We knew we had to take a ferry while we were in Seattle since it’s such a big part of the city. There are tons of them to take, but I had heard great things about the San Juan Islands. Plus they were having a Lavender Festival July 16-17. The only problem is that it was 1 hr 40 min drive to the ferry and another hour on the ferry to make it all happen. And we had to catch the ferry by 9 am in order to have time to enjoy the island.
So we got up early, woke the kids up (who weren’t happy at all about that), we ate breakfast and took theirs with us, then we were on our way. We had to stop at a gas station because we forgot to have Charlotte go to the bathroom before we left (how could we forget that first thing in the morning??). She did NOT like the gas station bathroom and kept saying ‘I hab to git outta here white now!’. It took songs and asking her how the whole going to the bathroom thing works.
Me: What happens first?
Charlotte: My beh-wee hurts.
Me: What do we do when your belly hurts?
Charlotte: We sit on da toy-yet and push.
Me: What happens when we push?
Charlotte: Da pee comes out! Yook mommy, it comin’ out!
Okay, so we got that done and then were off. We were really hoping they would zonk out, but that didn’t happen. We made it to the ferry, bought tickets and boarded. The kids were very excited and we spent a lot of time entertaining them. Cooper played with the iPhone for a bit, then we wandered around the boat. It was overcast and raining, so not much to see. Then we played the quiet/sitting still game, which lasted about 5 min. Exhausting, I tell you!
Cooper learned to wink while we were on vacation. He looks so funny doing it!
This was the most we saw out the windows. It was really foggy so you couldn’t see much of anything.
When we got to the island, I was so hungry. We couldn’t figure out where to go for the pancake breakfast and the island only allows local businesses, so no Starbucks and only the use of cash. I had also made an assumption that the island was only as big as Catalina (in CA), so I assumed we wouldn’t need a car and we walked on the ferry. I didn’t realize the Lavender Festival would be so far out of town. We really weren’t prepared.
We went to the bank, got a snack and directions to the Lavender festival, got taxi information from the visitor center and then went and had lunch at Downrigger’s. There wasn’t much on the menu and the waitress was so laid back that it seemed like slow service. Our meals showed up and they were the wrong order, then once those got corrected they still forgot the side dish for Chris’ meal. We were less than pleased, partly because we were ill-prepared for everything and partly because the kids were cranky from being woken so early.
We called the taxi after lunch and did the 15 min drive to the lavender farm. It was still raining and there were hardly any people there. There wasn’t much to do, only a few booths: a bakery, crafts, and bath/household products. There was live music though (which we really enjoyed and even bought the CD for) and the farm was beautiful. It’s pretty tough to be stressed out or not happy when all you smell is lavender. I swear I started to feel almost drunk after 2.5 hours sitting out there (despite the rain!).
(Not once during the entire vacation did I hand my camera over to Chris. I am really sad that I have no pictures of me with the kids or in Seattle!)
First we walked around in the lavender fields. Cooper loved running through the rows, while Charlotte was quite cranky at first.
Then we relaxed and let the kids run and have snacks while I attempted to take pictures of bees. Those things are FAST!! These are the only in focus photos I got out of the 50 or so that I took!
So pretty!
We watched the band.
Here is what Cooper thought of the music.
Then he was off to play on the rocks.
While Charlotte danced with Daddy.
We tried the lavender chocolate chip cookies and the lavender chocolate ice cream. Both were good, and only a tiny bit strange. The ice cream tasted just like you would imagine, chocolate with lavender (almost like the smell of lavender lotion, but with the taste in your mouth).
We also braved the outhouses, where Charlotte exclaimed ‘It tinda tinky in here!’.
When the taxi came back, we were ready to go. We bought the kids plastic ferries at the souvineir shop and then boarded the ferry. I attempted to sleep on the way back (Cooper would say, ‘Mommy you hab to wake up’ every 5-10 minutes). After the hike back up hill to our car, Cooper zonked out almost immediately. We were unable to rouse him even when we stopped for dinner.
We went to the Trumpeteer restuarant in Mt Vernon. The reviews say it was kid friendly, but, um, it’s not. We were ‘those’ parents that brought our toddlers into a swanky restaurant that was really more of a bar that served food. They were nice enough, but there was no kids menu and no kids drinks. Apparently they don’t even have milk (then how do you make mashed potatoes is what I would like to know!) and served my toddlers water in a cocktail glass. Cooper continued to sleep through the whole meal and the food was just okay.
We were all tired and ready for ‘cation to be over. Cooper slept the whole drive back and so did Charlotte. Cooper went to bed about 10 min after getting back, while Charlotte needed the whole bedtime routine to relax again. We were excited to be going home the next day.
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