Boat Camping!

On a beautiful day a couple weeks ago, Nana brought her kayak to our house. The kids enjoyed playing with it....

And then Edison got to join Nana for a big paddle across Silver Lake. They started on the east shore and paddled all the way to the west end! Nana reported that Edison was an excellent first mate - he knew just how to handle himself in the boat.
That weekend, Eben & I took the kids camping at Clarke Island in the San Juans. We loaded up our Whaler and headed out on Saturday morning. Charlotte and Eben dressed like twins. We landed on the east side of the island, where the beach camping area is.
After lunch we walked about 100 yards to the west side of the island and played on the sandy beach.
What a gorgeous beach!
We attempted to put the kids down for naps that afternoon. As you can see, we are using a huge tent - everyone gets a corner. Edison has graduated from the pack & play (now used by Charlotte) to a kid-sized inflatable bed. They jumped and crawled around and around until they were finally tuckered out enough to sleep for a couple hours.
This is a view of the camping beach. We just pull up the boat to the shore and the campsites were right at the top of the beach.

We couldn't get enough of the view of Mount Baker!

Unfortunately the kids work up at about five in the morning. On the plus side, we got to enjoy the sunrise.
We also hiked out to the south point of the island. The islands behind Edison are called "the sisters" and are a wildlife refuge.
On the ride home, Eben made a bed of cushions up front. Edison was all tired out and fell asleep.
But Charlotte was ready for the ride and did some exploring.
Okay - so Charlotte is going through this crazy phase right now. She basically rocks back and forth really fast while squealing with delight. She is doing this a time or two at just about every meal. I think it is cute and I love it, but I'm also a little worried and wondering why she does it!