Mom's 50th Birthday!!

My Mom's 50th Birthday is on June 15th. I decided to take her to Lopez Island in the San Juans for a little Mother-Daughter weekend. Our friends the Gartlands were gracious and let us stay in their always wonderful house. I had a lot of fun and relaxation reconnecting with my Mom, just her and I. I hope she had a good time too!

Friday the 6th I got off work in the morning after a three day stretch of 12hr night shifts I hit the road to pick up my Mom in Olympia. I had to phone a lot of my more verbose friends in order to stay awake and left a few voicemails consisting of "please call back..I need to stay awake!" I dropped off Reuben with my Dad and we loaded up their outback with the kayaks and bikes and off to Anacortes we went. We caught the ferry after an hour wait and headed to the Bay Cafe for dinner. It is slightly pricey, but well worth it, the food, especially the seafood is sooo good. We shared a couple of plates of halibut and crab cakes and topped it off with some bourbon caramel cheesecake complete with a candle and an embarassing happy birthday song! That evening my Mother insisted on sleeping in the little daybed instead of sharing a bed with me because I apparently kick too much :-) She'll probably kill me for posting this pic but I had to immortalize it

The next morning we were off on our bikes to Holly B's bakery, so so so good. cinnamon rolls, almond danishes for breakfast and quite a few other options for throughout the day were to be had. We headed over to the Farmer's Market to peruse, then biked to Odlin park, then over to Spencer Spit Park, and back to the house. With the biking and hiking it was about a 6 hour day. Though cold in the morning the sun peeked out and it was very pleasant. When we got back Nina and Rich, Kacie, and Colin had arrived at the house. What a treat to have homemade dinner waiting for us when we got back! The Gartlands spoil us all the time but I am not complaining :-) Then back out that night to watch the sunset at Iceberg point, cold but pretty.

Sunday we woke up to action again. Of course we had to hit Holly B's and coffee in the morning. It was slightly less windy so we decided to brave the water in our kayaks. My Mom is an avid kayaker, they travel and around and take these amazing multi-day vacations kayaking with orcas etc..! but I for some reason have a huge fear of water, put me a 1000feet off the deck on a rock wall but get me in the water and I feel sooo anxious. Bless her heart, she wanted me to have a good time, so we put in at Hunter Bay and just went out and back along the coastline for a couple of hours. I actually enjoyed it this time and got into a rythm with paddling and feeling comfortable, thank you to Mom for doing something simple, I hope you weren't too bored! We then drove over to my favorite secluded beach in Watmough Bay and laid out blankets and read and napped.

Dinnertime we biked down to Buckey's for burgers and braved the hill back home with full stomachs. Finally we headed out to Shark Point for another beautiful sunset.

Monday, we packed and cleaned and took a morning ferry in order to visit my Grandpa (my Mom's Dad) in the hospital at the VA in Seattle. It was good to see him, it's been a long time. Then back home...Good times!

I hope to post more pics when I get them from my Mom!!