What I did on my summer vacation....

Did you ever have to write an essay at the beginning of the school year?  You know the one... "What I did on my summer vacation."   Well, this is my adult version... but first I have to tell you... we don't travel much for our vacations.... we're homebodies, homeboys, homegirls.  We didn't venture further than the Seattle area.

Our first day was spent helping my daughter and her boyfriend move into their new apartment in Seattle... from Toronto Ontario.  I'm thrilled to have them "close by".  We started the day at Beth's Cafe near Green Lake...

the home of endless hash browns and the 12 egg omelet.... Really, they've been featured on the Food network and everything!  After getting them mostly settled into their new apartment we headed towards home. 

The day ended in our own little city of Lynden and the local Raspberry Festival. 

We enjoyed burgers on a picnic table with my son.  What a great way to spend the day... breakfast with my daughter and dinner with my son.  In the SAME state!

This trip to Seattle also resulted in the purchase of this...

my birthday fence for the veggie garden.  It matches my garden gate and is another project for the endless list!

Most of our vacation days were spent painting... at home...

and here... you may remember the Peach Palace? 

Well she ain't peach anymore! 

I must admit, I only painted... none of the endless prep work of scraping and scraping and scraping and scraping... And although she's not peach, she's also still not done!  For a little house, the painting seems to be endless.  I almost welcomed the rainy days that meant no painting!

There were also cupcakes involved during vacation... homemade....

and these beauties from Seattle's Trophy Cupcake!

A birthday surprise was waiting for me on my porch on my birthday...

A second trip to the Seattle area involved a ferry ride

complete with Coast Guard escort... and yep, that's a huge gun mounted on the front.  Not a sight I was expecting on a short ferry ride!

The trip was to visit with my daughter and her guy at his parent's home.

A home with a breathtaking view.

And this cute little secret path...

takes you to this beautiful sandy beach.

After a wonderful salmon dinner, it was time to head back on the ferry towards Seattle.  You can see Seattle and Mt. Rainier across the water at the ferry dock.

Loading up on the Puyallup ferry.

And a trip to Seattle?  Of course, lattes were involved.

You may have noticed, this vacation meant a vacation from blogging as well.  It wasn't intentional, it just kind of happened... but I'm happy to be back!