Ross's Trip to Washington

At the beginning of May, Ross got the unique opportunity to go on a trip with his mom and some of his siblings. They wanted to visit their mom in New York while she was on her mission, but that didn't work out. So since she turned 70 in April, they decided to take a trip for her birthday instead. Unfortunately their oldest sister, Tamaran, and their youngest brother, Kyle, couldn't make it. 

They decided to visit the San Juan Islands in Washington State. The five who live in Utah flew out early Wednesday morning and met Kaye when she flew into Seattle. From there they rented a car and drove up to catch a ferry to Friday Harbor where they had rented a beach house to stay in for a few days.

(Before I get too far into this post, I need to mention that Ross didn't come home with many photos from his trip because so many others were taking pictures. So most of these photos came from ones that Don, Kaye and Norma shared. Thanks guys.)

Here they are enjoying lunch together before they headed north to catch the ferry. The weather while they were there was unusually beautiful! It made for a much more enjoyable time. 

Here they are waiting for the ferry. These siblings all grew up on the southwest coast of Oregon. I'm sure that being back so close to the Pacific Ocean felt a lot like home. 

Here they are riding over to the islands on the ferry. 

The view from their beach house was beautiful!

On Thursday, they explored the island. They saw several tide pools, enjoyed the beach, saw a lighthouse and even came across half a dozen or so bald eagles that were swooping down on some prey that was only about 20-30 yards away from them. 

It turned out that their mom's room at the beach house had carpenter ants in it. At first it was just a few, but then more and more were showing up. So they called the property manager to take care of them. And as luck would have it, they decided to compensate them by sending them on a kayaking trip on Friday. This was an unexpected, fun adventure for Ross and his siblings. (Their mom decided to opt out of this adventure.)

They had a little fox that decided to come hang out on their patio while they were there. Everyone was pretty amused by this. 

On Saturday, they went on a whale-watching boat tour. It was much colder that day (hence the coats and other winter-weather clothing). Sadly, they didn't see any whales though. It was still too early in the season. 

Ross had a great time with his family. It was a fairly relaxing trip. Their mornings weren't busy, so they could sleep in a bit. He was able to go on a couple runs with some of the others. After breakfast, they would venture out for the day and then come back to the beach house for dinner. He told me his favorite part of the trip was the time they spent fixing meals together just visiting and sharing memories and stories. (However, I'm pretty sure Ross did a lot more listening than sharing.)

It was hard to have him gone for so long, but I'm really glad he got to go. It is not often that he gets to spend so much quality time with his mom and so many of his siblings. I know they all had a great time together.