Summer's End...

We are having a late "summer's end" at our house. Nicole starts school at Whatcom C.C. on Monday and we are squeezing every bit of summer fun we can out of these last few weeks.

We spent about 5 days last weekend (ha...a very long weekend) at Beach Haven on Orcas Island. It was a fabulous time of good family adventures, good friends, beautiful views...it was everything Beach Haven #9 has always been...and then some. Here are some highlights of things that were a bit different this year...

*We went in September instead of June. Sadly there were no baby geese to feed. However, we discovered that the jelly fish grow REALLY big over the summer. The biggest one I saw was probably about 15" in diameter. Nicole and Becky (Nicole's friend who joined us since Jenna was...sadly...at NNU) actually had a deer come up to them at Cascade Lake. They fed it and pet it. Pretty amazing. The weather was perfect...sunny, warm and beautiful.

*Roy and I decided to take our clubs along and play the little golf course on the island. We talked Robin into joining us and had a great time playing 9 holes on Monday. I was pretty happy with my game considering it was the 2nd time I've played in about 3 years.

*Since we were there over a Sunday, Yuki and I chose to attend the most beautiful little Episcopal church. The setting is incredible (note to friends and family: either one of our daughters may decide to get married in this lovely little setting.), the service wonderful, and the Priest was delightfully refreshing and enthusiastic. I wondered if he wasn't just like Pastor Tim would be like in "The Mitford Series."

*We had two (count them TWO) opportunities to watch Orca whales swimming and playing in the channel from our back deck. This is the first time (in 11 years) that we have ever seen whales and it was so exciting!

All in all, our trip to Orcas Island was wonderful. Coming home was wonderful too as we only had to wait 2 days for Jenna and Andrew to come home for a long weekend! This is Andrew's first time to our home and we are thoroughly enjoying having him here. We visited downtown Lynden this morning and they are at Fairhaven this afternoon. We have a fun weekend planned in Seattle which will include seeing "Phantom of the Opera" at the Paramount Sunday afternoon before we have to put them back on the plane to Boise Sunday night. (None of us have ever seen "Phantom" live and some of us are more than a little excited for the experience!)

Yes, we are squeezing as much as we can into our last days of summer. And I am so thankful as I think of not only all we have gotten to do, but all of the wonderful people G-d has filled my life with to share these experiences. He has been more than good to me!