Nemo, Boat Coats, Jilly Driving, Oh My!

A few years ago, my mom and step dad purchased some property on an island in Puget Sound. It is a beautiful place with a small store, one restaurant, a golf course and three lakes. It's completely secluded and the people are very friendly. About a year ago, the "parentals" as my sister and I call them, purchased a two bedroom "cabin" on the island.

A couple weeks ago. I told my mom all I wanted for my upcoming birthday was to spend time with her and my step dad, at "the island" and go out in the boat. So she invited us to come that weekend to celebrate my birthday. So Jillian and I headed up to WA (Kenton had to work) and spent Labor Day weekend with my mom and David.

While waiting to board the (very crowded) ferry over to the island, Jillian decided that every person she came in contact with was her cousin. Because I had told her that we would be seeing her cousin, Joel, the NEXT weekend. To our great surprise as we were walking back to the car from using the potty, Jillian stopped next to an unknown vehicle where a young boy was standing. She excitedly approached the boy, arms outstretched and yelled "Cousin!" with immense joy. It was absolutely hysterical. I had to remind her all night long that everyone she saw was NOT her cousin. :-D

The weekend started with a parade on the island where Jilly collected a ton of candy. A small carnival followed at the community center where Jilly got to jump in a bounce house, got a tattoo (temporary, of course) and got to sit in a real fire truck (unfortunately the cameraman was getting a soda when this happened so we don't have any pictures of it).

The above picture was taken because I (Mandy) made the mistake of telling Jillian that we were going to ride on a boat like the one Nemo touched (Nemo's a pretty big thing in our house). So Jillian spent the ENTIRE weekend looking for Nemo. While we were on the ferry, out the back sliding glass door of the cabin, while we went on a walk, out on the boat. Everywhere, all we heard was "Nemo." "Nemo" "Nemo" The picture above was the closest Jillian got to anything even remotely Nemo like.

Back at the cabin, we enjoyed grandma's delicious cooking, played tackle with grandpa, saw two families of deer crossing the back yard and celebrated my birthday with a delicious birthday cake.

The weather was beautiful all weekend and we were able to go out on the boat both days. While we were out on the boat Saturday and Sunday, we saw seals, seagulls and even an otter. Jillian got to wear her brand new "boat coat" in the boat. She didn't like it so much at first but she got used to it and even now after being home for two weeks, when she sees pictures of her self wearing her life jacket she will still say "Jilly Boat Coat."

Grandpa let Jillian help him drive the boat.

She did great. She loved sticking her hands in the water over the back of the boat and she especially liked the "up and down" when we ended up going over other boats' wakes.