This was our first stop after selling our house. We had been considering coastal Washington to settle down in at some point in the future. It’s not really on our list anymore. Bellingham is beautiful. Lots of lush greenery that reminds us of northern Oregon. Fairhaven is lovely and quaint. We patronized the independent bookstore and one of the restaurants. Downtown is predictably tired looking (it’s still pandemic time), with enough homeless population and panhandling to deter me from taking the kids into certain areas. In general people here have been friendlier than what we experienced in Oregon. 

We took advantage of our location to scout the shoreline for shells and to research and learn about those shells afterward. We walked a nearby boardwalk that was quite long, it made a sort of U, jutting out to run parallel to the shore. We tried Woods Coffee, the local’s pride. It wasn’t for me. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was double brewed. As someone who enjoys sipping plain espresso, I found it curdled my stomach. We read our book club selection (Greenglass House) on the deck, weather permitting, with the bay stretching out in the distance. Several times, we ate a quicker lunch then went down the street to walk and run along the bay. In these past four weeks I’ve grilled more on the great little electric grill on the deck than I’d grilled in the past 5 years. We bought locally produced jars of soup at the grocery store as well as local fresh fish. We enjoyed those local flavors. At night, we read a chapter from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in front of the fire. Cat became proficient in Dominoes at this house. Being three, I was thrilled in his interest as it is great practice in recognizing value. We played Candyland and Boggle. Astro and Flower picked up books from the small village shop that they devoured. Independent bookstores often have such a great selection! Astro and Flower made up a secret language. To poke them I quizzed them. They each had to tell me the same thing after speaking to each other only in their language. They realized they needed to work on it more. There’s no point in leaving a thing half done, I say!

As we were driving home from our weekend outing Cat looked to Astro and said, “Astro, I love you.” Astro said, “Oh, I love you too.” Cat said, “I like cars, do you like cars?” Astro said, “I do like cars!” They continued on in that way for a while. It was the sweetest thing! Going from 2600 sq ft to 1600 sq ft has been wonderful. The big kids love to take turns sleeping in the same room with Cat. They love sitting at the bar as I make breakfast right there.

We are consciously changing the way we shop. Before we head to the store I inventory the food that we have to avoid waste. I cook much more often now than previously, as I am not cooking in bulk and freezing portions. Knowing that one is only in a location for one month really changes the way one shops!

Thanks to the length of our stay, homeschooling is pretty much exactly the same. The big kids test scores just came back for the end of the year. They both tested ahead of their grades in everything again, we are very proud of how hard they work at school.

I used my mother’s day powers to get everyone dressed up for a picture on the deck that we’ve enjoyed so much!

Bye for now-