We house-sat for a family house on Whidbey Island while the owners went on vacation. The owners actually built their house with their friends. One of the owners is a painter and a car repairman. They 
have a dog named Sophie – we loved her. We took her for long walks along Grandpa Tree Trail and others that are part of the Kettles Trail System of Whidbey Island. Since one of the owners is a painter, he gave us some rocks to paint. There is a Facebook group called WIR (Whidbey Island Rocks) where you paint rocks, hide them and post a hint to your hiding place to the Facebook group. Then when someone finds your rock, they can share their find and re-hide it. My aunt Karen, my dad’s sister, was there with us she loved the dogs and we would feed the Koi fish together every morning. I loved the fish.
You can also create something called a “dragon’s nest”, where you paint a rocks as the dragon and one as the egg and when people find the nest they either replace one of the rocks, keep one or add 
one as long as it’s not the dragon. The owner of the house has two cats too! We all petted them except for my mom who is allergic. We also went kayaking and saw starfish, jellyfish, and mmmmmmmmmanyyyyyyy oysters. it was like 2 hours so we were all tired and aching. I liked Whidbey Island and hope to visit again.