Z Good Life

sharing the island with a friend

Sorry it's been awhile. I got a new computer, and it took me some time to get everything transferred over. In addition, I found out the hard way that TypePad is not 100% compatible with Internet Explorer. Rather than keep trying to solve the compatibility issue (What's the point in blogging if I can't upload PHOTOS?!), I downloaded Firefox and will use that for my blog. Without further ado, here's a blog entry with actual photos. Enjoy.

We went out to the island for the weekend. Jay was camping with a friend, and Summer invited her friend Sara to join us. The weather was lovely, and we enjoyed a little visit with Great Great Aunt Murnie, who is visiting from La Jolla, CA. It felt strange not to have Jay with us. I kept looking for him the whole weekend. Sara fit right in, though, and we all enjoyed having her along!

Ohhhh, we went for a lovely day sail on Infinity. (Lily got seasick on the way back to the marina. Poor baby has her mother's tendency toward motion sickness.)


We spent a lot of time on the sunny beach! This is a picture of the beach path. Erich's dad built a sturdy railing from driftwood. The floats, which have washed up on the beach over the years, add a fun beachy touch.


We also went to the farmer's market. Love the hot pink flower I found for Lily. (Wish we could find it. It's somewhere in this house!)


I took this photo in the grocery store parking lot. Hilarious! What a classic "island" shot!

Thanks for our fun weekend, Linda and Gary (and Great Great Aunt Murnie)!

 

our anniversary

Erich had vacation during the week of our anniversary! Thanks to his parents, we were able to have a little overnight getaway to Seattle. We stayed at Inn at the Market, which we highly recommend. When we got to our room, I immediately noticed the gorgeous arrangement of red roses from my sweetheart!

This is the view from the rooftop garden:

There were lots of fun things to do, all within walking distance! We perused Pike Place Market to our hearts' content, and took a peek inside the original Starbucks coffee shop. One of my favorite memories is our late night dessert at a chic little French cafe.

It was nice to have time all to ourselves. We really enjoyed the rooftop garden, and found ourselves up there several times during our stay. Most times it was chilly, but we didn't mind.

On Saturday, we planned to walk to the aquarium and go on the underground Seattle walking tour. When we heard the forecast, we decided to go to Woodland Park Zoo instead! It was nearly 70F... the first truly warm day of the year! Aaaaaaahhhhhhh... nothing like a big dose of Vitamin D. After all, it has been an unusually wet and cool spring.

Happy anniversary to my love. Thank you for an amazing weekend, and the best 16 years of my life -- so far!

 

chief's roosting tree

A recent windstorm on the island brought down the resident bald eagle's roost. It was so wonderful to look out the front window of my inlaws' retirement home and see Chief in the roosting tree. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see a photo of Chief (in his tree) taken in August.

Erich took the above photo. He was standing on the bank, on top of the downed tree. The tree doesn't look that big, but the top part broke off when it hit the beach. It was easily 50 feet tall! Below is a photo taken from the beach, looking up the bank.

I'm sad that we won't see Chief overlooking the bay from his roosting tree anymore. Hope he finds another satisfactory roosting tree on the property!

 

island christmas

We went to the island for Z Christmas over New Year's weekend. It was fun to spend the whole weekend with Erich's parents and his brother's little family! As Z tradition dictates, we played Tripley until nearly midnight on New Year's Eve. This time we let Summer and Jay stay up to play with us! They were getting pretty tired as midnight approached. I set up the camera on a nearby shelf to capture this photo. Sorry about the "shelf" in the lower right corner!

At the stroke of midnight, we watched the Space Needle fireworks on television and made a little noise of our own. :o)

New Year's Day was our "Christmas Day." It was another beautiful, crisp, sunny day! This picture of Erich's brother, David, is my favorite one. I took a lot of pictures, but there's no way I can post them all, so here's David opening his present from his bro:

Before we left the island on the 2nd, we went down to the beach one last time. Even though the grass was frosty up on the bank, the beach was warm and sunny! I snapped several pictures of the girls (Jay joined us later). This one is my favorite:

Thank you to my inlaws for a PERFECT island Christmas. We love you!

long weekend in winthrop

When my sister's inlaws retired, they built a cabin in Winthrop. Kristal's family was going to spend Labor Day Weekend there, and they invited our family and my mom to join them. We had such a great time! I took so many pictures. I'll try to capture our weekend with just a few.

 

The first day was nice and warm, so we grabbed snacks and headed to Pearrygin Lake. The kids swam, but the water was super cold -- way too cold for me! Still, it was wonderful to enjoy the warm sunshine.

 

That evening we went on a hike on the trails near the cabin. The next day was cooler, so we went into town to shop and look around.

 

 When it warmed up later that afternoon, we hiked down to the Methow River. The water was freezing cold! Mom dropped her little Canon point-and-shoot in the river. After a few days of drying it out in the oven (with just the light on), it's working just fine! Go, Canon!

