San Juan Islands - Day 3

As most of the internet is already aware, I took and plunge and officially signed up for my first half marathon. There are moments where I'm super excited and moments (like when I'm running uphill pushing a stroller in the blazing sun for instance) where I think I am literally crazy. Anyhow, thus far the longest run I have managed on my own is about 7 miles I think (granted, "on my own" = me and a double stroller carrying two growing girls). I have this mental block that leads me to believe I "can't" make long distances without a running buddy to distract me. So, I made it a personal goal that while on this trip, I would overcome that block and run for 1 1/2 hours all by myself. I downloaded an audiobook on Graham's I-pod touch and took off from our rental house, determined to keep at it for 90 minutes. And I did it! I must say the change in scenery from my normal routes was lovely. Though the above picture was not taken on my run, I did get to run along the water which was great. Per my rough calculations, I think I did ~9.3 miles (a lot of which were hilly) and most importantly I proved to myself I was capable of running longer distances on my own.

After my run, I came back to a delicious quiche breakfast (thanks to the Welchs) and then we loaded up and headed to the opposite side of the island to South Beach. It was so gorgeous with the Olympic Mountains as a backdrop! And, best of all, the beach did not consist of mucky tar and so the kids were able to play.

The water was COLD as illustrated by poor Isla's expression below. She was so eager to swim but turned right back around after dipping her toes
 

Graham took the girls for a little drive once the crankiness set in to try and facilitate naps. His success was marginal but they slept long enough to buy us enough time for an ice cream stop in Friday Harbor.

We bought Isla her very first ice cream cone and, wouldn't ya know it, she chose her flavor based on color ("the purple one.")

I had salted caramel which was amazing and reminded me that I need to try and figure out how to make some myself.

I also got an iced latte after tasting Graham's which was incredible. We were on vacation AND I'd ran 9.3 miles that morning...

We stumbled upon some music in the park which of course our little dancer* stopped to enjoy. (*Note the purple ice cream aftermath!)

A day in the sand + ice cream = bath time (*cough* blackmail photo op) for the kids as soon as we arrived home.

That evening the Welchs treated us to a delicious fajita dinner on the lawn complete with Mexican music, margaritas and conversations about how marriage has changed us (it was Jon & Britta's 5th Anniversary but somehow I neglected to get any pictures of them!) This dinner ended up being my favorite part of the trip.