Memorial Day Weekend 2012 - Day 1

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

When we found out that we were not transferring, we made plans to spend Memorial Day weekend with our friends, the Rhoads, in Eastern Washington.  Where we have mountains and the ocean in Western Washington, the Eastern portion of the state is more of a dessert dotted with lakes running along the Columbia River.  We spent two weekends out there last summer and had a great time, so East we go! 

We spent Thursday night and Friday morning going through all of our camping gear, packing up just about everything but the kitchen sink, and prepping food for the long weekend.  Around 11am on Friday, we pulled Grace out of school and we were off.  Now we were not the only ones who were there to pull kids out to g6et a head start on traffic.  The list of kids who were signed out was already almost a page long at 11, when on a normal day there are only a few names on the list.  When I was working in Elizabeth's class Thursday afternoon, her teacher told me that nearly half of her afternoon class would not even be in class on Friday.  Didn't make us feel bad for taking our girls out.

We stopped for a quick lunch a little bit of shopping along the way (Dave would probably say it was more like a lot) then we were on the road again.

Unfortunately, our plans to leave early coincided with everyone else's plans to leave Seattle early.  When we got to Stevens past about an hour outside of Seattle, we found  what Washington State DOT referred to as "Holiday Traffic."  It is times like this that we are thankful for this wonderful mini-van of ours.  The kids watched a movie on the DVD player, and Dave and I played the popular car game, "Wow!  Look at what they get to do this weekend!"  We also tried to point out some of the amazing scenery that the low traffic allowed us to take in along the way, but it the kids didn't seem nearly as interested in that as we were.  We got a lot of, "oh" and, "Yeah.  That's pretty." 

After sitting in traffic at Steven Pass for 2 hours, we were finally on the open freeway.  The drive was beautiful.  The pictures don't even come close to doing the scenery justice.

After just another hour on the road (which included an "uh oh, we just passed our exit) and quick stop at Dairy Queen for a bathroom break and a little snack, we arrived at Blue Lake Resort.  Now I just want to say upfront that the term "Resort" should be used very, very loosely here.  The words "total dump" are what first came to mind.  Like I wanted to turn right back around and drive the 5 hours home.  But the girls saw Ellen and Garrett the minute that we pulled in and they were off and having a great time in a matter of seconds.  I love kids and the way that they turn a blind eye to things that stick out like a sore thumb to adults.  Their friends were there, the lake was just a stone's throw away, and there was a playground.  They just wanted to let loose have a good time. 

I'll admit that I was pretty darn grumpy as we unloaded the van into our 30-year old camper complete with mousetraps in the cabinets and stains on the couch.  But I would just have to be grumpy because the kids had waited all day for a campfire and they weren't taking "no" for an answer.  Ann and Jason fired up their grill for hamburgers while Dave worked with 4 kids looking on very eagerly to get the campfire started.  A few hours visiting with friends, a trip to the playground, a quick look at the lake, and some s'mores really ended the evening on a great note.

Sure, I had to wipe our entire camper down with disinfecting wipes and used nearly an entire bottle of Febreeze to mask the musty smell that permeated our camper.  But everything is really about perspective.  We were away for the weekend with our friends, the kids were so happy, and, besides the traffic at Snoqualmie, we really did have a nice drive full of road trip games and Radio Disney.  Reminding myself of how many, many good things outweighed the bad, I went to bed glad that we came and thankful for our awesome kids that always make the most drab places a great adventure full of new memories. 

Annual Deer Run Yard Sale 2012

Today was the day of the Annual Deer Run Yard Sale!  If you asked me yesterday morning if we were going to participate in our neighborhood's sale, I would have said, "No way."  But in true Amy Zinkhon-style (you know, that last-minute style that makes my dear husband CRAZY!), I decided mid-afternoon Friday to have our things out bright and early Saturday morning.  I dropped Elizabeth at school, worked at the Recreation Center for a few hours, and then came home to a house full of kiddos - we were watching a friend's kiddos so they could go out for their anniversary.  Now it may sound like we are crazy for having extra kids on the night we are trying to get ready for a yard sale, but it couldn't be further from truth.  The girls were both able to play with friends while we got things in some kind of order.  I had been putting things into a "yard sale" pile as I unpacked from our big move to Japan (ha!), so we didn't have to search here and there for things.  This made it waaaay easier to set-up.  A quick run to my friend Jessica's house last night to get another banquet table and we were ready to go.


