Labor Day Weekend

Annabella and her husband Paco arrived Friday around five thirty after driving 13 hours. It was soooooo good to seem them here. This is Paco's first time in Washington state.

Friday night we just stayed in and I made them some homemade barbecue. Annaballa wants the recipe but I don't use one. I'll have to make something up for her.

Saturday we picked up my Dad and drove up to Deception Pass and walked across the bridge. Well, some of us did. Those of us afraid of heights were a bit reluctant.

Here's Ashley and Ally before we walked up to the bridge to cross it. I never did make it across. Heights aren't my thing.



Here's my Dad at Deception Pass. He hates heights too but he walked the bridge.



Once we crossed the bridge we were on Whidbey Island. It's such a beautiful place. Our next stop was Fort Casey, a WWI fort that sits on the south side of the island.

Here's Ashley being helped up to see one of the guns by her Daddy.



Inside the fort are dark cavernous rooms that echo. We all went into one and then I blinded everyone with the flash from my camera. Here's Paco and Annabella and my father.



Some of us walked down to the beach.



After we left the fort we drove down to the beach/state park campground where we used to camp when I was a kid. (Wasn't that yesterday?) There is a ferry landing right next to the campground and I managed to snap a picture of the ferry boat in my rearview mirror.



Then we drove around the island looking at houses before we caught the Mukilteo Ferry. Here is Ashley laying out the passenger window as we waited for the ferry.

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We drove to Bellevue and had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. My Dad has never eaten there and he loved it. So much food and then the cheesecake. We got home so late and I'd forgotten I had to do the newsletter for church. I stayed up waaaaay late to finish that up.

Today we had my sister and her family and my dad out for a barbecue. My niece Heather also came and brought her husband Jon, their nearly two year old and their tiny baby Taylor. Here's my Chris holding baby Taylor. What a cutie.



I made salsa, a pasta salad, and my father's favorite garlic dip this morning. We barbecued hamburgers and cooked up the corn we bought up in Mt. Vernon yesterday. It was so incredibly sweet. Here's some of the family eating chips and dips in the kitchen.



I'm not sure just what Lance is measuring with his hands in that picture and he doesn't remember.

All in all it's been a fun couple of days. Tomorrow we were planning on taking them to Mt. Rainier or Snoqualmie Falls. They said they wanted to just stay here and visit with us and rest. Sounds fine to me.