To My First Born Son....

To my first born son, eldest of three
Whom I've always loved and adored
You're such a good son, and also big brother
You've always made me proud to be your mother

From the moment I knew you existed
The life that I felt for you could not be resisted
The elation that I felt as you grew in my womb
The joy I felt in my heart as I started to bloom

 

From the first time you kicked your Dad in the ear
Until the glorious day you actually appeared
Upside down and much quicker than planned
You changed my life that instant, you understand 

Becoming a parent was scary from the start
You hope you do the right thing by following your heart
You give your love and guidance each and every day
Hoping to raise your children the best possible way






But you never receive any specific guarantee
That they'll turn out exactly as you want them to be
You pray that you've influenced them positively each day
In decisions they make, what they do, what they say

  
You hope and you pray that you've done everything right
But you never know the outcome, not just overnight
So you share in their lives, through the ups and the downs
And try to support them and always be around

So while raising you I tried to do the best that I could do
I don't know exactly what I did to deserve you
But I definitely must have done something right
Because having you for my son has been pure delight.

It has been 10 years and it has gone so fast. 
I'm looking forward to our journey together to manhood
I'm eternally grateful to be your mother.

San Juan Island

Blake and I decided that we needed to make this family trip this month if we wanted to see the Orcas from the San Juan Island which is one of the 15 islands that are part of the State of Washington. It lies between Washington and Canada. To get there; you either fly to it or take the state ferry. So we decided to do a 4 days family trip and drove to Anacortes which took us 6 hours to get to the ferry. We got there too early and we hung out at Washington Park which is truly a beautiful place. Here are some photos of us hanging out at the park.

Then it was time to go to the ferry. We decided we would take our car with us and it was the best price I have ever paid for a family of five with their dog and car; $85.00 round trip. It was truly a awesome experience driving our car on the ferry and hanging out until we arrived a 1 1/2 hour later to San Juan Island.

This is the ferry we rode on.

This cool birds were hanging out next to the dock.

Blake and I enjoying the sights.

The kids really enjoyed exploring the boat and the weather was AMAZING!

Isaac enjoying riding the waves.

Nathan enjoying sightings of the seals.

Watch out future Captains!

The views were BREATHTAKING!

There's even art on the ferry.We arrived to SAN JUAN ISLAND!

Kayaking is one of the islands favorite pass time.

This is the view of our campsite...did I tell you it was a camping trip .

The smell is the ocean is one of my favorite.

Jelly fish on the shore and they were BIG!!!

Autumn was beginning to make a appearance on the island.

The sunset on our first day.

This black fox decided to make a visit to our campground and invite itself to Bean's dinner.

This is the morning view of the beach from our campground.

BEAUTIFUL morning view.

We heading out to Lime Kiln Point State Park, a.k.a. Whale Watch Park, if we were to see any whales this was the place. We were there very early and already saw some seals, salmon (jumping out of the ocean) and porpoises.

Here are some photos of the us enjoying the sun and the view.

Here is the view of one of the lighthouse on the island where you can see the Orcas and.....

We did!!!! We saw two pods and it was WONDERFUL, AMAZING, BREATHTAKING and you can also hear them....WOW!!!!

Afterwards, we did the all the trails in the park.

Blake and Mya on the trail to Deadman Bay.

The kids in the little shop in the park...wonderful mural!

Here are some sights of San Juan Island...wild black berries was one of our favorites.

Beautiful photos of the sunset off of Victoria Canada.

My favorites photos of the trip is of those of Blake and the kids watching the sunset.

Some of the sights of our last day in San Juan Island at Friday Habor.

Here come the ferry and we heading to our next stop but before we arrive to our next destination, we see....

Mount Rainer.....WOW!!!

Our Next Stop Seattle:

We decided since we passing Seattle might as well stay a night. We hit Seattle with record-breaking weather and it was BEAUTIFUL! First thing we did was go to the hotel and take showers and then we went to Seattle Center. We were very popular in Seattle, people kept coming up to us because they were in AWE of Bean. The kids had a BLAST on the rides.

Here are some photos of some of the sights:

I had to take a photo of this place because it isn't often when we see our last name on anything.

So while we were exploring the Olympic Sculpture Park ...I happen to see a pretty pregnant woman sitting on the ground resting next to a Sculpture while all of the sudden she said "HEY". I'm staring at her and then it clicked, it's Corene! Rick is Corene's husband and Blake's childhood friend and they were both visiting Seattle before having their baby boy. Funny thing was they were truly thinking about calling us and having us visit them in Seattle but figured that it would be hard for us because of our kids. So it was meant to be for us to meet and we hung out a bit and went to dinner to a Great Thai restaurant and the food was amazing.

Our family trip was truly a memorable time for us to enjoy nature, animals, the city and friends. I truly recommend for anyone to at least once go to the San Juan Islands, any one of them would be an great Adventure.