Today after a hearty breakfast of hash browns and eggs, we packed up the minivan and headed off to the historic town of Langley, on the other end of Whidbey Island. Langley is another small older village on the coast of the island which makes a big part of its living these days off the tourist trade. We poked around in more antique and gift shops, had some rather good pizza at the Village Pizzeria (even my folks, who have often complained about the lack of good pizza on the Left Coast, are known to like the pizza at this place), and generally enjoyed the sunshine and beautiful scenery.

After Langley we headed back, stopping at the Greenbank Farm wine seller for a tasting. They offered four tastes for two bucks, which we gladly took them up on. All wines were indigenous to the area. We wound up buying a couple bottles of pinot gris.

It's been a lot of fun spending time with Vanessa, our soon-to-be-three-year-old niece, and Jack, our seven-month-old nephew. They're quite the opposites in many ways. Vanessa was a small baby and is still quite small for her age. Jack is a bruiser - he's only ten pounds lighter than his older sister. Vanessa doesn't like to be picked up, except by her parents. Jack is generally fussy unless he's being held. He doesn't care who holds him, but he fusses if you're sitting down while you're holding him, so most of the time you have to stand up and walk around.

Vanessa is very excited about her birthday party on Sunday. She chatters on about how both sets of grandparents, as well as her aunt Bernadette and uncle Sean, will be there. She loves being the center of attention, but only when she wants to be, for otherwise she can be shy. I suspect if we spent more time around her she'd be more open to us. Sometimes I wish we could all live closer together, but that's the way it goes.