After a long week, we all headed to bed early on Friday, so it was up at 6am (okay...it was really more like 7am) this morning to get things ready.  Our neighbors were out getting ready for their sale, too, so at least we were in good company as we tried to make our "treasures" with missing pieces and big scratches look good enough to buy.


Normally the girls have lemonade and chocolate chips to sell during the Sale, but with our late-entry, I was not about to stay up until midnight baking cookies.  Okay...okay...normally I would have done that, but, like I said, it was a long week and I wanted sleep way more than I wanted the girls to have fresh baked cookies to sell to total strangers.  Long story shortish, we ended up with a coffee stand in place of the lemonade stand.  Now this might not sound like a good idea, but this is not Illinois.  We don't have 80 degree weather here in June.  This morning, it was closer to 55 degrees and cloudy, so a a coffee stand was a perfect fit.


Grace set up her stand complete with to-go cups, half and half, and sugar.  Her best friend, Michael, who lives right next door, had his cupcake stand running bright and early, too!  A lot of their customers asked if they planned to have one stand offer drinks and one stand to offer a treat because it seemed like the perfect set-up...a drink and a treat...hard to pass that up when you are out looking to for deals bright and early!


Our things we had put out for the yard sale sold slowly throughout the morning.  We got rid of a lamp that we have been dragging around for about 10 years and the bicycle that Elizabeth finally outgrew this Spring.  The kids lost interest after their second pot of coffee was emptied.  Not because the customers stopped, but because all of the neighborhood kids came out and they wanted to play.  (Let me just quickly add in here that our neighborhood is awesome!  There are always kids to play with and they all get along so well).  They all had fun eating cupcakes and buying/selling things from another.


After hanging around our yard for a while, Grace and Elizabeth took off with another family to check out the other sales on the Loop.  An hour later, they came back with some new stuffed animals (because we just don't have enough already) and bellies full of lemonade from a stand they found along the way.  Around noon, we were done with the Sale.  Elizabeth then zoomed off to a friend's cupcake-themed birthday party while the rest of us quickly cleaned up.

Forward two hours: we picked Elizabeth up and all headed over to the Poulsbo Library to sign the girls up for the Summer Reading Program.  For every 15 minutes that they read from today through August, they color in a star on their reading sheet.  If they have 10 hours at the end of the Summer, they get a free ticket to the Kitsap County Fair and a book.  It may not seem like exciting prizes, but they are both bound and determined to get those free tickets!  Grace has lost some interest in reading this year, so we made sure to pick some books off of the "Suggested Books for 4th Graders" list.  She was not excited by the titles that we chose, and I do mean not excited at all, but hopefully she will take to at least one of them.  Elizabeth, on the other hand, can never get enough books when we go to the Library.  We kind of have to cut her off at a certain point - usually when the bag is too heavy to carry. 

After the Library, we went to the theatre to see Madagascar 3.  We all love this series of movies and had been anxiously waiting for it to be released.  It did not disappoint!  It was funny, very colorful, and had a great catchy tune that Marty the Zebra sang that no one can seem to get out of their head: Da da da da da da da Afro....da da da da da da da Circus...Afro Circus..Afro Circus...Polka Dot...Polka Dot...Polka Dot Afro!  Here's to hoping there is a Madagascar 4!!!!

Tired and full of popcorn, we headed home.  It was another long, but fun-filled day at the Zinkhon's.

