Casual Cruise to our own Marina

Yes, we took a big trip this weekend from the South Marina where we are moored over to the North Marina for the EYC casual cruise in Everett. We stayed on the boat both nights and had to pay for our temporary slip, but we had  a great time being with the other cruisers. Barkley didn't like being left behind on the boat at times but he still loves to go with us.

On Friday night, we ate dinner with friends at Scuttlebutt's and then on Saturday we went to my cousin's daughter's wedding. It was a beautiful affair on a farm in Snohomish. She was a beautiful bride and it was fun to catch up with other family members at the reception.

Labor Day Cruise with Cohen

This was the weekend we have been looking forward to all summer. Cohen, who is almost 4, joined us for his first getaway with grandma and grandpa. He was very excited for "Grandma and Grandpa time" but we were unsure how he would do away from his mom and dad for three nights. We had nothing to worry about - he did great! We left Everett after saying his goodbye to daddy and Avery and then joined us in the cockpit for the trip to Port Ludlow.

After arriving at the marina, we had a lunch of barbecued hot dogs and then explored the marina. One of the treats that we give ourselves, and this time Cohen, is an ice cream if we can find it. The little office/store at the marina had a cooler of ice cream bars and Cohen enjoyed picking out his. For the afternoon, we built with legos, and had a potluck dinner of appetizers. When we arrived at the gathering place for meals, Cohen spotted the other kids that were with us and yelled out "Friends!" as he took off running toward them. The rest of the weekend was spent playing with them whenever we were all together.

While we were on one of our walks, we spotted a seaplane tied up to the dock. Cohen was very happy to see it and we were able to get a picture of him standing next to it. That evening Cohen crawled into his sleeping bag with his new Jake the Pirate pajamas that Grandma and Grandpa found for him. It did not take long and he was sound asleep. A very successful first day!

On Saturday, Cohen did some more lego building and then joined Bob and the other kids to build model boats. This is the third year that Bob has had a craft for the kids where they can build an actual wooden boat and then float it in the pond. Cohen had a wonderful time building it with the other kids and was very excited to have an opportunity to float it. Later that afternoon, Cohen helped me bake cookies. He wasn't very interested eating meat and vegetables but those special treats were really good!

The theme of the cruise was Mad Men/Paper Dolls based on a hit TV series called Mad Men. The show takes place in the 60s so the requested dress was from that era. Cohen and Bob wore dark pants and  white shirts and Bob had a fedora. I wore a dress that is a retro area with an apron, which were also quite popular with the ladies. Isaiah had packed his batman costume just because he wanted to so we decided that was the perfect touch for a 60s themed dinner. To pass the time, Cohen recruited Bob to help him smash clam shells that the seagulls had dropped on the blacktop.



Sunday was a big day for Cohen. He got to run his model boat in the pond with all the grownups. Bob has been putting together a sailboat contest for those who wanted to purchase an r/c sailboat kit. The "captains" have been practicing all summer and today was the big "regatta". Bob attached a string to Cohen's boat so he had a lot of fun pushing it out into the pond and then sailing it back in. 

The next big event was the Doggy Olympics which Barkley took part in. We realized after arriving that we should have planned a costume for him so he quickly became Batman. He performed about as we expected but he did win one award - the First to Finish prize. He ran from me to Bob and then Barkley (or Bob) had to eat a carrot faster than anyone. Well, Bob had to eat the carrot but he did do it fast enough that Barkley won the prize.

The afternoon activities include some boat christenings and then the annual dinghy tour over to the nearby bay. We loaded into the dinghies, tied them all together, and sat back while the Coleman's towed us over to the bay and back. By the time we returned, Cohen fast asleep on Grandpa's knee.

The last evening was a potluck dinner followed by the award for the events of the weekend. Cohen (and the other kids) all one first prize for their model boats, Bob won 1st place for his fedora and I won 2nd place for my apron.

We headed back Monday morning and returned Cohen to his mom and dad. We all had a great time and he told me several times how much he loved the "grandma and grandpa time" and asked us, "Aren't you so happy that I'm here with you?"  Yes, Cohen we are so very happy you are with us!









And Yet Another Sunset Cruise

Apparently we enjoy these sunset cruises! We had so much fun on the other two that we scheduled another one with Holly & Jerry and Mike & Janice. We did the same plan as before but I did the appetizer dinner like I did for the donated dinner cruise.

