Amazingly, Erick had 2 ½ days off in a row so we had to take advantage of it.  He was on call on Thursday which meant he got off early on Friday.  He didn’t have to go back until his next on call shift on Monday rather than Sunday like usual.  Erick agreed that I could plan a mini vacation to get out of town & I told him that it would be a surprise for his birthday, which was on Saturday.  I decided that we would go to San Juan Island since it’s supposed to be very pretty & a nice, relaxing getaway—not too close but not too far either.  Erick thought he could manage to leave a little early even so I planned that we could take the 3:00 ferry from Anacortes (over a 2 hour drive from our place).  Unfortunately, Erick not only didn’t get to break away early, he had to stay a little late to finish up some paperwork.  He had some complicated patients that required more work than usual & being the diligent little worker he is, he wanted to get it done correctly.  Good for him but bad for our trip.  But that was OK since I figured we’d just catch the 5:30 ferry instead.  We got up to the ferry terminal in plenty of time only to discover that it was full & we’d have to wait for the 8:30 ferry.  Argh!!!  So we grabbed dinner in town & then waited.  And waited.  And waited.  We each took turns taking Joshua to walk around while we were parked in line.  I took Josh to the water to (no big surprise) look at rocks along the shore while Erick napped in the car.  Once we got on the ferry, Joshua & I ran around (quite literally for him) while Erick finished up some work on his laptop.  We didn’t get to the motel until almost 10pm & then we had to let Joshua play for awhile to run off more energy before attempting bedtime.  Despite not having a nap, Joshua was so hyper & excited to not be strapped into his carseat like he was for the long drive.

On Saturday, we drove around the entire island.  We went out for a yummy breakfast at a cute restaurant in Friday Harbor & then went to the beach at American Camp.  Joshua enjoyed digging rocks & shells like he did in Hawaii.  After hanging out there for a little while, we continued our drive & went to the Lime Kiln lighthouse to look for whales.  The orcas had apparently been swimming back & forth all day until about 10 minutes before we got there.  Great timing.  We waited & watched for awhile but to no avail.  I bet they returned right after we left, too!  Our departure was hurried when Joshua announced that he had to go potty (we’re still working on this).  We ran to the restroom & I got things all ready for him but since they were outhouse-style toilets with a huge hole to nowhere, he was too afraid to go.  I guess I can’t blame him for that.  When we left the park, we headed to an alpaca farm & after awhile of looking at the alpacas, he decided he was ready to go.  All they had there were porta-potties so I pulled out the travel potty that I fortunately put in the trunk & he went on that in the parking lot.  Sorry if this is too much information to share, but I’m excited since he never mentions he has to go when we’re out & about.  This was his first successful public pottying experience—yeah!

After our potty milestone, we drove to English Camp, where they had an encampment celebration in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Pig War (in a nutshell, some American guy shot an English pig who was eating his potatoes in 1859 & that exacerbated the feud between the 2 countries over who owned the San Juan islands & almost started a war).  It was neat to see the old-time outfits the folks were wearing & Joshua enjoyed playing with the old toys.  One little tidbit of information I learned is that English Camp is the only national park in the whole country that is allowed to fly a foreign flag.  Joshua & I even got a photo taken with this cute, old man who looked like he could’ve been one of the English soldiers 150 years ago.  Then we drove to Roche Harbor for dinner.  My mom had called the manager of one of the nice restaurants there & got him to make a reservation for us at a table along the water.  This place doesn’t take reservations but she’s very convincing & he made an exception for us.  When we were done eating, the manager brought out a huge chocolate cake, complete with firework candle on top!  It was sooo good.  Such rich, dense chocolate cake with fresh raspberry filling—I’m still salivating thinking about it.  The pastry chef even came out of the kitchen to see how we liked it.  This old couple next to our table said they wanted to buy one but she said that they don’t make these cakes & that it was a one-time deal.  Wow.  Go, Mom!  It put the cake that Joshua & I made for Erick to shame (not hard to do, with my cooking & the limited recipes a preschooler can tackle).  We walked around the harbor & the dock for awhile & then headed home.  Even though we didn’t see any whales, it was a very good, busy day & we were exhausted.

On Sunday morning, we packed up quickly, loaded the car, & drove to the ferry terminal.  We got take-out breakfast from the same restaurant & ate at a picnic table along the harbor.  Then we walked around some more, got in the car, & took the ferry ride back to Anacortes.  We got home in the late afternoon & relaxed the rest of the day.  What a good weekend!  I’m glad we could get away, especially since it worked out so well for Erick’s birthday.  It made up for his sucky birthday last year when he was stuck on a bus on the way back from his field exercise for most of the day.  Happy birthday, Sweetie!