There seems to be a time when our kids finally get to be pretty cool and are fun to hang out with on a more peer level. The flip side of that is they don't want to hang out with us.  It isn't that I didn't like to hang out with them before, I did.  It 's just that it was a parent child relationship. It is also harder and harder to get everyone together to do a family thing.  They are starting to develop their own lives outside of ours on a more regular basis. This time we were able to snag Isaac for a Saturday morning bike ride through Fairhaven.  We told him it would only take a couple of hours but by the time we were done it was the whole morning!  We started at Boulevard and made our way along the Boardwalk and past the Iron Rooster Bakery which was almost too enticing to pass up, but I made John promise to stop on the way back. Then we rode along the interurban trail past Fairhaven Park and onto Arroyo Park. Biking isn't Isaac's favorite especially mountain biking.  I'm not good at that so we only ventured 10 minutes into the park.  I am not sure why but John always waits for just at the crest of the hill and I ended up having to walk my bike the rest of the way because he doesn't move.  He waits because I have to stop for photos or to psych myself up for the downhill hairpin narrow turns of the trail. This ended our outbound trip and and I pedaled hard to earn that chocolate croissant from Iron Rooster Bakery.  It was so worth it. That crusty, flaky mouth watering croissant with just the right amount of chocolate practically melted when I ate it and the coffee was perfectly paired with it. I am already looking forward to the next little outing to the bakery.  Then it was time for our last little ride back to the car and were surprised with a regatta or sailboat lesson on the bay.  We stopped to watch these little keel boats maneuver around floats.  It was interesting and I wish I knew more about what was happening because there were directions called out and boats peeling off.

I keep seeing these amazing photos of the suspension bridges north of Vancouver and I wanted to go.  John and I went years ago to the Capilano Suspension Bridge and it was expensive but there were a lot of the bridges.  I had heard that Lynn Canyon was free and from the photos, it was beautiful. What I didn't realize was that there was only one bridge, not many like Capilano.  I grabbed Lona and Isaac and we headed up for the day.  I need to remember that expectations do not represent reality.  When will I learn this lesson?  Expectation of everyone getting along. Expectation of a non crowded cool experience. Expectation of eating great food. Reality was words said in jest aren't always taken in jest. Reality was I am going because this is what we are doing but I'd rather be home. Reality of no one wanted to stop for food, lets just get home. That being said there were some cool things about this trip. One was that we ran into our neighbor across the street.  She was there for the day with her nephew and sister! how cool was it that we all went to the same spot on the same day?   Secondly we had to drive through a neighborhood to get here. It's like a hidden gem except everyone knows about it. Thirdly, the water was amazing and inviting. I could see spending a hot summer day along the bank swimming, hammocking, and picnicking, I am sure everyone else feels the same way too. However, there were trails going either direction and after about a 1/2 mile the amount of people kind of petered out. It made me want to go further to explore more. I guess another time.

Ethel mentioned that she wanted to visit when the tulips bloom and that is the month of April.  It's a hit or miss when in April but she took a chance on the second week of the month. I was apprehensive at first due to the fact that we had a very warm winter and my tulips had been poking out since late February.  Skagit county is always a little earlier than we are, but that was actually a great time to come.  Job had just arrived home from France and John was due to leave the next week for a few days for work. She arrived on a Tuesday and John took vacation from Wednesday on. They had a marvelous time.  He took her to visit the Tulip Fields in Skagit.  She receives tulips each year from a friend who lives in Washington and she really wanted to send some to her sister.  John helped her accomplish that while at Roozengaard.  John and Ethel also went to the marina for lunch and then strolled around it.  It was a nice day for it since most of the week was overcast and cloudy with some rain showers. John really wanted some photos with his mom and all the kids and so another day we headed to Hovander Park for photos.  The trees were just starting to leaf out so they didn't provide as pretty of a backdrop as I wanted but we were working in between kid schedules. Of course he had to take her for a ride in my car.  I think it might have been her first ride in a convertible.  I think he might be a little bit proud that he could buy me this car.  It makes me happy.  We also took in a high school varsity soccer game. No family visit would be complete without some kind of kid sport/activity.  Of course prom happened that same weekend and so she met Lona's date and watched him put the corsage on her wrist and have a boutonniere pinned on and all the other hoopla that goes on with prom.  It was a packed week with so much stuff going on.  I ended up working much of it being in the middle of a project.  It was a good visit.