 

We had a great time and Bob had plenty of company in the pilot house. The guys hung out with him while Holly, Janice and I sat up on the deck.  As you can see from the second picture, Holly really enjoyed the M&Ms that we had with dinner. Everything was very smooth and calm until we were about 15 minutes from Everett on the return trip. The girls were all up on top and suddenly we were rocking hard enough that I was beginning to feel sick. We decided to go down below but Holly and Janice had to wait until the waves tipped them one to one side so the momentum could help them get up out of their chairs. We went below to join the men and made our way back to the marina. Not only was it very rough, it had gotten very dark, also. It's amazing how much earlier sunset is only 8 days after our first dinner cruise.

 



Chaplain Respite

We have had such beautiful weather and gorgeous sunsets that we decided this would be a good time to get some more friends out on the boat. We called up Ralph & LeAnn Fry and Dean & Debbie Jenkin and invited them out for a few hours on the water. Ralph and Dean are both chaplains with me at Stanwood Camano Incident Support and it has been a busy year for all of us. With the Oso slide in March which killed 43 people, follow up responsibilities, and life in general we were all ready for a break.

We took our usual route for our guests and cruised south to the Meadowdale area, over to the south tip of Whidbey Island, north to Clinton and then back over to Everett. The weather was beautiful and warm all evening, the water as smooth as glass, and the sunset gorgeous as we pulled back into the Everett Marina.

We had a wonderful time of just being together, laughing, visiting, and, of course, eating! Thank you for joining us Ralph, LeAnn, Dean and Debbie!

Playing Tourist at Bell Harbor

We had this weekend free to do some boating on our own so we decided to head south to Bell Harbor down on the Seattle waterfront. The yacht club comes here every year but we have never been able to clear our schedule to go with them. We had no idea what we have been missing out on! Yes, we have lived in the Seattle area our entire lives but we have never been to the marina or seen the town from this perspective. The trip down was a little hazy but we had a good run and arrived about 1:30pm.

After we got tied up and gave Barkley his obligatory walk, we headed down to check out Pike Place Market. It is always amazing to see the number of people there and to see the sites through a tourist's eyes.

When we returned to the boat, we sat up on the upper deck and read for awhile. While we were there, we had visitors. Another couple who just returned from two months on their 32' Nordic Tug, John Forrest, joined us and we compared notes on our tugs and boating experiences. They are June and Bob Henry from Portland, OR. We had a wonderful visit with them. One of the most fun things about boating is meeting other boaters. Everyone is so nice, eager to get acquainted and to share stories. It was a wonderful place to sit, look out at the city and make new friends.

After dinner we watched a little of the Seahawks game then headed down the waterfront to ride the Great Wheel - the West Coast's largest ferris wheel that opened in Seattle in 2012. It is 170' high and gave us a beautiful view of the city and Bell Harbor Marina. It was $15 per person and well worth the money. The ride was about 15 minutes long and included two full rotations plus the time it took to load and unload. Our timing was perfect! We had enough light to get some good pictures but still enjoy watching the sun go down.

After our ride, we returned to the boat to watch the rest of the game against Chicago. If you zoom in on the photo of the stadium, you can see the stands full of Seahawks fans.

Saturday was a pretty lazy day. We walked up the to the main shopping area with Westlake Center and Pacific Place. It is amazing how busy it is downtown compared to years ago when I would go there. And a large number of the people are tourists. There are several cruise ships coming and going so it is a very busy place. One of the things we noticed was a very long line of teenage girls lined up around three sides of the Nordstrom block. We asked an officer what they were waiting for and she said it was for a Meet and Greet with the youngest Kardashian sisters, Kylie and Kendall Jenner, who are launching their first shoe and handbag line. We passed on this one!

We have known for years about the Ride The Duck tours but never thought about taking the tour ourselves. As we watched many groups go down the street blowing their Quackers and listening to the tour guides get the passengers riled up, we realized it actually might be a fun activity, even for us locals. I'm seriously going to consider it for one of our upcoming Jet-Setters (empty-nester) group activities at church.

When we returned to Bell Harbor we got a good view of the cruise ship that was tied up next to us. We are at the top of the far left rows of boats. You can see how the cruise ship dwarfs every boat in the marina. We also saw two other cruise ships tied up at Elliott Bay Marina as we left on Sunday.

Barkley had a great time on the boat but I think he prefers the marinas in rural settings over the concrete jungle of a city. We found a patch of grass across the street from the marina by the railroad tracks that was planted specifically for the pets. He did great, though, and was quite happy to sit and pose for the camera. We left Sunday morning about 9:00 when we saw the fog starting to roll in over the city. We made it back to Everett with no problems and had beautiful weather all the way.