We just got back from visiting Jeff's brother and family in Washington.What I liked best was that the kids had a lot of unstructured play time. I cringe when I catch myself barking out a steady stream of orders about "don't do that...be careful...don't get dirty...you're going to get hurt..." It isn't much fun for them or me. It was nice to pull up to the rocky beaches open the car door and let them go explore. Over the course of the trip these 6 curious kids spent hours and hours on the beach looking for crabs and starfish and anemones, trying to catch fish, skipping rocks, piling up driftwood, and just playing. At the end of each day they were sandy, dirty, and tired but they had had a blast.
Most of the photos come from Joe and Sandi. Thank you we had a great time!
Sandi, Ryland, Joe, Wakely and Bridger
Megan is about one salmon long
This trip to Washington was planned around when the lowest tide would occur because there are some fun things to see!
We took a ferry ride out to Orcas Island and stayed for couple of nights and went whale watching too. Here is a little waterfall we hiked to.
On the island there were always deer hanging around the property where we stayed. The kids would pick apples from the trees and set them out as "bait" and then wait for the deer to show up.
Between the camouflage shirts and the stick horns it makes for a pretty good deer disguise.
Ryland gave his dad one of those fancy spa "hot rock" treatments. 
Whale watching with Captain Dan.
The killer whales we saw were from (I think) J Pod. They said the dorsal fin on the males can be up to 6 feet high.
Megan and Uncle Joe
