Days of Summer in Whidbey

We have been having a beautiful summer this year and have been trying to enjoy every moment of it before we leave for Thailand.  Most of you know I accepted a teaching job at an international school in N. Thailand. Millie and I will leave in less than a week now.  (I can't believe how fast the days have gone.)  Mike will follow us a week later to make sure that all is settled here in the U.S. (It is a quite a daunting feat to make sure we are ready to go. )So, the end of June, we decided to take a weekend break in Leavenworth and Chelan before things got too busy.  We went camping, had the best time ever at the waterpark in Chelan and enjoyed beer and brats in popular Leavenworth, WA.

Camping near Chelan.  It was so windy that night our tent was almost flattened.  After a few noisy, but exciting hours (for Millie), the wind completely disappeared.

I loved the knitting shop here in Langley, Knitty Purls.  They had a few classes and I decided afterwards to try my very first hat.  So addictive and now I want to make more.  Hey, it gets a little cold at times in the mountains around Chiang Mai, Thailand.  I need to knit a hat for myself and Mike next. 

Millie's 8th Birthday party at Castle Park playground.

Millie and I were running around the yard playing, when I stopped to look at a windchime I had hung in our madrona tree.  Then I noticed this little clump of moss, but when I looked closer, it was a hummingbird nest.  So amazing!  Langley has truly been a treat with its eagles, red-tailed hawks, osprey, orca whales, seals, deer, rabbits, etc. 

Millie and I watching the Maxwelton 4th of July parade with friends. 

Finding sand dollars

This is definitely the biggest sand dollar we have ever found.  We found it just laying in the sand on Maxwelton Beach in Clinton, WA. 

April

The month of April is always when the Tulip Festival is held.  So we headed up to Skagit Valley in Mt. Vernon to take pictures of fields of tulips. Over 300 acres of these gorgeous flowers are grown here in Northwest Washington.

Millie and I hiding in the rows of tulips.

Time for some sandwiches before heading home at our favorite sandwich deli.

Then a few weeks later we celebrated Easter with some very good friends we have made here on Whidbey.  The cakes and food were both beautiful and delicious!

All "the boys" were preparing the plastic easter eggs with toys and candy before the big hunt.  (A little bit of playing was going on too.  I think we had 250 eggs!)

Plastic eggs being hid all around the yard.

 

The kids are getting the Easter hunt briefing right before the "big dash" to load up their bags and baskets.

Off hunting for eggs!

Five golden eggs were hidden.  Here's Millie with her special find!

Counting up the eggs after a successful hunt.

My favorite people on Whidbey Island!  Such fun friends.

 

Being silly.

Enjoying good drinks, nice company, a strumming guitar in the background and the warming sun.

A great Easter day.

March days

We've been having some really nice days this winter.  Whidbey Island is definitely in the rain shadow.  Whenever we can, we love to hang out on the deck of our "island home."

We have a great path that leads to the beach.  Today we went down to get a little exercise and search for some crabs.

Millie and Mike looking for baby crabs.  Millie has become quite the expert at overturning rocks to find the little babies underneath.

Mike's hobby these days are feeding and photographing our huge population of hummingbirds.  We get so many, that some days they will nearly drain the entire hummingbird feeder of sugar water in one day!

Millie wearing the socks the Oma knitted.  They fit perfectly.

Crazy Dr. Suess Hat day at school last March! 

More art days

I've been meaning to post these pictures since January.  The second graders in Millie's class finally got to work with clay.  We used templates to make little flower or fish bowls.

After using lots of items to make some very cool impressions in our bowls, I fired all the items in the kiln.  I was so nervous, but I did not have to worry....

All their art projects came out great!  The kids were so excited to wrap them up and bring them home as Christmas presents for their family.

Valentines day we made some pretty hearts out of paper shapes and made them glossy with modge podge.  I loved the snowmen we made too earlier in the month.  We didn't get much snow here at all, but the hallways sure looked festive.

Two weeks in Germany

We spent almost 2 weeks in Germany with my mom and Detlef for Christmas.  It was pretty cold while we were there, but that did not stop us from visiting the Christmas markets.

They always have delicious foods there. 

...and hot glühwein to warm you up.

Millie opened her presents from Oma and Opa while we were there.

 

  

Living so close to Austria now, my mom and Detlef took us to Salzburg and later in the week we went back to visit the Salt Mines and to Konigsee.   

We also spent 2 days at the Bad Füssing spa, swimming in the hot water pools outside.  It was fantastic.  It's so nice that those pools are only a 10 minute drive from my mom's house now.