 

On Monday, the weather was cool and cloudy. We spent the morning cleaning the cabin, then drove up to Sun Mountain Lodge. It's a really beautiful resort with an incredible view. It was chilly, but we walked around the grounds and enjoyed the view.

 
Drew (9), Lily (6), Chase (11), Jay (10), Summer (13), and Madie (14)

Thank you to Rick and Kay, Kristal and family, and Mom. It was a wonderful weekend in Winthrop!

 

the island in august, chapter 2

If you haven't already, leave a comment on my Jelly Belly blog post for your chance to win a sweet treat!

Before I share more photos, I need to let you know what Erich and Gary worked on all weekend long. They didn't spend much time at the beach AT ALL. They were up in the shop (fondly called The Tractor Palace) working on converting a Geo Metro to an electric car! Those two love a juicy project. They definitely found one! Unfortunately, I don't have any photos. I'll leave it to your imagination. Back to the beach pix!

 
A great blue heron swooped down to the beach to fish for breakfast!

 
Summer and Jay used a hammer, nails, and driftwood to build this raft. They found out all too quickly that it was too small for the both of them! Jay was especially thrilled with their project.

 
They could either kneel on the raft or stand on the raft. Jay preferred standing, but Summer felt too unstable. (Are those knees going to trouble her for the rest of her life...?)

 
This photo totally captures Lily's personality. When I first saw it, I was shocked at how much she resembles her mama! Everyone says she looks like me. Sometimes I see it, and sometimes I don't. In this photo, I absolutely see it.

 
Lily and Mimi are hanging out on the beach hammock! Thank you for our weekend, Mimi and Poppy, and thank you for having so much fun with the kids while I've been in class! We love you both up to the stars. 

the island in august, chapter 1

We went to the island to visit Erich's parents over the weekend. It was HOT! Usually it's much cooler by the water, so I hate to ask how hot it was for all of you here. Erich and I came home on Sunday night. He had to go to work Monday morning, and I'm attending an art for educators class here in town at the new museum. The kids and their grandparents were thrilled to have 3 days to themselves on the island! Summer has been texting their fun activities to me while I've been in class. Today they went sailing!

I took a ton of pictures over the weekend. I'm sure we spent 90% of our waking time outside. Such beautiful weather! Today and tomorrow, I'll post pictures from our trip. I get to pick up the kids tomorrow night! Yay!

 

Jay is in the kayak, and Erich is in the shore boat checking the crab pot. We only caught one "keeper," but we ate him for dinner!

 

 Jay overlooking the sound on a sunny Sunday morning.

 

 Summer and Lily in the kayak. The kids were kayaking maniacs all weekend!

 

Look who came to visit while we were on the beach! Gary and Linda have dubbed him Chief. (I was calling him Uncle Sam until I found out he was already named. FYI, they have also named the resident wild turkey, Bernadette, and the resident limping buck, Gimpy.)

More pictures tomorrow!

summer's home!

 
Summer's first pineapple upside-down cake - July 2010, age 12 

Summer got home late last night from her trip to Vancouver Island with my mom and my niece. They spent 5 days at a friend's horse ranch in Nanaimo, and had such a wonderful time! I had sporadic contact with mom and the girls via Mom's Facebook account, and was so surprised and pleased to hear that Summer rode a horse! Summer has many gifts and talents, but she's a little fearful of trying new things. Especially when new things involve getting up on the back of a very powerful animal! She is also constantly worried about her knees, which is common for people who chronically displace their kneecaps. One wrong move and, "Boink!" Out it goes. I hope I'll be able to post a picture after Mom downloads the photos from her camera.

We all missed Summer terribly. I missed her constant calming presence in the house, her amicable nature, and her sense of humor. Oh, how that girl makes me laugh! I love it when she's laughing so hard that she goes into "silent mode." No sound. Just a big open mouth and tears streaming down her cheeks. Totally awesome.

I'm so glad you're home, Summie. I keep thinking about college, just 5 short years down the road, and I already hate how this house feels without you in it. <3

island weekend - part 2

More pictures from our weekend on the island:

petting Miss Christie's new baby lambs

exploring Miss Christie's 40-acre farm

watching a mama raccoon "clean up" under the bird feeders

going for a day-sail on Infinity

watching and identifying the birds at the bird feeders

I hope you enjoyed a little taste of the island in Springtime!  

island weekend - part 1

We decided to head to the island to celebrate a belated Mother's Day with Erich's mom and to enjoy the beautiful weather. There was SO MUCH to do. I took hundreds of photos, but I'll just post a few pictures today and tomorrow. Enjoy this little taste of our weekend on the island!

riding the ferry

creating elaborate "crab condominiums" for the little rock crabs

collecting beach glass and other treasures

enjoying a pear, lemon curd, and ginger crepe at the farmer's market

browsing the various handmade items at the farmer's market

being entertained by the otters