This weekend we brought 3 generations of Werners to Lake Nahwatzel, in celebration of my mom's 70th birthday, staying in the aptly named "Pete's Happy Place", a cabin we rented for 3 nights. By the end of the weekend it was the Werner's happy place!
We struck gold with the weather. There had been much local discussion generated by an article in the Times that crunched the number and determined that Seattle had accumulated only 78 hours of summer so far this year. So we were feeling pretty lucky to have showed up just in time for another 72+ hours in a row of summer, with cloudless skies and 80+ degree temps all weekend!
The house sat right on the water. The upstairs of the house was a big loft area with 3 beds, 3 big bean bags, tv/dvd player and a fun play room. The kids dominated this space. The adults enjoyed the beautiful views from the family room, dining room, and deck. Outside, in addition to the dock, we had a nice big lawn, a play structure for the kids, a fire pit, and a nice gravelly beach for the kids and Smokey to go swimming.
The extended weekend was everything we imagined it would be. We just unplugged and chilled out all 4 days. The toughest decisions we faced were which relaxing activity to move to next, what to throw onto the grill, and red or white (wine). Favorite activities were fishing, card playing, watching movies, napping, snoozing in the sun (Smokey), swimming (Smokey, Teddy, kids and me), roasting marshmellows, and lots of reading.
The kids especially loved anything involving critters. Within the first hour of arrival Kenzie found her first snail. Later she caught a dragonfly, and kept it captive in her cupped hands for the next hour. Jackson diligently pursued fishing. Kenzie helped pick out the best worms to put on the hook. Through Friday, however we had not successfully caught any swimming creatures.
Our luck turned, however, on Saturday morning while the kids ate breakfast. I learned that the odd looking little red fish we kept seeing swimming around were not actually fish. This discovery came when one swam up right in front of me and grabbed onto the worm I had floating in front of the dock and held on while I pulled the line out of the water... it was a salamander! Pride swelling, I race walked back up to the cabin to show the kids my catch. Dad finally brought home the goods! Kenzie went crazy. Salamanders are at the top of Kenzie's critter chain, and she later confided that she likes them even more than bunnies!
Soon thereafter, with the cabin still abuzz from my expert salamander skills, I reeled in a monster 8 inch trout. Another race walk, ego duly inflated, bucket of water and trout in hand to show Jackson the latest prize.
By the end of the weekend, we had landed a total of 3 trout and 4 salamanders, with the kids playing or holding each of them. Kenzie attempted to go swimming with the last salamander, but realized once she was in the water that she might accidentally squeeze it to death while swimming... and eventually set it free.
All in all, it was a perfect weekend for all. We can't wait to do it again!
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| Chillin' on the dock |
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| Fishing buddy |
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| Fishing with Grandad |
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| Hot dog girl |
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| Ready for s'mores! |
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| I live by the motto "More is more", but Jackson shows that it's really "s'more is s'more" |
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| Every Mom loves when their little girl gets melted marshmellow goo in their hair |
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| Sunset after a perfect day |
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| Smokey is a professional relaxer |
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| Kenzie in her happy place! |
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| Jackson appreciates a good lizard too |
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| I delivered!! |
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| Unwinding after a long swim |
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| Watching Spy Kids on comfy bean bags, while eating fruit snacks |
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| Grandad will tell you his fish was "this big" |
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| successful hook extraction |
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| more salamanders! |
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| our own little waterbug |
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| whew, she made it!! |
