I have no idea how many times we go here but it seems like it has become our annual spring hike.  The first one to get into hiking shape.  When many of the other local hikes are still closed due to snow this one is always open.  I think we did this in record time up and down in less than 2 hours with a swim in the middle.  One thing about our hikes, Job chooses a pet project that he talks about on every hike that year.  Last year was his recumbent bike that he wanted to design and build.  The year before that it was an all terrain cart that could be used on hikes.  I can't remember the year before that but he does.  It's filed away in his head.  This year, his pet project is building his own hovercraft with a house box fan and a car battery.  He hikes with me at the back of the line, usually 5 to 10 minutes behind everyone.  Then he describes his process and how he's going to build it.  We talk about possible design problems, and the materials that he's going to use.  It usually takes the whole hike and then the next one and the next one after that.  At the end of hiking season we still haven't built anything. Let's see how it goes this year.
On this hike, John told the kids to bring their swimsuits.  The only one who did was Lona.  I really wasn't thinking it was swimming weather but John was convinced that it was.  So once we arrived at the lake, both he and Lona changed into their suits and into the slowly waded in.  Skagit had no problem at all, he just didn't want to go in with anyone.  He swam out to get his ball but when Lona swam over to him, we noticed that he was looking over his shoulder and tried to swim around and faster than her.  The next time he wouldn't go into the water until Lona was quite far away from him.  He's kind of funny like that.

Lona made her mark: a smiley face

 

Our very busy "Lona" weekend consisted of 3 performances of dance and a piano recital.  I've already posted about the dance recital but in there was her piano recital.  We were so blessed that it was in the afternoon where her dance recital was in the evening.  This is her 3rd year of taking piano from Mrs. Gault. We just appreciate her so much.  She is fairly strict with Lona and really pushes her to practice with intent, to count the beats, to make her note correct.  It's been a good fit for us.  I only need to remind her to practice but I don't need to push her.  This year she was very concerned about having to give up dance and piano for soccer.  We've decided that she can continue these on account that she can do them during the day rather than during the evening.  At the recital Lona requested that she was the one of the first two so that if she needed to leave for dance she could.  She played "Moonlight on the Lily Pond" and "Dizzy Delight". I've heard her play these over and over again and thought she did good. but what do I know, I'm just her mom.



She didn't seem nervous either, OK maybe a little.

After my first trip to Port Townsend I decided that I wanted to share it with Lona. We decided that we would go to there to celebrate the end of our school year. I had planned to go to Port Townsend but then a friend asked if I wanted to go to Hobby Lobby that day so we were going to put off our trip. However the day dawned and my friend wasn't feeling good. So after our morning run we headed out to Port Townsend. It is so convenient to just walk on the ferry on Whidbey Island and walk off in Port Townsend.  We brought a picnic lunch to eat on the ferry and then just hang out and talked. Once in Port Townsend we wandered through the little shops, looking and talking and wishing.  Lona's favorite story was World's End, the Steampunk Store.  She oohed and awed over all the stuff.  It was one of the first stores we went to. She wasn't ready to purchase anything so we continued on in our tour of the quaint little town. One store that seems to suck me in is the Sand Castle Toy Shop. I couldn't help but purchase a bucket of snowballs and two pairs of kitty ear clips. We wore those on the ferry and took photos. We stopped at an ice cream parlor and waiting in line for ice cream.  When it was our turn to order the gal walked away and started replenishing supplies.  We waited to catch her attention but worker started to help someone who walked in after us.  I guess we weren't meant to have ice cream that day. We wandered on in search of cool places to photograph, stores to explore and food to eat. Farther down the main street was the marina and we walked all the way down there where we found this cool thing happening.  A couple weeks ago an anchor was found at the bottom of the ocean, crusted up with barnacles and other sea creatures.  They hauled up and it is resting in a tank of ocean water being prepared for shipment elsewhere.  They are trying to determine if it is the anchor that belonged to a ship in George Vancouver's exploration of the Puget sound 222 years ago. It was right there in the open and we talked to one of the men who hauled it out. It was pretty amazing. However not the most amazing thing we've seen. We listened to his story and then continued on in our wanderings. We headed up the hill away from the quaint little street and walked into a little church.  Lona was drawn to it from the music being played on the piano in there.  I think a boy was getting ready for a piano recital. Along the street was a bell tower that served as the town fire alarm.  Apparently the way the bell was rung told the town what part of town the fire was located. Every one was a volunteer fire fighter. All along the cliff were these beautiful old houses and they were kept up nicely. The views were incredible from there. We were getting hungry by this time and I had picked out a place to eat, Waterside Pizza.  We ate pizza by the slice and it was kind of a hole in the wall place which can either mean is really bad or the best kept secret ever.  This was the second kind.  So yummy.  By this time, it we needed to start heading back towards the ferry but not before we stopped one more time in the steampunk store, where Lona purchased a compass on a chain. Finally it was time to return home from our little adventure.

Even now as I type this, I am still unsure of what the recital was about.  Parody, Prose, Poetry and Parables but the individual dances are somewhat vague for me.  It still amazes me how they pull off this type of event but they do great.  Some of the dancers are in 4 or more dances and so they are constantly changing clothes and hair sometimes their dances are back to back.  Lona on the other hand only took one class this year.  Mostly because it fit so nicely in our schedule.  They offered a ballet class during the morning and it helps that we don't have to do one more thing at night.  We've kept her in Ballet because I think it is the basis for so many other types of dance.  I had thought that this year she was going to try out for the jubilee dance company and we would let soccer go by the wayside but Lona had other plans.  So we are letting the dance company go by the wayside.  Even though she was only in one class, she performed all three nights.  Friday night, John took her, Saturday we all went, and Sunday night I took her.  She danced half way through the second half so that meant we pretty much needed to stay for the whole thing.  It really is pretty entertaining and we love to watch her dance.  Oh, I realize that she won't be a professional ballerina but it is still fun to see her on stage.  This year she danced to the music Romance by John Friesen.  It was such a beautiful peace of music.  They were told to look sad at the beginning and when they receive the scarves which represent the Holy Spirit dwelling with in them, to have happy faces.  So grateful that she can dance and dance at a place that is Christian.  Her teacher takes time each class to share with them little things that God has taught her and shown her.  Miss Sarah is a wonderful role model for Lona.