Ebey's Landing

Today we had no school. Today was also a gorgeous, wonderful, beautiful day!  I realized that we had lived here Lon'e entire life and had not gone to any National Parks around here for his Jr. Ranger badges.  At first I looked into going to Mt. Rainer, but this time of year it is only open weekends and holidays.  That was out. The next closest, but far enough away to make it a fun trip, was Ebey's Landing on Whidbey Island.   We printed out the Jr. Ranger paperwork so the kids could work on it in the car.  
We went with Arianna and Kayla, and Drew.  A fun group!

Perhaps the boys were not working on their paperwork as well as the girls, but they got it done.

Going over Deception Pass. We opted out of taking the ferry over, it was a nice day and the Ferry  would be jammed.
As a plus, the ride is beautiful!!

Lunch! Getting some food and finishing up the paperwork before we head out

He's ready!!

A fun statue in Coupeville. We went over to the museum, like the paperwork told us to. They were out of badges, so we had to go back to the Visitor's Center. Which is where this statue is located.

Taking the Jr. Ranger oath. The lady was not too sure on what she needed to do. I helped her out, and the kids all passed.

Since the Visitor's Center closed early in the afternoon, we did that first, then went to see Ebey's Landing and the Smith Prarie.

Beauty shot

Those little dots are jets from the Naval Air Station. They were low and loud as they passed over head. SO COOL
They were over head as I took out my camera and that far away by the time I took it from my pocket to my eye.

Hiking down the trails

In the middle of the hikes
They went from one end to the other

All done hiking

Going to see the blockhouse

Inside, looking out over the cemetery.

more information on the block houses.
There is a lot of information out there on Ebey's Landing. I could not find a short enough thumbnail to put in here, but I will keep looking

Then it was time for the beach! Drew brought along some swords to play with.
I forgot out Discovery Pass, so we went into the office to see if they could look it up. They only had one lady there with a very long line. We waited our turn, we were nice. We heard her looking up someone else's pass. So we figured it was all good. When it was our turn, we asked her to look up mine. She said she did not have time and it was 10 dollars. We just paid it. Had she looked it up I would have purchased the zippered hoddie for 33 dollars.  The kids needed some more play time before we got into the car to go home.

The beach is so pretty at Deception Park.

Rochelle wrote everyone's name in the sand and we took pictures of everyone in front of their names.  Rochelle thought she was going to get away with NOT doing hers. HA!! We got one of her too

The swords were soon forgotten. The lure of rocks and beach and water was just too much

A perfect day.

Rocks and water. It does not get much better when you are 7.

Building a castle on the water's edge

Getting it all done before we got back in the car.  Lon took off his wet sweatshirt.  He had to change clothes before he got in the car.  He was wet and sandy.  His shoes and all his clothes all went into a plastic bag to get washed when we got home

The other side of Deception Pass.
We made it home without any mishaps or drama.
It was a good day.
Just a few more Jr Ranger badges to get from around here.