Orcas visit with Nonie

Each year for the fourth of july, we like to go to Orcas. It is like visiting Americana fourth of july - parade, fireworks and all the favorites seem to be present, so if we can get to the island we do. Well this year, we were challenged. We got up really early and left the house at 4:30am. Jan & I packed the night before. While we packed, Rocky ran away and we had to search the neighborhood for him (our dog). All were found and packed and we were ready to go. We got to the ferry at 12:10pm - that's right, it took us forever thanks to the WSDOT, and the numerous road construction projects being performed on Highway 2. When we got to the ferry, the ferry worker asked us if we really wanted to get in line since the next ferry wasn't until 2:50pm. I assured her we did, and here is our money. She asked again, I handed her our money and said, let us pay and get in line please. We were the 4th car in line. The ferry was full within 30 minutes. Hello 4th of July - is the ferry worker new? Could have been all new people since as they were loading the boat, they put too many lopez cars on the ferry and people were jockeying for position in line. I actually heard one guy offer the car in front of us $50 to switch places so he could get on the earlier ferry. This would not have been a good trade since a car + driver is something like $42 unless you have a commuter pass... Love the ferry workers!

So we made it to my parents for dinner time, and then the fun could begin. As you may know, my mom is a quilter. She actually has a whole bunch of fabric strips pre-cut in a basket. Well the basket was right at Caden's level. He found them and handed them out for everyone to wear as headbands. It's pretty funny to see all of the adults and Caden wearing different colored fabric headbands and sitting around catching up.
The next day we went to the beach to look for crab and eels and other sea life.

Orcas also is a haven for bald eagles. We saw about 6 in the span of 5 minutes so Justin & Jan went in for a closer look and hopefully a picture.

On Saturday - the actual fourth - we went to town for the pancake breakfast at the firehall and then the parade. Caden got to help wash the firetruck on Thursday so it was ready for the parade.

Our annual family photo in the fire truck...

Caden was dancing around the firehall while we waited for the parade to start. Caden & I were in the parade with my dad, no pictures of that, but I found one on facebook of us...

I was trying to take a picture of Caden standing next to the wheel, but he wasn't in to that. He really liked this gal, and she was actually the firedog mascot. Caden called her "my dog friend."

After the parade, we headed back to the cabin to rest and play in the pool and slip & slide. Caden loved the pool, the slip & slide - not at all! He hated it! I went on it once and so did justin. Caden ran down it and slipped and that was the end of it. (we had a cheering section of my cousins at the top of the hill)

It was a great weekend on Orcas and so fun to relax and hang out. Crab season wasn't open yet, but it was a great weekend!