There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. - Kenneth Grahame

 The sun shining, the water calling and a boat was the perfect recipe for us to just get away.  We weren't gone long just long enough to simply enjoy a quick paddle. We were greeted by a family of geese. The lake was dotted with fisherman and a few more stood along the shore. We carried the canoe, paddles and life vests to the edge, and parked the car. Climbing in, we pushed off to explore this little lake down the road. I would have to agree with Kenneth Grahame about messing around in boats. We paddled and rested and talked and sat still watching, looking, enjoying this beautiful place we get to call home. The goose sitting on her nest, warning us not to come any closer, the rays of sun streaming through the trees, the view of Mount Baker perfectly rising above the hills. It made for an evening that was simple and perfect and needed nothing more.

 I've done Easter eggs so many ways over the years; plastic eggs with candy, naturally dyed eggs, blown out eggs filled with bird seed.  I think the kids' favorite is candy filled plastic eggs.  However, this was Robin's first time celebrating Easter. So of course we needed to do the whole dye the egg bit. I bought a couple of kits and found some crayons, got out the stickers and set up the counter with everything needed.  Note about teenagers, if it isn't video games, the attention span to "crafty" things like this is about 10 minutes. Then I ended up dying the rest of the eggs.  Wish I had a photo of the finished products but whatever.

I made this year's trip to the tulip fields with a very dear friend. She has been meeting with me two Tuesdays a month and working on photography. We went even with the threat of rain. The clouds hung low in the sky covering the fields with a blanket of grey and purple. With two of us with cameras, it was fun to see the difference in our photographs. We both had things we were working on. I generally shoot wide open, and to have everything in focus is not my usual way of photographing things.  There were things I was trying to shoot compositionaly and she nailed it. Sometimes you have to view things differently to learn, and then the teacher becomes the student.

Looking for a little adventure over spring break, we (being me as the enabler and her with her friends) took a day trip to Port Townsend, which is a little port town on the coast of Washington.  Forgotten by all except for tourists and residents and has become a destination in itself.  It has maintained it's charm and character from the 1800s and takes advantage of it with the different festivals and themed weekends.
Traveling to Port Townsend can be a little tricky due to the ferry ride.  We pulled up and watched the ferry leave, not enough time to buy walk on tickets. So like any adventure we explored Fort Cassy. Which really meant we walked down the road and got no further than the abandoned power facility. Cameras came out of bags and backpacks. Old stairs, cement walks with moss, rusted metal doors, sunshine peaking around the building and through trees made a perfect place to spend an hour before catching the next ferry.
Once at Port Townsend, we did what every tourist should do.  Eat Pizza at Waterfront Pizza. Best ever! The girls wandered through basement record stores, antique shops, and steam punk shops. We took breaks and watched this crazy girl jump over iron posts. We posed before instagrammed and pinterested doors. climb walls between buildings, and peaking through the Salish Sea Circle.  Then we finished our time at Better Living Through Coffee while waiting for our ferry to pull in.

Walnut Grove Aquatic Centre.  We have been visiting this place for years! We were introduced to Canadian indoor pools and tried a couple different ones.  Some were very crowded, in fact Isaac chipped one of his front teeth when a kid sat on him in the shallow end and he hit his tooth on the bottom of the pool. We had towels stolen from another place. Still others required a certain height to use the slide, which doesn't really matter anymore. This place had everything for us and even though our kids have grown, there is something for them. There is a hot tub that they can use. Job tends to get cold fast and his lips turn blue so he needs the hot tub. There are swimming lanes so that I can swim.  I usually will only be able to swim 1600 meters with a warm up and cool down and lots of rest in between but I love it. The slide is fun and they have large floating pool toys, however the real draw is what is at the deep pool. The rope swing, diving board, high dive and the platform dive. Job, my kid who hates heights will jump off the high dive.  Lona's thing is the platform. The first time she tried it, it took her a long time to take that step off. The second time, she took some time before the initial step. Each step off the platform took less and less time until she would just walk up, check for people below and leap as far as she can.  Then there is John diving off both the high dive and the low dive, swinging on the rope but not upside down like Job, but just as much of a kid as Job and Lona. After maybe 12 years of going, I finally have photos.  I usually swim and don't bring my camera but wasn't able to swim this time.