Explore WA: Mt. Vernon, Anacortes, and Alki Beach

Happy Monday,

 We enjoyed a beautiful few days in WA this past weekend. 60-75 degree weather with nothing but sunshine. Friday night we ate at Uneeda Burger with friends from church to celebrate the return of Russell Bounds (he is in the coast guard). I had a delicious turkey burger made with pesto and feta....different and yummy.

Leighton before dinner, playing in the pretty petals that fell off our tree outside.

Kept her shades on for a few minutes....

Saturday morning I went to the Hallows' women's bible study, we finished the book of Nehemiah and started Esther. Esther is the only book in the bible that doesn't mention God, which I think is very interesting. As we discussed this, Kim made a good point that this is why it makes it imperative that when we study the bible we recognize what is prescriptive (like when Jesus specifically says do this or that) and what is descriptive (looking how God used Nehemiah and Ezra to glorify him and teach his people, despite them having very different personalities or approaches OR how we can learn obedience from Esther.) Understanding that just because a person in the bible did something it does not make it right but realizing it is a historical/factual book and learning how to study it is something I am definitely working on. (sorry for that little blurb but I really enjoyed my time with the ladies this past Saturday)

Leighton playing around the house....looking "springy"

  Wes and Leighton picked me up from Anna's house/bible study and we headed about 60 miles north to the Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon WA. I was very excited as my favorite flower is the tulip and my friend Melissa told me it was Tulip Land...acres upon acres of colorful tulips and buttercups. The drive to the Skagit Valley reminded me of home, Kentucky and parts of Alabama. Flat land with crops, barns, and small towns, etc was our scenery. It is crazy that just outside of the city you will find that. The only thing the Skagit Valley has that KY doesn't is gorgeous views of snow capped mountains accented with ocean water. Nonetheless it made me a little home sick and want to sing the song, "makes ya wanna take a back road...makes me wanna take the long way home"

When we arrive in Mt. Vernon it was crazy. Tons of people downtown attending their festival. We made the mistake of waking a sleeping baby and getting out of the car in search for food to only get smacked around by hotdogs and strollers and end up splitting one fajita. Due to hunger and caffeine headaches, we panicked and left the festival. Like the new "city folks" we are,  we grabbed a coffee where there was no line and got our map of the Tulip fields. We were set now and in better spirits. 

Leighton was very excited when we got to Tulip Town. They had huge kites flying, as you see she is pointing at them. Her new favorite thing is to point, which is super cute. 

Orange and Red Tulips......

Yellow....

White....Purple and Pink......

After being immersed in flowers, we headed to La Conner, WA. It is a small bay town about 15 minutes from Mt. Vernon. We enjoyed window shopping, checking out the boats for sale, and some ice cream. 

Next we drove about 20 minutes to Anacortes, WA on Fidalgo Island. 

 This island and Washington State Park have great views of the San Juan Islands and it is where ferries can take you to Victoria BC. Just so you know where we are there is a map above.... basically we stayed on the west coast of WA north of Seattle all day. 

Enjoyed a small picnic.....so peaceful.  

We tried to spot an orca but no luck.

We had a long but enjoyable Saturday driving around new parts of WA.  Since we had church Sunday evening, we decided to stay close by and went to the neighborhood market here in Fremont for some flowers then south of Seattle over the West Seattle bridge to Alki beach. Can you believe these flowers were $7? I used to pay like $12.99 for dying flowers from Kroger....

Alki Beach has a great view of the Seattle Skyline and the Olympic Mountains....

We enjoyed another picnic....we are picnicking fools!

Though we sat in the shade we also were covered by SPF 100+ Whenever I think of the Brad Paisley song "If I could write a letter to me, to myself when I was 17, I would start it off by saying.... DO NOT TAN!" I recently went to the dermatologist for a full body scan to look for suspicious freckles and made Wes do the same. I recommend it to anyone who has had a baby because the estrogen from pregnancy makes you more sensitive to the sun and can change existing freckles and moles. (small soap box)

Ended the weekend worshiping the Lord. Andrew preached on 1 John 4 speaking how we must discern what is truth and what isn't.  Analyzing and yes discriminating from anything that does not reflect scripture. Just because something is "spiritual or religious" it does not equate with good. Spiritual thoughts, experiences, or actions apart from Christ are dead. We must use the bible as a filter. 

¹ Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. ⁴ You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ⁵ They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit^[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.1 John 4: 1-6

Come visit us and we will try to show you around this beautiful state!