Ft. Worden

Fort Worden is one of the most beautifully exquisite places on the face of the earth, i'm convinced!  We first went there when i was 9 months pregnant with Annabeth, For one of my husband's friend's wedding.  It was gorgeous, and amazing.  The most stunning wedding we'd been to by far, although i still think it was way wrong to have a song in their service that included the lyrics "I may not always love you"  But that is neither here nor there.  What's important is, it was lovely, and a great memory for us, we were so blessed to be a part of it. And i'd been trying to convince Andrew to go back, but our vehicles are all old and its a long drive.  So when i got the MOST brilliant idea of making a road trip weekend, and further, of taking one day out of each weekend that we have our rental car to take a partial family road trip.  (from the nasty hit and run incident that hit our BRAND new to us van... sigh...  Which, thankfully i'm super anal retentive about having an obscene amount of auto insurance at all times, we get to rent a vehicle for about $3 a day, which i'm certain is less than we'd be spending in gas ALONE, were andy to be driving the suburban to work instead of our new commuter car- the minivan-  LOL.  Anyway, so the first road trip was on Saturday, Mount Rainier, which i might post pictures of later, but i wasn't there so its harder to blog about it, so i'll just skip to Sunday.

So anyway, we went, the lucky attendees being MOI, and Andrew, since he's the safe driver.  Annabeth, Leif, and Elliott.  Leif is OBSESSED with "army" ANYTHING, so visiting a cool abandoned Fort was RIGHT up his alley. Annabeth is very laid back and likes to go anywhere, as does Elliott, so i knew they'd be a good fit for this road trip.    We took some time to recreate pictures from the first trip, almost exactly ONE DECADE ago! (wow!) except with different children entirely.   The first picture occurred when we only had 3 children on the outside and this time we had the NEXT 3 successive children, not counting Asher, but he is the 2nd born twin anyway, so its all good.

Here's some comparisons i posted on facebook earlier.

ok, so i was QUITE preggers with Annabeth in the right side, and the left is she and I.  Bummed that i missed the water bottle though... 

This is the comparison mentioned above.  Striking how similar the children look. 

I was taking time to actively practice mindfulness- something i'm working on, being fully present in the moment, absorbing all the sounds, sights, smells, touches, tastes.. (less of that sense)  And i got some time to sketch which was so nice :)  ok, enough talk, on to pictures.

This is the lighthouse i drew below, from a different angle. 

Ok, so i really really enjoyed the graffiti! i opted not to share my favorites because they were obscene, but i just HAD to get a selfie next to the smiley face! 

I find this picture to be hilarious... its the "please don't take my picture" look :)

Adorable Belly-bean. 

Turkey looking beautiful as always. 

Wow, do I look like my dad!  this is an excercise in taking a good selfie, a rare creature that i'm afraid was not caught today, but i thought this one was cool anyway, captured my freckles and desperate lack of EYES.

I found a pretty rock.  Yes, i get excited very easily!  That is all. 

This is the finished product of my drawing and narration.   i was pleased.  I have to say, having good supplies is over half the battle and using pen without the ability to erase is so freeing. 

And that is ALL! i'm off to commence the FIRST day of school! and will come back later to blog the pics we took this am which were off the charts hilarious!