Viking Fest Race 2012

A pre-race family picture

Grace and Ellen

In the Midwest, they are called Homecomings.  On the East Coast, they are called Festivals.  Here in Poulsbo, our community's summer carnival is called Viking Fest. Today, our family (and just about every other family in our great little town) celebrated Little Norway's Norweigan heritage at the 44th Annual Viking Fest! 

Now we have enjoyed Viking Fest the last two years, but this year, there were a few big changes: 1.  Dave was acutally home and not out to sea.  2.  Our entire family ran the 1-mile Viking Fest Road Race.  That's right, the Zinkhon's got up this morning and ran along the Fjord with 700 of our closest friends.  Dave and Grace had been signed up for quite some time, but Elizabeth was not interested in the slightest in running a race.  She and Grace had both ran the Kids Dashes last year, and that is what she was signed up for again this year. 

I was really wanting to run the 1-mile, but I just didn't know how it would work with Elizabeth.  She's a pretty stubborn little girl, and if she doesn't want to do something, she just won't do it.  I resigned to being the family cheerleader.  But then I worked at the Rec Center Friday night to help hand out race numbers, (yes, I am working as a paid office sub now for those of you who didn't know) and I began to see the of names of many kids that Elizabeth is friends with who were signed up to run the 1-mile.  I made an executive decision (I'm the Mom, so I can do that), and signed Elizabeth and I up for the 1-mile.  Let me tell you that she was not excited, and I mean not excited at all, when I shared the news with her later that night.  Grace, on the other hand, could not wait for her race in the morning! 

We woke up Saturday morning, got dressed, chugged down some coffe, and quickly ate a small pre-race breakfast (okay, it was really granola bars because we were in such a hurry to get out the door).  Grace put on her funky soccer socks for the race.  Dave thought it would be fun for all 4 of us to coordinate with Grace and to wear something similiar.  He tried to find the rest of us funky socks, but I guess we have a shortage of funky knee socks for adults in our house.  Who would have thought?!  Elizabeth did end up with some Minnie Mouse Christmas socks, but Dave and I went with plain, old crew cut, white Hanes.Dave pinned on everyone's race numbers, I snapped a few pictures, and we were out the door! 

One of my best friends, Ann, and I pre-race

We arrived to the race's starting line and were greeted by so many familiar faces.  Friends from school were there.  Friends from dance class were there.  Friends from soccer and gymnastics and our neighborhood and the Navy were there, too.  We all chatted, posed for pictures,  and waited for our race to start.  Elizabeth was still not so excited about running the 1-mile, but it seemed like she just might go along with it.  Although she did ask several times just how long it was until 10:15 - the time the kids dash started.  

Dave figured we would all run togther as a family, but Grace wasn't having that.  She's our competivite girl and she wanted to be able to take off and not wait for the slow-pokes (i.e., Elizabeth and I).  We quickly agreed to meet one another at the finish line - allowing everyone to go at the pace they chose.  Grace matched up with her best friend, Ellen.  Dave matched up with his biggest fan, Garrett (Ellen's younger brother).  At 9:05, we were given the "GO," and everyone was off!

The 1-mile runners take off!

As Elizabeth and I were at the very back of the 1-mile pack, I can't say much about what went on with Dave and Grace other than that Dave and Garrett ran the entire race together and that Grace was AMAZING in her finish time!  That little girl is just a natural athlete.  She finished in 8 minutes.  That's right.  She ran 1-mile in 8 minutes...a good run time even for an adult let alone a 9 year old girl.  This huge accomplishment was lost on her, but she was very excited that she beat her friend Ellen who is older and taller than her and who started off the race a lot faster than she did.  Oh, that and she cannot wait until the race times are published in the paper!

View of Liberty Bay as we came around the corner of Fjord

Elizabeth and I alternated jogging and walking the whole way.  Sure we were almost dead last from the group of 1-mile runners, but  she did so much better than I could have ever asked her to do.  She walked most of the time, but she did have many bouts of jogging.  It was funny to see that when the spectators would cheer as we went by, she would pick up on the jogging.  Who doesn't get motivated by fans!?  I did put her on my back for a short time, and the funny girl asked me to run instead of walk.  Sure, silly girl.  It is so much easier for Mommy to run with your 40 pounds on my back than it would be to walk.

