Our Whirlwind Adventure

We had planned to just hang out close to the house this Spring Break but by Wednesday morning I was getting a little stir-crazy. I needed to get out of dodge!! We looked up hotels in places we could drive to relatively quickly and found the perfect one in Port Townsend. Within 20 minutes we had our room booked, our bag packed and the backseat loaded w/ toddler gear! (The above picture is of Clementine entertaining herself with her toes while serenading us with never ending renditions of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.)
We made it to the ferry, quite possibly Clementine's favorite part of the entire trip. She was wild with excitement. In the picture right above, I was preparing to take her picture when an older couple came and stood to our side. "Look how pretty she is!" said the lady. And Clementine mugged it up, just for her sake!
We got to town and it was like we were the only ones there! The sun was shining as we wandered the empty streets! It was lovely.
We ate at Waterfront Pizza and Elevated Ice Cream (my favorites!). I've been going to both of these places since I was Clementine's age and I was really excited to see the changes at Elevated, particularly the solar panels in the back!
We stayed at Water street Hotel right downtown. Even though we had two beds, all three of us piled up in this bed to watch movies and eventually fell asleep! (This is amazing because Clementine has NEVER slept with us before!)
We woke up bright and early (emphasis on EARLY) the next morning and head right for the beach (after a stop for a HUGE coffee for mama).
We'd brought Clementine's brand new kite with us and found the perfect kite-flying conditions on the far side of Fort Worden. Cam let the kite out....and it immediately broke! Oops!
There were plenty of other things to do at the beach, though!
This family shot at the beach took approximately 25 attempts to get right. We are all very very tired, can you tell?
Clementine and I threw rocks into the water, explored the different kelp that had washed ashore and looked for crabs (strange side note, we didn't find a single crab either here in Port Townsend or at Whidbey Island's beach we also explored! Where are all the crabs???)
As the gray clouds rolled in it was just about time to pack it in and head back to town to catch the ferry.
We had a good time in one of my favorite places on earth. We came home very tired but with sand between our toes and pink cheeks, what more could we ask for??

Recently

Playdate with Nolan

Clementine LOVES her cousin Nolan. She was so happy to be able to have a playdate with him at the Skagit Valley Children's Museum last weekend. They had a blast playing for a few hours.
Nolan wasn't quite sure what to make of the truck indoors!
Clementine played with the cash register and the floating balls.

Nolan wasn't sure about the fishing pond.
Clementine climbed the web all the way to the top and rang the bell!
And Nolan finally found his niche: SAND! He spent 99% of the playdate in this sparkling sand box. He got to sift and pour and scoop to his heart's content.

On Jack

About a year ago, Jack started showing us that he was greatly unhappy. He started heavily marking our carpet (reason #1005 why we tore it out and replaced it with wood), acting snippy with Cameron and Clementine and refused to leave the house. A friend put me in touch with the Alternative Humane Society up here and on a Sunday I drove him with a heavy heart to meet a new foster mom. I left in tears and was back in 15 minutes to pick him up.

I was so full of hope that I could make it work with Jack. I would get him more exercise, shower him with love and affection, we'd replace the carpet so he wasn't compelled to mark. But life with a busy family makes it hard to keep those promises. Swimming lessons, play dates, appointments all get in the way and we often got home long after dark to find that Jack had marked our baseboards, pillow cases, favorite blankets and clean laundry. It wasn't getting any better.

The final straw came in February. I knew we had tried all we could and it just wasn't enough. Jack did go with AHS this time and it literally broke my heart. Jack was our first baby and I hated losing him. Even more, I hated dragging Clementine through it (and could picture her lying on the therapist couch 15 years from now saying "It all started when my parents tore my best friend away from me..."). We told her that Jack was going to go visit some friends for awhile and she liked that answer for a time. But she's asked a few times since, today saying it was time to go pick up Jack now.

We have an "open adoption" with Jack's new mom. He lives in Idaho now and has a little Boston sister. He is very happy. I will get used to the idea of a dog-less house and we choose our words carefully when explaining this to Clementine. We are busier than ever these days with swimming lessons and preschool open houses, etc. It is a relief not coming home anticipating the mess that awaits me but an even bigger relief he was able to find a perfect home for him.

Out and About

I am so ready to say goodbye to this rain. It's been extra rainy on the weekends, trapping us indoors when we really want to be outside. As soon as there's a break in the rain we make a run for it. On this day we went to explore Fragrance Lake (just outside our favorite park: Hovander).
Clementine and I climbed to the top of the observation deck while Cam stayed below. Can you see home down there?
Clementine found him!
Since the trail to Fragrance Lake was flooded, we drove on over to Hovander to check out the scene.
The geese were honking away so we checked out the turkeys and rabbits then marched right over to the playground.

St. Patty's Day Parade

Saturday we went to Bellingham's 2nd annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. It was raining all day but I swear it cleared up just long enough to enjoy the parade!
There were all kinds of fun sights to see: marching band, ponies and horses, dogs and lots of people dressed up crazy.
But, of course, Clem says her favorite part was all the candy folks on floats threw to her.

Mani/Pedi

Clementine's best friend showed up to school with pink nails the other day. It was such a hot topic for her that I decided to do her nails, too.
I am so glad to have a new trick up my sleeve. From now on, every time I need this girl to hold still for 10 minutes, I'm doing her mani/pedi. She is such a pro.