What better way to celebrate our Independence as a country than with your greatest friends surrounded by a beautiful lake far away from home.

I know what you’re thinking…”wait what? Another trip somewhere? do these people ever stay home?” And Yes it is another trip somewhere, and believe me..we stay home..a lot. But like I said before, we don’t have the ability to take a great big vacation once a year, so little mini vacations here and there or a long weekend somewhere close by is just what we need (and can afford). And this trip was just what we needed at just the right time.

Our dear friends Dustin and Kelly, who were also our first friends we made here in San Francisco are embarking on a new chapter in their lives, and that new chapter will take place far away from SF. They will be moving to Boston So Dustin can complete his Anesthesia Residency at Mass General Hospital. We are so happy for them and so proud. We have watched Dustin work so hard over these last few years, and have watched him excel in this field and we are so excited to see his dream of becoming a Doctor come to life. So we thought the only way to send them off was with a party, and one that lasted the whole week. Dustin and Kelly have family in Seattle and that family has a vacation house right on Hood Canal, which is right on the pugent sound. So we all packed our bags, got on an airplane and spent the week at Hood Canal. And let me tell you, it was wonderful. We had no agenda but to relax, enjoy the water the sun and each other, and thats exactly what we did. We would cook every meal together and enjoy it outside on the deck. We would take turns kayaking on the water and spent hours on the “Relaxation station” which was really just a giant inner tube with four seats. We picked fresh oysters when it was low tide, and ate them raw (my favorite) and also barbecued them with white wine and garlic (everyone else’s favorite).  And almost every night there was a firework show from the neighbors around the lake. But nothing could compare to the firework show that happened on the 4th. Every surrounding neighbor seemed to spend their life savings on fireworks (including our group) and it was amazing. Casey and I thought it would be fun to enjoy the show on the lake, so we took the kayake out with a bottle of wine and sat under what was the most incredible firework display we had ever seen. Chad or crazy and fearless friend liked to make us his target as he shot his fireworks. Thankfully none of them hit us, but they exploded right above our heads and the thrill of that was so exciting as well as frightening, and every time I would laugh and scream like a little girl.

It was so much fun and the time with our friends was so special. Some of those friends we hadn’t seen in months, because they are on a new chapter of their life away from San Francisco as well. It was so good to see them and their brand new baby boy that we all took turns holding. And so good to spend time with their big boy who took all of our hearts with him when they moved away. I have said this before, but I just love that our friends here have truly become family, even the ones who have moved away, they will always be apart of this family and we will always pick up right where we left off, we will laugh almost like no time has passed.

It was another wonderful trip full of amazing memories. Here are some photos to help us never forget all the laughs we had and all the moments we shared.