Saturday on the Canal was relatively quiet. Juliette was sharing a room with her cousins and would get up and play with them for awhile before traipsing over to the boathouse to say good morning to Shane and I. The luxury of sleeping until 8:00!
The girls spent much of the morning combing the low-tide beach, turning over rocks in search of tiny hermit crabs.
With each new discovery, there was applause and exclamations of Whooooooaaaaaa!
While they treasure-hunted, I slipped away for a long morning paddle on the smooth, calm water.
A seal kept me company along the way, popping his head up to say hello every few minutes, and an eagle crossed the canal just as I was turning around. The gratitude and serenity I felt in those 45 minutes was palpable.
And except for my flying and flippered friends, I had that expanse of water all to myself! Not a soul in sight until I neared the house and saw Mitch and Kathryn paddling toward me in the kayaks.
My zen was nearly killed when I returned to a cranky, whining three year old, so I packed a quick picnic lunch and asked Shane to throw Juliette in the car – after two solid days of intense cousin-play, I think she needed a chance to mellow out. We found a perfect little perch on the shore of Lake Cushman and ate our sandwiches in relative quietude.
Soak up that Vitamin D, kiddo!
Reset and refreshed, we returned to the house to change out of our swimsuits and drive up the road to the Hama Hama Seafood Co for drinks and snacks. Shane hung back at the house because, well, rumblies…by this point he was really questioning his decision to self-harvest oysters. And gosh, he missed out – the rosé was crisp and refreshing and the crab cakes might have been the best I’ve ever had.
Plus, corn hole!
And a mountain of oyster shells.
We returned home with ample time for an evening paddle, so Juliette and I bobbed around the canal for awhile, photo-bombing a bride and groom that were taking their wedding pictures on a nearby dock.
And then we gathered on the deck for a riveting game of Clue – I haven’t played this game for years, but it holds up!
This is the point at which Morgan thought she’d cracked the case (she hadn’t)…
There were s’mores for dessert and gin and tonics for post-dessert and then…good night.
On Sunday we drove down toward Belfair to do some exploring at the Thelar Wetlands (again sans Shane, poor guy…).
The wetlands were warm and lush and bursting with blackberries.
Some of which were quite tart!
Juliette had a tough time keeping up with the group, as she couldn’t help but stop for a snack at each and every berry patch.
We spent the afternoon lazing and paddling back at the house, enjoying our beloved little stretch of beach.
Juliette adopted this mermaid statue as her baby for the weekend and spent a good while brushing its hair and feeding it grapes.
Elise monkeyed around and worked on her cartwheels…
And then there was an epic pre-dinner dance party, where Morgan and Elise taught us all how to do the Dab.
We ended the day at the Mexican restaurant down the road, feasting on giant burritos and jumbo margaritas (happy early birthday, Kathryn!).
Shane, thankfully, was on the upswing by Monday morning and played cards with the kids while I packed up the car. Sadly, our time at our waterfront abode had come to an end.
First, though, one more dip! We all headed over to the beach at Lake Cushman for more swimming, more paddling, more mountain magic.
This girl seriously rocked the paddle board.
And this one with the kayak! Lake kids, through and through.
It took some coaxing to get Juliette off the board and into the water, but finally she agreed to give the donut a go and swim out to the “island” to do some exploring.
I snuck in one last long paddle session before it was time to let the air out of that thing – I’ve never the enjoyed our SUP as much as I did over those few days. The whooshing sound as it deflated was almost too much to bear!
Board packed, it was time to say our good-byes. Thanks, Jarrells, for the solid fill of water and wine and sun. Oyster-induced toilet time aside (lesson learned!), it was magnificent.
