Stella on San Juan Island

Stella seems to be at a stage where every day brings a new development. She's getting her first tooth, and she's crawling like a champ. A couple days ago she started pulling herself up on things, and I think today she even "walked" from the chair to the coffee table as she followed Buttercup. She's started being more of a free-range crawler, leaving the room and us far behind as she explores. But amongst all these internal developments, she had a few other new firsts recently: a ferry ride, a camping trip and a wedding.

Our friends Zeke and Anushka got married on San Juan Island a week ago. We decided it would be a good excuse to make it into a long weekend and finally try going camping with Stella.

Now, like going to Hawaii or some of our other adventures with Stella, it all goes well, but it's all a little harder and different from when Tyler and I would do these things on our own. And timing matters when you're trying to catch a ferry. Especially when missing one means waiting four hours before the next departure. We got up early and tried to get all our last minute preparations underway. And slowly our intended 7:30 departure turned into something more like 8:45. But luck was with us and we got onto our intended ferry with time to spare.


On the ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor. It started off a little foggy and cool but got sunny and beautiful as we went to San Juan Island. Stella took it all in stride, and it reminded me a lot of our honeymoon taking the ferry through Southeast Alaska.

Once we arrived we stopped for lunch and a locally made beer than found our way to our campsite for the night. Tyler had fortunately made us a reservation at a resort/campground. It reminded us a lot of some of the more developed holiday parks in New Zealand--RVs, bathrooms with showers that take tokens, a little general store. Not necessarily our first choice for local camping, but it was alright for a night.


Stella seems to like hanging out in the outdoors and was a hit with our neighbors. (A good thing since our campsites were right on top of each other!)

Stella even had her first dip in a lake! As the name would imply, Lakedale is situated in the middle of three small lakes. And as we'd guessed in Hawaii, Stella was much happier in the still waters of the lake instead of the crashing waves of the ocean.


Dipping in to the waist!

When we were leaving, we realized that we didn't have a good idea of what Stella was going to sleep in while we were away. Now, a few months ago, this wasn't such an issue--even when we went to Texas in May she slept on a makeshift pallet on the floor at my mom's house--but now that she can sit and roll, she needs a little more containment. And we don't have anything practical like a pack and play (what used to be known as a playpen), and we didn't think to try and borrow something until too late. But the tent ended up being a perfect playpen--it was soft, contained, and she could roam around until she fell asleep.


Ah--sleeping with the fresh air!

And she did pretty well all night, though she spent a good portion cuddling with me in my sleeping bag. Remember my comment about last minute preparations? Oh, and remember the heat wave? It was hard to pack well when our house was still in the 90s, and we did a terrible job of packing for cooler weather. Tyler didn't bring any pants or long-sleeve tops. Fortunately, I'd grabbed on layering top and a few random things for Stella. We made do alright, even if it might have looked a bit foolish....


Tyler staying warm with a blanket. Yes, Stella's using her BabyLegs as makeshift socks.

Our successful night of camping behind us, we had the day to explore the island before meeting up with friends at the house we had rented for the remainder of our stay. We stopped by the Friday Harbor Farmer's Market (which was fantastic) and then did a hike in some of the fields overlooking the coast.


Hiking on the southwest end of the island


Stella the Happy Hiker!

The house we stayed in was fantastic, with access to its own small lake and close to the reception site. We had to do a little improvising to babyproof our room:


Thank goodness for duct tape!

Stella and I even got into the little lake, Lake Margot, for a nice afternoon dip!


Stella is a lake baby if not an ocean one...

She also got some quality time with some of her friends, too!


Stella, Lucy (5 months) and Porter (almost 3 months). It's fun as the babes are all getting older and they're starting to interact a bit...if mostly taking toys from each other.


She also got to spend some time with her Uncle Travis and Aunt Meghan who were up for the wedding, too.

Sadly we don't have any pictures of the wedding yet, but it ended up being a beautiful, lovely affair, relaxed, fun, with lots of dancing at the lavendar farm. Too soon it was time to head back home.


Catching up on sleep on the way home. As Stella's gotten older, she has a harder time sleeping just anywhere, so she has to get really exhausted to nap. She hardly slept the two days before this.

In a few days, she'll be jet-setting to Chicago to go meet her great-grandmother Geri for the first time! She'll also get to spend time with Nana and Grandpapa who are driving up there, too.