Family reunion fun

Brett, Wren and Cecilia enjoy the pickle ball court

We were really happy that Kari, Charles, Travis and Wren could spend time at our place when returning from summer in Tennessee. How fortunate that Brett, Kasey and Cecilia could travel north from Vancouver so that all of the family could spend a long weekend together. It was a full house and we sure had a lot of fun with lots of time at the beach or in the back yard.

Chalk art was also popular on the court

The back yard pickle ball court was a big hit. What, you don’t know about pickle ball! Apparently a lot of folks don’t but it is very popular around here and rumor has it that it was developed on Bainbridge Island which is not far from us. Pickle ball is played on a concrete court that looks much like a tennis court but smaller. Players use paddles that look like oversized ping pong paddles and a ball that looks a lot like small wiffle ball. The game is scored just like tennis but we did not bother to keep score. Pickle ball was a hit and many hours were spent batting the ball around on the court.


Wren, Cecilia and Travis resting

One day Ray played barefoot and that evening found that the concrete court had made his feet sore and he now recommends wearing shoes. The court was also used to create lots of chalk drawings which were washed away when we had rain. The family made many trips to the beach and created many sand castles as well as uncovered many sea creatures. It sure was fun to spend a lot of time on the beach and with the weather partly cloudy and very little wind we could enjoy the beach to the fullest. When the beach is in full sun it can be quite hot. When we returned to the house it was amazing to see how much sand came back with the kids as we hosed them down. One day it was rainy so we went to the nearby Naval Undersea Museum which is a very nice museum following the history of the submarine and undersea explorations. The kids had a great time playing in the control room and using the periscopes to see outside.

Charles, Kari, Travis, Ray and Wren relaxing

While they were here the wildlife seemed to hide, maybe they were frightened away by the extra people and Gopher, Brett and Kasey’s dog, that came up for a visit as well. One afternoon a young raccoon did hang around long enough for the kids to enjoy. We also had a doe and her fawn in the yard to entertain us for a while one morning.

Cecilia Wren and Travis enjoyed playing on the beach...