Deception Pass

I was able to spend Sunday (May 1st) with my sister Julie and my brother David. I grew up in a family that loves to spend a beautiful day, out in nature. And as you know, it rains a lot in Seattle, so when we happened to have a beautiful day, especially after a lot of rainy days, we would drop everything and head out to see the sun. That's how my parents raised us. I remember my dad coming in and waking us up early in the morning on a Saturday morning telling us that we were headed to the mountains or the beach because it was going to be a sunny day. I know this is hard for my Vegas friends to understand... but it is true. You take advantage of blue sky days in the Pacific Northwest. And if that sunny day happens to land on a Sunday, you just might have to spend the car ride listening to church history tapes and enjoy Gods creation in a reverent manner. That is what we did last week. I was in town, it was sunny and nature was calling us!

We went to one of our favorite places, Deception Pass. It's about 2 hours north of Seattle.

My sister Julie and hubby Gary and their 2 boys, Vincent and Andrew came and my brother Dave and Natalie came. (Rebecca and Tiffany were in Utah for the weekend, bummer) And then my cousin Craig decided to join us. He brought his 3 boys. It was great to see everyone!

Dave and Vincent hitting rocks into the water...

I think this stick is a little big Dave...

Vincent gathering more sticks... (the rocks would break them)

It's so pretty there!!!! This is our secret beach. The other parks around the bridge are really crowded.

Julie making lunch...

Yummy lunch!

Julie is the official photographer. Most of these pictures are hers.

We went on a little hike up to this beautiful view point...

Natalie taking it all in..

Craig and Dave catching up...

Relaxing and enjoying the view...

check out the moss growing on the tree!

Dave and Natalie watching the fisherman below...

We have a game where we sit on the beach and try to throw rocks into a bucket... the bucket kept getting closer and closer to the water and eventually rolled in... Julie went to get it and the boys kept tossing rocks at her... little buggers!

We drove over to the bridge and walked across it. It's so cool. The currents below are what they named the pass after. The currents go every direction and cause little whirlpools and it's almost impossible to swim across. Small boats have a hard time crossing because the currents are so strong and deceiving... hence the name "Deception Pass".

Julie's good looking family...

walking under the bridge...

The three middle Westra's. (I am the actual middle child of 9 kids, Julie is the one older than me and Dave is right below me.)

My cousin Craig and 3 of his 4 kids. Kyle, Christopher and Connor.

Dave, Andrew and Julie

See all the currents? You can see the cascade mountains in the background if you look close... to pretty!!!!! It's days like this that I wonder why I am living in the desert??? Actually, I'm not sure I could live there after living here this long. I have learned to love the sun and I think the clouds everyday would make me crazy. But, I do want to visit this beautiful place more often!

I can't wait to take my family back to Seattle. It's been a really long time since we have all been there.

I loved spending the day with family!