 A list of my hobbies that I currently have going on.

• Drinking Coffee  - a daily ritual
• Bible Study - Ephesians, Colossians, Joshua
• French - through udemy
• Baking, lots of baking 
• Anything Hygge - reading about it, finding hygge time, enjoying it
• Calligraphy - love using ink and nibs, filling papers with words and swirls, thoughts and quotes and scriptures, letters, colors of inks
• Reading or listening to audio books
• Photography - mostly soccer, some baked goods, some people or activities
• Walking, trying to walk everyday (9000+ steps 5 days a week) wanting this to become a habit, a hobbie, 
• Journaling in my head, on paper, on my blog
• Knitting - but not for a while, need to finish a project but not motivated
• Scrapbooking - it used to be with paper however now it's making books through Blurb.

We have lived here for 17 years and have never been to this island. It is amazing at how much we
have yet to see in our area.  We've reached the time in life when we can only gather a kid or two to go with us.  Job is off on his own spring break adventure, Isaac has to work and is about to end his spring break. This time it was only Lona and it definitely changes things on family adventures. John spent about an hour testing out bikes, airing up tires and getting things ready for our adventure.  The day before I had checked out a book from the library called, Cycling the Islands, by John Crouch. I perused the book, discussing it with John to narrow down an island. We chose Lopez Island due to it's "relative" flatness compared to the other islands. Make sure to know what you are comparing it to.  It is hillier than the Skagit Flats for sure. I thought it would be more like Lummi Island, which it was not. I and my backside are not in biking shape. This may take days to recuperate from this.  I am now shopping for a bike seat, the big fat, cushy seat. I don't see those road bike torture devices on my bike ever.  Anyhow, being an island we needed to schedule our time around the ferry schedule which was also a factor in choosing our island. We arrived about 20 minutes before the ferry, purchased our tickets and pretty much walked onto the ferry.  Lunch was on the ferry and then a few minutes working on the many jigsaw puzzle. Ideally we could do the 37 mile tour of the island but in reality there was no way. We decided to start small and do the North Island Loop with some minor changes. We started at the ferry terminal instead of Lopez Village. From the ferry terminal, we climbed the hill on ferry road and then descended to Port Stanley Road.  We followed that road around to Hummel Lake Road and then cut across the island to Lopez Village. This was our snack and moral stop. Lona thought it smelled a lot like Cannon Beach.  Small town, on the beach, wind blowing, sand everywhere, a coffee shop and bakery.  I could smell it too. From Lopez Village we followed Lopez Road as it turning into Military Road and Fisherman Bay Road.  Turning onto Ferry Road, we followed that back to the ferry terminal. I headed up the hill while John and Lona checked out Odlin Park.  I wasn't sure I could make it. We all arrived around 4:00 and with the ferry being 20 minutes late, we had enough time to get organized for the ferry ride home.
Note: the ferry cost is around $14.00 plus $2 for the bikes.  All fares going to the islands are paid, westbound.  Eastbound from the island is free. You really can't go anywhere from the islands except back to the mainland.






















I'm a sucker for cute signs.  So simple, yet absolutely adorable.


My friend has a skeleton that she has named Frankie.  When she does something, Frankie is posing too.  When I saw this pharmacy with the skeleton, I had to take a photo.  I really like the way the window pops out and the cute roof to it. Of course this wasn't your typical rectangular pharmacy building, it was very cute.  Part of the island charm.































Thoughts:  I like how friendly everyone is.  Every car or bike or runner waves or says hello.  Kind of like Montana. The roads aren't busy so it's easy to ride on them. We biked the longest route to the village since I knew I was going to need the rest when we got there.

This is an island I would love to explore more, we only saw the northern tip. I am wondering what it would be like to camp and explore via bike (if my seat allows it).  I should put it on my bucket list.

I love the variety of houses on the island, from very plain trailer houses to vintage farm houses to architectural designed modern homes.  I needed more time to photograph those. There were beach houses and a kind of commune with solar panels everywhere.

Then when we almost reached our exit on the interstate, we were passed by some friends who had been out of town for a week.  How fun is that.