Week in photos.

Thursday evenings down at the waterfront is "Concerts by the Bay". We finally made it to one.

All Lucas wanted to do was go over to the playground. It wasn't easy keeping him around long enough to listen to the music.

Malinda had to run some errands in Seattle, so here we are at a pier looking at the boats and watching the sea planes.

Lucas checking out the scene where we stopped to have lunch.

We went up to Port Gamble, an 1800's logging town, at the northern most point of Kitsap peninsula. This is Lucas walking down to the museum.

The main street. Everything had white picket fences.

The playground right behind the main street. We spent most of our time there, of course.

Purdy Spit critter watch

Purdy Spit -- just to the south of us -- Lucas and I went to check out the low tide.

Tons of sand dollars, crabs and clams of every variety.

Don't forget the giant moon snails. That round thing is their egg casing.

the ocher star

Lucas was more interested in the hermit crabs.

The crabs were everywhere.

This sun star was really movin'.

Love low tide, so many animals to discover!

Camping

This weekend was spent at Lake Sylvia State Park, which is a beautiful lake surrounded by beautiful forest. Malinda and Lilly invited us and we all had a wonderful time. We went boating, walked along the lake side, saw lots of wildlife...Malinda and I took the kids on a 2.5 hour hike around Sylvia Creek, which was a bit longer than planned - but it all worked out:) Good thing for wild blueberries and huckleberries! Plus fabulous hiking kids!

A glimpse of the lake...

The hike along the lake side.

River otter!

We were so lucky to see this little family of four.

Lucas and Lilly at camp.

They speak each other's language.

Our site...we'll be back! Next time we'll have the fishing poles.

Some fun videos

An evening on the water

Randy and I took Lucas for his first kayak trip Sunday evening.

It was a beautiful paddle around Gig Harbor.

We rented a double seater and toured around the boats.

We saw one harbor seal.

But, mostly Lucas loved putting his hands in the water and taking in the scene.

Nothing beats summers here in the Great Pacific Northwest.

A week with Grandma Cathy and Aunt Christina

Grandma Cathy drove all the way up from Southern California to come visit the "cool" Pacific Northwest...

Her drive took three days, the first night she stayed with my parents.

It was a record breaking hot week, but we made the most of it...

We took the ferry to the water park, of course.

We drove up to Port Townsend, where it was cooler, but not by much.

We went to the bonsai gardens by the water.

Here's Lucas at 11 months the last time we went to the gardens. So little...

Lucas was happy to play by the little pond the whole time.

We drove to Ellensburg to pick up Aunt Christina, who just finished her Masters - Congrats!

We took the ferry to Canada, Lucas found the map of Victoria very exciting.

Looking out for the grey whales.

Finding some shade at the Embassy Hotel.

Victoria is a very beautiful city, isn't it?

The ferry back to WA.

Lucas was having fun with the rocking of the boat.

On the way home Lucas was telling us his name, but got distracted when we crossed the Hood Canal Bridge:)