Friday Exploration Day

This Friday for our exploration day we decided to head to Whidbey Island. But our first order of business was to get the kids some winter gear. It is getting pretty cold and our even our warmest Hawaii sweatshirts are not keeping them warm. We went to JC Penney and were so excited when we walked in and discovered they were having a 50% off winter gear sale!!! The kids were so excited to get their coat, beanie and mittens. The sales lady even commented on it and we had to explain that we lived in Hawaii the past 5 years and these were their first winter coats! The sales lady cut all the tags off so they could wear them right away.

Then it was time for our adventure! We had a beautiful drive through a lot of farmland. When it was time to go over to the island we first had to travel over Deception Pass. It was stunning. The water flowing under it was rushing pretty fast and the views were awesome.

Then it was time to drive over it! I don't like heights at all but the view was so awesome I didn't even think about how up we were.

Our destination was Oak Harbor. But when we got there it was SO freezing with the wind coming off the water. We just took a few pictures, checked out a cool windmill and jumped back in the car!

We drove from the top to the bottom of Whidbey Island. It got a little long for the kids but Darrick and I enjoyed it. We had planned a surprise for the kids at the end of our journey so that helped them stick it out. The surprise was that we were going to ride a ferry back home! When we got there we had about 20 minutes before we could get on the ferry so we took a few pictures. Cars had to wait in different lanes until it was our turn to drive onto the ferry. A big storm was coming so we were glad to get going.

The kids loved driving the car onto the ferry and the boys couldn't wait until we could get out and look around. Naomi was scared and held on tight to Darrick.

We went to the front of the Ferry to watch us leave but soon went inside because of the cold.

The kids enjoyed looking around and out the windows. It was only a 15 minute ride. Then we drove back off and traveled home.

Andrew and Cheptoo's wedding

Today we were able to attend the wedding of our friends from church, Andrew and Cheptoo. They will be having a larger ceremony when their families from Africa can attend. Today was small and intimate. It took place in their home. It was a beautiful ceremony and afterword we all enjoyed a huge African feast!

Friday Outing

Today Darrick was in training today to be Command Duty Officer so he did not get home as early as he usually does. So we thought we might go for a drive to check out a hike. But as we got closer the temperature started dropping and it started raining. The higher up we went the colder it got until it was 35 degrees and there was a little bit of snow on the ground! The surrounding mountains were so beautiful with snow on them.

The kids wanted so bad to get out and feel the snow so we pulled over and let them out. They were so excited. The boys started to try to make little snowballs. Naomi has never felt or seen snow before and she could not wait to get at it!

She loved it and kept saying "This is cold!" She wanted to take it with her so we let her take a little piece but of course it melted.

Then on the home we saw a big fat raccoon! It was a great time!

Kayak Point

Before we get to Kayak Point I have to tell you about Sunday morning. We had been having lots of rain during the week so it was so awesome when we woke up and the sun was shining. We looked out our bedroom window and noticed that everything was steaming. We called the kids and we just all sat there and watched it. It was really cool!

Now to Kayak Point! Today after Darrick got home from work we took a drive to find Kayak Point. Someone told us about it and said we should check it out sometime. It took us about 20 minutes to get there from our house and the drive was stunning. The whole way we traveled through forest. When we got there the kids were so excited to see a huge playground and Darrick and I were excited to explore!

The views were so gorgeous!

While the kids were playing on the playground Darrick and I took a few moments to walk down the pier by ourselves holding hands.


Once we got to the end we could look back to where we started and what was around us.

When we got back to the playground, it was so nice to see the kids playing happily together! (Which is not always the case!)

Then it was time to do one of my most favorite things: explore! The kids love it just as much as I do and we love to see what treasures we can find. There were a lot of shells and the shore was all rocks, no sand in sight!

Naomi loves sticks! There were so many in fact that she kept trading the one in her hand for another one she found on the ground. One of her favorite things to do with them is pretend that they are vacuum cleaners. Is was too cute to watch her vacuuming all along the rocks!

We saw some geese flying!

Naomi also enjoyed standing on the logs and singing her heart out!

It was a really cool place but before we knew it, it was dusk and it closed, but we enjoyed it while we could!