Tyler Holbrook, 6, gets a hug from his mother, Lindsey, for having a good school year as his father, Dean, looks on at Mercer Island's Lakeridge Elementary. Teacher Robyn McNeley hosted a parent appreciation day in her kindergarten class.

The Sunnybeam School is a classic building on the south end of the island.

Heather and Cricket Griesman enjoy a quiet evening on a Mercer Island dock with the Seattle skyline in the distance.

Paddlers on Lake Washington tour the island's shoreline.

The Roanoke Inn Tavern provides testimony to the fact that Mercer Island, despite its wealth, remains a neighborhood. Bob Riddle, left, and Stan Irvine, right, hang out at lunchtime with one laid-back friend by the name of "Sarge."

Carrie Bell whizzes through the island's QFC with her 8-month-old twins Carl and Alex.

Chase and Adrianne Anderegg put the rock in Charlemagne Ewing's rocking chair as she tries to read at the island branch of the King County Library.

Amelia Chappelle, 16, snuggles with Tucker, a horse she grooms at the Mercer Island Saddle Club.

A young bald eagle lands in the top of a shoreline tree on the southwest side of the island.

Susan Springer walks through Luther Burbank Regional Park with her sons, Elliott and Andrew.

Kelly Bower and Wayne Tygert enjoy lunch at Mercer Island's historic Roanoke Inn on the north end of the island -- a spot they say is not only convenient to their jobs, but is also "fun and cozy with good food."

Rabbi Lisa Gelber of Mercer Island's Herzl Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation sits in the synagogue's main sanctuary.