First Day of School!

September 2 was the first day of our new fall schedule: James' first day of kindergarten and Braden's first day to go to Ashley's for a half day. Other than James' glasses getting left on the bus in the afternoon (we got them back), it was a great first day of school, and the rest of the week was good too. James loves riding the bus, and Braden never wants to leave Ashley's when I go to pick him up. They are both really into their backpacks, and I think are happy to be back to a "regular" schedule.

Whidbey Island August 31

On Sunday the 31st, we made our usual "end of summer" pilgrimage to Camp Casey on Whidbey Island. But in the ferry line, we ran into our friends the Hagemeiers (James and Annika have been in the same class since Little Red School House), whose parents have a cabin on the island. They invited us to stop by to meet the rest of their family and hang out on the beach for a little while. So we did. Braden and James played with Annika and Nathan, drove a mechanical car in the driveway, played on the beach, and got to meet Annika and Nathan's cousins.
Then we went on up to Camp Casey and flew a kite, walked on the beach, walked past the fort and lighthouse and back to the car and home. A beautiful day!

Robe Canyon Trail: Saturday August 30

We left in the middle of the afternoon on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, headed for the "Old Robe Canyon Trail" just northeast of the town of Granite Falls, about 50 miles from Seattle. When we got to the trailhead (a blank brick pillar at the edge of a grove of trees) it was raining, but we went ahead. The trail wound through the woods, then started down a steep hill through a series of switchbacks. At the bottom, it passed through almost swampy territory, with some large trees, and even larger-leaved plants. When we reached the river (a fork of the Stillaguamish), it was rocky but calm and relatively wide, with the same kind of wooded plain on the other side. As we followed the trail, we got closer and closer to the river, until we were clambering over rocks along a former gold rush train track cut right into the rocks. You could still see RR ties embedded in the rocks, even though most of it had been obliterated by rockslides. We were hoping to reach the main attraction of the trail--two RR tunnels--but the trail was closed just in sight of the first one. But the weather cleared up and it was sunny on the way back up the hill, and the scenery was gorgeous, and the boys did a great job of walking about 3 miles!