When we turned the corner to downtown, Elizabeth was so excited to see all of the people who lined the streets and were cheering the runners on!  Dave had already crossed the finish line, but he came back, held onto Elizabeth's left hand (I already had her right) and we ran across the finish line together.  There were tons of cheers and I couldn't help but tear up.  Just over 2 years ago, we were hoping and praying doctors could save her little heart.  Today, she finished a 1-mile race in 16:31.  Elizabeth is truly an amazing girl.

We all downed a bottle of water, said goodbye to friends, and then headed to our favorite local bakery, Sluys, for a post-race donut.  Downtown was still a little hectic with the 5-mile racers, so we headed over to the water with to enjoy some rest time and a little bit of quiet before Elizabeth's kids dash started.  The tide was out and the sky was bright blue.  It was a perfect morning to sit by the water and watch the boats come in and out as we enjoyed our goodies. 

Elizabeth and her maple man

At 10, when we were all sufficiently full of gluten and sugar, we headed back over to Front Street (Poulsbo's main street Downtown) for Elizabeth's next race.  Dave and I visited with some more friends/aquaintences and Navy co-workers that were watching the racers cross the Finish Line.  Grace was able to play with a few friends that she doesn't see at school much this year while Elizabeth lined up for her 50 yard dash.  At the last minute, Elizabeth's friend Zarri joined the race, and when the kids were given the "Go," the girls ran and crossed the finish line together. 

Grace and Elizabeth each grabbed a purple popcicle and we hustled off to our next event - Grace's last soccer game of the Spring season. 

Mother's Day 2012

To say that Mothers Day 2012 was memorable is an understatement.  I would venture to say that it was an absolutely perfect day.  The weather was just right.  The location (Blake Island) was like the picturesque set of a movie.  The company (our close family friends The Rhoads) was fun as always.  The views were simply breathtaking.  It was amazing!

 

The day started with everyone waking up to a blue sky and bright sun.  I savored a Mother's Day cup of coffee out on the back deck, and waited for the rest of the fam to wake up.  Once we were all up and moving around, Dave and the girls spoiled me with a few gifts: an adorable hand-drawn picture of flowers from Elizabeth, a new set of headphones, and something that I had been wanting for years - a large propane heater for the porch.  Elizabeth made everyone a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and then Dave and the girls started putting together the propane heater while I packed our things for our day out on the water. 

Dave and Grace assembling the base

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Emptying out all of the parts from the box

After getting the heater put half-way together, we packed up the van and headed out to pick up a few last minute things before meeting our friends (and their boat) at the boat launch in Downtown Poulsbo.  Now we thought we would meet up, spend the normal 10 minutes loading the boat and then be on our merry way.  Were we wrong!  Picture two families of four and all of the things they would need for an all-day excursion.  The boat was so full with beach bags, coolers, sand toys, camp chairs, sweatshirts, towels, skis, lifejackets, and a large, 2-person tube that there was barely any room for the eight of us.  It's a good thing that we are all close friends, because there was not a lot of personal space to be found on the boat that day.  Now we had went with them to several lakes last summer, but we had never been out in the open waters of Puget Sound.  It was AMAZING! 

View as we were pulling out of Liberty Bay

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Another view near Bainbridge Island

It took us about an hour to get from Poulsbo to Blake Island (which is only accessible by boat).  The views along the way were like one postcard after another.  Jason had googlemaps running on his phone so he could point out what the different pieces of land were for those who are a little geography-challenged.  During all of our rainy months, it is sometimes hard remember just how beautiful it is here.  Our day was a great reminder of why we love living here in Washington and can't imagine living anywhere else. 
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This girl loves being out on the boat!

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And so does this little girl!!!

