Day 8 - Our last full day together

Today started quietly, as they all have been. It's nice not to have to run off immediately to sightsee. With my family all together for what may be the last time until Christmas, or next year, or beyond, it was a nice day to just 'chill.'

First stop after our french toast breakfast was the hot tub! It's always a fun time. :)

While the kids showered, I took the dogs down to the water to swim one last time. This time, no life jackets! (I decided they weren't going to swim out to the seals, and they were pretty good at listening to me).  Of course, at some point Max did start swimming away until I really yelled at him. What is that dog thinking??

Max ready to run down to the water!

Lily ready to run down to the water!

The slide is fun whether in the water or not.

Just keep swimming

Max just loves to swim!

Perhaps too much. He wouldn't come back at first!

Ready for dinner!

After their swim, we got them back up to the house and washed them so that they'd smell nice for the trip back home.  Then it was time to dress up and go to dinner!

Brotherly "love"

We first tried a place in Port Ludlow. It was a highly regarded restaurant (had won many wine awards) and we got there at 4:30. Even though there was absolutely no one in the restaurant, she said she couldn't seat us until 8pm. I'm sorry, what?

We decided that place was a bit too stuffy for us, and so decided to continue north to Port Townsend.  What a great idea that was!!

Port Townsend is a great place where "hippies go to retire."  Seriously, I have never seen more grey haired "free love"-type people in my life! We decided to stop at a waterfront restaurant that was highly rated called Doc's Marina Grill. It sat on the waterfront with a view of the bay and Whidby Island. It was now 5:00, and the wait for dinner was an hour. We put our name in and decided to walk around the town. And what a cute town it is!

Our view at dinner

Had no one to take our photo, so Steve did.

Crab!

Walking around town

We stopped into a small shop and bought some gift items so that we can remember our trip. One of the items Emily purchased was a pearl encased inside a clamshell that you open up and then put inside a necklace. It was a fun gimmick but turned out to be a pretty necklace!

Opening the can with the clam in it.

Now how to open the clam??

It took some doing, but she got it open!

The beautiful necklace with pearl inserted.

After the excitement of the pearl and the clam, it was time to eat!  We had a wonderful meal of clam chowder, prime rib (Andy), tuna bulgogi (me), hamburger (Pete) and salmon (Steve). We couldn't resist the creme brulee and bread pudding to top it all off.  

After dinner we headed back home for the night, but not without a stop at the grocery store for dinner tomorrow night!

Why yes that IS a deer just walking down the main road into town!

Peter's onion creation at the QFC.

After we landed back home, I made everyone post one last time. We all looked dressed up and I needed that one great family photo before we left!

And I got one great photo!

Day 7 - All Bumbas all the time

Today started pretty slow as we had to say goodbye to our friends. No one really wanted breakfast, so we hung around the house, helped them pack, and said goodbye to them by mid-morning.

We ended up having a late breakfast of french toast to use up all the bread we had in the house. Unfortunately, the uneasiness Steve had felt the day before (possibly from the oysters?) had turned worse today. He ended up spending much of the day going slow with food and resting.

Since he was out of commission, we decided to head back down to the water and let the dogs swim. Because it was high tide, there was plenty of water and very little coast so the dogs went straight into the water. We also pulled out the slide that was on a platform at the edge of the water.

Swimming...this time with no lifejackets on!

They'll chase anything...even a ROCK!

Fun with the slide

Lily wants up!

She is such a dork!

Max just loves to swim

After a swim, we got the dogs back to the house and we headed back down to the kayaks! Emily, Peter and I kayaked across the bay this time and checked out the opposite side from where we are staying. It's pretty undisturbed over there as that is the edge of a national forest.  We heard a waterfall, but couldn't see it. And since the tide was up, there really was no where to dock the kayaks and check it out. After a brief stint along the opposite side, we headed back across the bay.

Have I mentioned the seals when we kayak. They love to come very close and check us out. Not something I'm used to, but definitely adorable!

