Locust Beach

Right when you think you've seen 'em all, you learn about another beach in Bellingham. Locus beach is about a half mile north of Squalicum beach, a few minutes north on Marine drive. It's a super easy walk beneath the train tracks, through a tiny field of tall grass and down 40 something stairs to the rocky beach. It felt like we were going on a bear hunt, hehe!

Elijah admires the graffiti on the passing train.

The day we visited, it was the lowest tide we've experienced here at -2.8 feet! The tide was so far out, we could barely see the tiny white caps on the waves along the horizon.

Dan says he was proud of me for embracing the NW spirit. 

Some of the beaches in Bellingham are pretty mucky. We got stuck a few times, but it was fun.

We came across a few kitesurfers. They added color to the otherwise gray sky.

Although this beach lacked marine life, we enjoyed the amazing rocks and drift wood along the beach.

The structure behind the boys was our goal, about a mile from where we entered the beach. 

On the other side of these old pillars is Squalicum beach. It was fun exploring and I was proud of the boys for keeping up and even facing some fears. Poor Lazzy was scared of the seaweed. When we got back to the car, he said "I was wrong, mom, haha! I shouldn't be afraid!". He's so sweet!!

 

I have loved exploring the beaches here, but I'm ready for some sun!!! We'll be in Nashville for a week and then we head up north for a family vacation on Lake Michigan! After wearing hats and hoodies in mid June, this southern girl is ready to sweat!!!

Boulevard Park and Beach

Boulevard Park is in Fairhaven, just 5 minutes from our house. It has a big soft sandy beach along with great skipping rocks. The marine life isn't amazing, but with a playground and coffee shop nearby, it's the perfect spot for a dinner picnic at sunset. It's also a great winter beach.

There are trails for running and bike riding for those extra active days.

We have enjoyed many playdates here with friends. As well, Daniel and I like to get coffee at Woods on the water then take the boardwalk into Fairhaven for dinner. Such a lovely place!

Semiahmoo

Y'all, in case you missed it, there are a lot of beaches up here in our corner of the states!! We recently visited yet another beautiful sandy beach with incredible marine life. Semiahoo (pronounced seh-mee-AH-moo, NOT seh-MYAH-MOO like this southerner likes to call it!) is a teeeeeeeny piece of land with a fancy gold course, expensive resorts and views to die for. In fact, looking north gives you the Canadian cascades and White Rock BC, looking East and South give you more mountains, including Mount Baker. Ah-mazing!

To help you get your bearings-highlighted in purple is Lily Piont where we were last month. Semiahmoo is in blue. Birch Bay and White Rock are the next bay south of Semiahmoo and Bellingham is about 20 minutes south on I-5.

Below is the view of White Rock BC from Semiahmoo.

We had a wonderful time with friends in the soft sand at this beach. Ruthie Mae especially enjoyed eating sand for the first time. I had to watch her closely after the first bite because she kept going back for more! What is it with babies eating sand??

A sweet friend dug a hole for Lazzy. He felt so cozy in that hole in the sand. All he needed was a blankie and he'd be set for life!

One cool thing about this spot is all the piers lining the beach. The kids loved hiding and exploring beneath them at low tide. This is such a fun place to be a kid!!

All the kids hunting for jelly fish and sea stars. This wasn't a make believe game they played. These things are actually in the water!!

They were pretty successful, finding star fish and jelly fish swimming right up toward the beach. Apparently these jelly fish don't sting. I wasn't brave enough to test it out. Such amazing creatures!

 

The only thing left to find now is an octopus!!! The hunt is on!

Fatherhood Looks Good on Him

When you marry a person, you don't really think much about the person he might become. You love them so much in the beginning (or so you think....), marrying them for who they are. Sure, you hope they change a little bit-in the way of learning to walk two steps closer to the laundry basket and make that slam dunk, but I gave very little thought to the ways in which my husband might change.

3 kids and almost 9 years into this marriage, I am so happily surprised at how Dan has changed. Fatherhood looks so dang good on him!! 

With each child, he grows more gentle, more tender and more hands-on as a dad.

I love our family so much. I love our adventures and our game nights. I love our dance parties and wrestling matches. I love hearing my boys discuss theology and conduct bicycle races. I love their eyebrows!!! All of these things that I love exist because of Dan and the hours (and DNA) he has given to our family. He's such a great dad!!!

Lily Point

So far, my favorite beach we've visited is at Lily Point Park at Point Roberts. After getting through the border just north of Blaine, you continue driving north then west through Canada and then back down south. Lily Point is on a tiny peninsula that is technically on American soil. After a nice leisurely walk through the woods, there is a steep hike down to a field and then this:

{this is one big switchback path!}

Each time we discover a new beach, we happen upon even more exciting sea creatures. Elijah and I even tried our hand at digging for geoduck! We were unsuccessful.





Ruthie Mae and I on top of star fish rock (as the boys named it).




These are sunflower sea stars and have 16 legs!!! They were everywhere!







We enjoyed watching bald eagles fly overhead and feast on marine life during low tide.

What I love about beach days:

I never understood what was so cool about a low tide, until I started spending time on these beautiful beaches. Now, we both have a low tide ap on our phones and I check it frequently. I'm a low tide junky!! We are planning another trip here soon, as there will be extremely low tides next week!