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View of Seattle once we got around Bainbridge Island - GORGEOUS!

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Approaching Blake Island.  Can you see Mt. Rainier in the background?

Once we arrived at Blake Island, all of the kids (okay, it was really the adults) were starving! We did a quick unload - or maybe it just seemed quick compared to how long it took us to load everything - and had lunch. The kids ate as little and as quickly as possible and then took off for the driftwood to build forts. As they played, Ann and Jason and Dave and I sat and caught up on the latest news. You know, the important things like baseball and soccer schedules, PTSA going-ons, Navy stuff and summer travel plans.




View from our spot on the beach

The girls showing off their treasures

Elizabeth's Fort

Best Friends!

Garrett's Fort

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Sea lions on a bouey near Blake Island

After a while of playing in the forts and collecting beach treasures like shells and dead crabs, we drug the children away from the beach for a hike, but not before making a stop at the super gross restroom.  Can you saw, "eeeewwww!?"  After we were all thoroughly sanitized, we headed away from our protected side of the Island to the side where we could get a peak of Seattle.  Now, don't get me wrong, the view was beautiful, but, boy, was it windy!  It lasted all of about 30 seconds before everyone (Ann and I included) started asking to go back to our spot. 

Once we got back from our "hike," the kids decided to try out the water.  It was COLD!  Like so cold that it burned, but the kids were determined to play.  Elizabeth and Garrett, being the more rational younger siblings, only lasted a little bit, but Ellen and Grace put on wet suits and actually floated around in tubes for quite some time.  It just amazes me what those girls can tolerate all in the name of fun. 

 After the waterplay got too cold, the kids and dads decided to inflate the tube and take it out for a spin.  Ann and I stayed back on the beach to soak up some more sun because it was an amazingly sunny and warm day.  (We are talking many, many degrees above average here).  And it was Mother's Day afterall.  All of the kiddos got a turn on the tube, and then the boat headed back in.  It was really just too cold to be out there for too long. 

When everyone got back on shore, we did another round of sunblock and another round of snacks.  I'm fairly certain that there were enough of chips, oreos, cheesesticks, crackers, grapes, and snickerdoodles to feed a small army.  Somehow our party of 8 seemed to have no problem making a good dent in spite of how much there was.  The kids went back to playing in their beachside forts.  This time they were all working together in the same fort rather the the big playing seperate from the littles.  They were all just so happy to be out in the warm sun that who was playing with who or what didn't really matter.

Ann and I took a short walk down the beach (in the opposite direction of the sun, of course) while the dads hung out talked about...well...whatever it is that they talk about when we are not around.  Sports?  World Peace?  My guess is the Navy.  

It was a painful decision for everyone, but as the clock ticked closer to evening, we had to be responsible adults (boo!) and close down shop for the day.  The kids gave us a tour of their fort and of their "collection of treasures."  I think the thing that I love most about days like this is how happy the kids are in making their own fun.  There are no computers.  No TV.  No bikes or fancy toys.  They have to make their own fun from what is on the beach.  And you know what, they always make it fun.  They always use their imaginations to come up with something that passes the entire day, begging for more time when we have to leave. 

Most of us made one last trip to the restroom before the long boat ride back home (I won't mention any names, but those who didn't really regretted it), and around 6pm, we were headed back to Poulsbo.  On the ride, Grace and Elizabeth had their first opportunity to drive the boat.  With a little help from their Daddy, they each took a turn at the wheel. Elizabeth was so excited while she was driving that she giggled the entire time!  Grace always loves a new experience and took it on with her usual cool confidence. 

We were supposed to dine out for a Mother's Day dinner at one of our local resturaunts, but it was 7pm on a school night by the time we had the boat unloaded and out of the water, so we called it a day.   A quick drive through Taco Time for dinner brought our fantastic Mother's Day 2012 to a close.  It was a great day spent with my wonderful family and our very dear friends.  It is the days like this that remind me to be thankful for the very blessed life that our family leads. 

A sweet end to a perfect day.