Sadly, I did not take my camera with me on the kayak as I didn't want to risk losing it in the bay if we tipped, so I have no proof of the cute seals.

The following are photos of when we headed back up to the house. It's a long, uphill climb, but definitely beautiful!

After another stint in the hot tub (can't keep us out!) we cleaned up and headed off to dinner.

Tonight's meal was at the Twana Road House where they spell Mimosa with an 'e' (Memosa).  The food was pretty good. Standard fare of burgers and brats, and the atmosphere was definitely casual/neighborly. Our waitress sat at our table to take our order. :)

After we had our fill, we headed back home to the sunset, the seals (of course) and another round of Risk! (oh, and another attempt at splitting logs...we finally got Andy to try it!) We will get through this game if it takes us 10 years!!

Seals doing what they do best.

Pretty sunsets are so hard to capture.

Peter trying his best. He did split a few!

With his beard, he fits right in with this activity!

We started the game outside, but it got too dark. LOL

Day 6 - hanging with the Bermes Joebgens

This morning we took it slow and easy, much like these seals!

Seals just chillin'

 Finally, mid-day (after a breakfast of biscuits and gravy), everyone decided to head down to kayak.

Ready to Kayak!

Launching Emily and Miranda

Everyone has launched but us

All coming back in

Smile ladies!

I thought she was going to kill him

Dogs get a chance to swim!

 After kayaking, we headed back up for a light lunch. It was getting really hot out, so we decided it was time for the dogs to swim! Everyone joined them.

Little Max, Little Max, Little Max, Little Max. LITTLE MAX!

We pulled out the platform with slide

Lily decided she wanted in on the action

Everyone decided to join the dogs and beat the heat!

Head first?

Chillin' with the kids.

Emily!

Andy!

Peter!

In the not-so-hot hot tub because it's so hot outside!

After hanging at the beach, we decided to check out the hot tub. It had been turned down enough that it wasn't impossible to enjoy in the heat of the day.

Times for some ropes course

After everyone showered and got dressed, it was time to head to dinner. But first, a photo shoot!

Before dinner friends

Before dinner Bumbas

 The place we had dinner at was a trip. It was voted as the #1 place to have dinner in Quilcene, but I beg to differ. It was called the Quilcene Timberhouse Restaurant and it was a trip. First of all, it was waaay more expensive than I thought it would be. When Steve was explaining how to be the first one to taste a newly opened bottle of wine (and how you're checking that it hasn't gone bad, not if you like it or not) the waitress said "Oh yeah, if it's a bottle you don't like...that's on you." When the calamari came and it had a lemon butter dipping sauce instead of marinara, and I asked for marinara, she said "The marinara is perfectly proportioned for the linguini. I'll see what I can do." That really set the tone for the rest of the evening with her. The food was good, but overpriced I think. Emily had prosciutto wrapped duck, which was tasty but heavy, I had the fish and chips which were good, Andy had steak which was NOT medium rare...more like medium, and Steve had crab cakes which he barely touched as he wasn't feeling very well (the raw oysters yesterday perhaps?)  Alicia also had the crab cakes and loved them, and I think Miranda enjoyed her burger and Nick enjoyed his meal (although I can't remember what he had). All in all, it was a nice experience. The waitress was just very interesting.

Dinner!

When she asked if we wanted any dessert, we said "No thanks!" and left as soon as the bill was paid.  After a quick stop at the Hipster Market in town for gas, we headed back home to have cheesecake that I had made the day before.

Hipster Market

That evening, after cheesecake, Emily came to me with an email. She was notified that she has been placed in South Korea for teaching English and they want her there by August 17th if at all possible! She was elated, scared, thrilled, amazed, and just basically floating on clouds going ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!

After she skyped with her contact in Korea, she settled down enough to play a few rounds of Shi-theed before bed. What a day! It started off slow but it definitely escalated by the end of the night!