Last Vacation Post

We had gorgeous weather for our last full day at Kalaloch, so we ended up spending almost the entire day on the beach.  We spent the morning with the kids playing in the ocean and in the sand and trying to float boats in a little steam that crossed the beach.  The women decided it would be easier to go back up to the cabins and make lunch and bring it back down to everyone rather than have the kids get sand everywhere.  So we had a fun picnic lunch on the beach and then we moved over to the fresh water pond that flows into the ocean because the kids wanted to try swimming over there in hopes that the water would be warmer.  They quickly spotted a big rock with an equally large piece of driftwood perched on top.  Blythe was the first one brave enough to swim out to it, but the other kids soon followed.  Justin swam over also to keep an eye on Barrett.  When he jumped off the log to swim back he said the water was so cold it almost took his breath away.  I was glad that I had opted to stay on the rocky shore to take photos.  

The group lined up on the driftwood log.

Blythe jumping off the log into the pond.

For dinner that night Justin's mom planned a cookout on the beach with foil dinners and s'mores.  It was a beautiful evening with surprisingly little wind.  The kids had a great time climbing on the driftwood and exploring driftwood forts that other people had made.  Barrett still managed to get wet up to his waist when he fell off  a driftwood log into the stream.  

Blythe enjoying her foil dinner.

Brynne with her foil dinner.

Barrett eating his foil dinner with ground turkey,

potatoes, green beans, corn and red pepper.

Notice he is in his pajamas once again.

Our "Beastie" as we like to call her.

Papa holding Barrett who conked out early

after his busy day on the beach.

Brynne, Thomas and Blythe.

The next morning was a really low tide at about 6:30 a.m.  Barrett and I slept in while Justin and the girls met Chuck, Kathy and Thomas to go explore the tide pools.  The rocks they walked out to normally can hardly be seen when the tide is in.  

Blythe, Gram and Brynne on their

early morning adventure.

Some marine biologists were out checking on the clam

population to determine if there were enough to 

harvest this year.  They made these big holes in the sand

and let the kids stand in them when they were finished.

Blythe with her finger on a sea anemone.

Brynne touching a starfish.  They even saw a starfish

eating a crab.  A marine biologist who was there said

that he had never seen such a thing before and was

baffled as to how a crab had gotten caught by a 

slow moving starfish.  Must have been a slow crab!

On our way back to Justin's parents house in Bellevue we drove through the town of Forks.  We took a one block detour off of Main Street to take a photo of Forks High School.  The whole town in enjoying some new found fame because of the Twilight book series which takes place in Forks.  We saw several signs advertising Twilight t-shirts and other merchandise.  I read in the Seattle Times that people have been coming to Forks from as far away as Australia.  There are now Twilight guided tours and the town has even designated a house as the home of the Swanns.  There is also a sign outside the Forks Hospital indicating which parking stall belongs to Dr. Cullen.  All we did was stop to fill up our van there.  Justin said it was the slowest gas pump he's ever encountered.  I thought it was funny as I read the first chapter of Breaking Dawn when Bella is filling up her car, that the gas doesn't pump fast enough for her.  She must have gone to the same Shell station we did!