Celebrating America's Freedom

We had a 4th of July weekend jam packed full of fun.  We packed up our entire house Thursday morning and headed to Bremerton to invade Brett's parents house for five nights.  The car was literally packed to the ceiling which subsequently packed their house to the ceiling.  Man, the amount you have to pack for three kids is pretty ridiculous. 

After missing our ferry (wah, wah) we arrived early afternoon...just in time to catch the last of the tide being out which equals an immediate bucket of clams.  Brett wasted no time!  He sure loves to live off the land.  Did I mention Brett's parents live right on the water.  So beautiful.  The menfolk spent the evening measuring windows and preping the trusty crabbing vessel for Friday. 

Brett's parent's beach.

Friday morning Brett's Mom watched the kids so Brett and I could get up at 5 a.m. to get to the docks in time to not wait in a line.  Line?  Did you say line?  Well, there was no line.  We were the first to launch.  This resulted in prime parking and a long wait in the water cause you can't drop crab pots until 7 a.m.  Oops.  So, Brett prepped the pots and walked the Greenhorn (me) through basic boat operation.  When I graduated, it was 7 a.m. so we dropped the pots.  By 11:30 a.m. we had limited and headed back to the launch....only to find that it was an extreme low tide.  For you boating novices this means that the ramp ended WAY up the beach so we were essentially stranded.  Not to worry, Capt. Brett found a marina that served lunch so we dined in our trusty vessel (thank you Corky for letting us use your boat!) and enjoyed the absolutely beautiful day on the water.  Crab, check.  Sunburn, check. 

Oh, and not to worry, we eventually made it out of the water which was a good thing because Brett's grandparents were treating us to a seafood buffet dinner.  Yum!  I am not sure who ate the most.  Brooklyn was a contender.  She loves seafood and even tried the seaweed salad.  Brave, brave girl.  We had such a blast, thank you Don and Ginger!

What, do I have some food on my face?

Ice cream!

Food face!

Happy Baby Emmett

The hungry group!

Jameson, the comedian.

See, I crack my nose!  So funny.

Saturday Lynn and I headed to their brand new YMCA with the kids to work off the buffet.  Man, what an amazing facility.  I was in awe of its beauty and functionality.  The kids had a blast and I was thankful to get a workout in.  While we were getting our sweat on, Brett and his Dad were replacing a window on the house.  An equally sweaty job.  We all reconvened at the house just in time to shower up and head out on Brett's Uncle Mike's boat for crabbing part II.  Brett's mom hung out with the kids at the house (thank you Lynn) while the boys and me jetted out to slay more crab.  And slay we did.  By the end of the day (the most beautiful day of the year so far) we had 16 keepers in the boat.  Yum.  We were even able to collect some oysters and lounge on a beach in-between pulling pots.  Who I am kidding...I pulled no pots.  I was an excellent crab catch record updater.  It's an official job, look it up.  It really was an amazing day and I was sure to wear long sleeves and plenty of sunscreen this time around.

Brett on break from pulling pots.

My dream house.

What an amazing day!

So perfect.

Sunday we headed out to Brett's parents rental house to demo the roof on the addition.  Demolition!  When we finished up we headed back to the house for naps...all of us.  That evening Brett, myself and the kids headed out to The Sheller's for dinner.  They have two adorable little girls that Brooklyn and Jameson had a blast playing with.  It was a great way to wrap up a busy day.

Monday, we started our celebration of America's freedom by roofing the addition we had torn apart the day before.  Yep, me included.  So, if you need a roofing Greenhorn (lots of greenhorning), give me a call.  My duties were completed by noon so I headed back to shower off the tar (ew) and nap (ahhh).  The menfolk joined us just in time to take the kids on a quick spin in Uncle Mike's boat.  They loved it!  Brooklyn kept screaming, "FASTER!"  Great, an adrenaline junky.  We bundled up and settled in to watch the most spectacular firework display I have ever seen.  Whether it was being on the water or the sheer magnitude of the fireworks we saw, I was just speechless.  It was absolutely stunning.  The kids hung in until around 10pm when Jameson passed out on my lap.  He muttered something about bats and then started to snore.  So we hiked the kids back up the house and tucked them in.  Emmett was in bed at 7:00 p.m. and slept through all of the noise.  Perfection.

Learnin' how to drive a boat.

My adrenaline junky.

Ready to rock the boat!

Our trusty scout.

Tuesday we repacked the Suburban to the roof and headed home full of crab.  Such a great weekend!  I realize that this is a record breaking post but it was a busy weekend!  Hope you were all able to enjoy the beautiful weekend as well.