Kayaking and a picnic

Today we traveled to the Puget Sound to cross off an item on my bucket list: kayaking on the ocean.

First, a funny story.

My sister loaned me her old cell phone that could take pictures, so i could leave my nice camera in the safety of the van. She explained how to use it and off we went. I took dozens of pictures all day, especially when Matthew and I were only inches from a beautiful seal.... Then at the end of the day we tried to view the pictures. And I sort of discovered the unfortunate fact that I had been clicking the wrong button all day, so I never actually caught a picture. Bummer! Becky and I laughed and laughed over it, especially since I had been a bit particular about documenting our adventure.

Luckily I snapped these ones with my own camera outside the marina, right before we rented the kayaks.

 Becky and I each rented a double kayak so we could take a child along, then Brian drove the rest of the children to a park on the opposite shore across the inlet from the marina. The plan was for us to eventually kayak across to their shore, where we would rotate who had a kayak and who had baby duty.

We made our way to an area where hundreds of floating logs were stored on the water, hoping to find some seals. We were delighted to discover a group of seals napping in the sun, and there were babies in the crowd as well! A few seals slipped into the water to investigate us closer. Oh what a magical moment that was for me! The seals would break the surface of the water within inches of our kayaks and just swim next to us, watching curiously. We drifted for some time, just enjoying the interactions and savoring the quiet moment together.

It was a rigorous upper body workout to paddle across the inlet, and I was looking forward to trading the kayak off to Brian, but when we reached the opposite shore we had a bit of a  problem. The low tide created an impassable barrier off sea mud flats extending several hundreds of yards from the shoreline. Brian and the children were only beensy specks onshore, while Becky and Daniel were thoroughly beached in thick mud. 

Luckily cell phones enabled us to communicate to the shore, but we decided the only option was to meet up at the original departure point at the marina, a long journey back across the water. Fun times. I am such a wimp! It was good though- I wanted to get stronger on this trip, so this was perfect for forcing me to exercise. 

For lunch we enjoyed a delicious picnic in a gorgeous park near some waterfalls. The setting was so lovely and we all enjoyed rtelaxong our sore muscles and letting the children romp all over the green field.