It’s officially summertime in the PNW, which means it’s time for us to pull our trusty tent and sleeping bags from the recesses of our closet and get our camp on! As has been our tradition for the past couple of years, we celebrated the season opener with the Rusts at Fort Flagler, near Port Townsend.
I love this campground, as you can bounce between forest in beach in the space of a couple of minutes. We’ve spent a lot of time on this ol’ log.
Juliette was given a Junior Ranger workbook when we checked in and when asked to draw her favorite place in the park, she made this sweet little picture of herself in the hammock.
This was the first year we all brought our watercraft and we lucked out with especially calm waters and sunny evenings.
Meanwhile, back at camp…
The boys are so good at letting Juliette join their games – she can’t throw as far or run as fast as the two of them, but they let her have a go at it (and if I do say so myself, she holds her own pretty well!).
Happy place!
I lingered a bit too long over my s’mores and missed the dip of the sun below the horizon, but no matter – I still managed to get away for my pre-bed “serenity walk”.
On Saturday morning we set out for our usual hike along the bluffs. I asked Nance if we should look for a new trail to explore, but we ultimately decided that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Juliette came prepared this year to explore the dark, spooky bunkers – headlamp, check; walkie-talkie, check.
We ate our trail mix at the half-way point while the kids played stick-ball on the lawn. A game with a view!
I wasn’t sure how Jules would feel about being relegated to catcher when Shane stepped in to pitch, but she was into it, still super-jazzed just to be part of the game.
We hit the trail back toward camp…
..and then Nance and I pulled our camp chairs into the sun and sipped our afternoon coffees while Shane took the kids to the beach. I walked down to see how they all were faring and found this posh set-up – I tell you, this guy is the master hauler-of-gear!
She knows how good she’s got it.
We beach-combed for awhile before heading back to light the evening fire.
I grabbed the paddle board after dinner and asked Juliette if she wanted to take a spin around the bay with me. We saw jelly fish and a seal and a log that we pretended was a shark fin, just for the thrill of it.
Goodnight, sun.
While the days were warm, the nights were cold, making it even harder for me to crawl from the warmth of my sleeping bag. Juliette, however, popped right up at 7 am and started doing the Macarena.
We ate our lazy breakfast on Sunday and then the kids and dads played an intense game of football on the campground loop. This was one of those moments when I felt keenly aware of how thankful I am for the childhood that Juliette is living. Nature and surrogate big brothers and a dad that plays hard – she’s so freaking lucky.
“What are we gonna do next, coach?”
We hopped in the car around 11:00 to catch an early-afternoon ferry at Bainbridge Island. First though, hugs for Z.
Cheers, crew! Way to ring in the most wonderful time of the year.
