got a little of everything. I stayed away from witches, ghosts, skeletons... etc. Not sure how he would have reacted, but the last thing I want to do is scare the kid anymore than he already is. I know Halloween is all about being scared but I think it can wait a few years. We need all the sleep in this house we can get. Anyway, while Kai snoozed in the swing, Fin and I enjoyed a fun morning putting up decorations. 

Loving Fall already! Can't wait for more Fall fun!