Northern Trek: Day Four

Sunday was a nice mellow day - we were exhausted from staying up very late every night so we just had a quiet day.  We started with church in the morning - I enjoyed the Bainbridge Ward a lot.  Seems like a very nice group of people.  After church we had lunch on the front porch - oh my gracious, the weather could not have been more perfect for hanging out on the porch; sunny, sweet ocean breezes drifting in, the cedar shingles of the house warming up the ever-present green of the landscape - I like it there a lot.  My soul belongs on the Puget Sound.  And after that we took a walk around the southern tip of Bainbridge Island.  There's a pretty little road that follows the beach line, has some old WWII Bunker things that the kids played on plus of course more time in the water.  The kids loved finding jellyfish and crabs.  They got a chance to sail their wooden boats again too.  

Post scraped leg - she was trying so hard to be brave and smile!

In the evening we enjoyed the setting sun, and I got to go for an all-alone walk with Mitt the dog.  Good music in my ears and a sweet puppy leading my feet - I wouldn't mind doing that on a regular basis! Then we finished off the fireworks pack - Adam didn't realize that the pack included some of those airborne fireworks that shoot up into the sky - we were not expecting that!  They were beautiful though, and the kids had a lot of fun giving each of them thrilling names such as the "I Want My Mommy" firework and the "I Need to Suck My Thumb" firework and the "I Just Wet My Pants" firework.  Bundle, who viewed the show from inside our car, also requested that one be named the "Sparkle Sprinkle" firework.

Want to know pretty much the best part of the trip?  Our kids had so much fun with their cousins.  Each kid had a cousin to match up almost perfectly with and I was so impressed that there was almost no fighting/squabbling/bickering/disagreeing at all.  Each kid just took off with their respective cousin and disappeared.  It was rare to see S. or Stomper's face - we only saw the backs of their heads because they were always off talking with each other about who knows what.  L. and Bitty played in the front yard and driveway for almost the entire time, and R. and Bundle delved deep into myriad pretend worlds all weekend long.  I couldn't believe we didn't get more tattling reports of, "But she said...." and "She won't share this...." and all that other kid stuff I feel like I mitigate all day long. Plus there was almost no tv!  Okay, S. and Stomper watched some stuff on the iPad from time to time... but really, not much.  What a joy to see the connections they have.