Summer Week 8 (Deschutes Falls, Lake Sylvia, Watershed Park, Priest Point)

Sunday
Jason finished a project over the weekend. Behold! Our mask rack! They had previously been living on the chair in our bedroom but it was difficult to remember to grab one and also tedious to dig through the pile. So many problems solved here.

Monday

I had a first-time-ever moment on Monday. For the FIRST TIME EVER I had the thought that taking Isaac with me someplace would easier than taking any of his brothers.

Yeah. Just sit with that thought for a minute.

So truly, just Isaac and I took a little trip to Deschutes Falls Park to check out the water. It is an itty, bitty walk to the falls and then there are several great spots to hang out. Next time I plan on bringing towels so we can wade in the cool water.

He was a good little hiking buddy for the day and was delighted by everything that he saw. I think his brothers would have actually liked this place after all; however, it was nice for him to get to check out the water and rocks at his own pace.

Tuesday

It was a hot week in WA. We generally only have this problem for a brief period of time in August, but with no A/C it can get pretty intense in the house. I was searching for a 5 mile hike we hadn't done before but that was reasonably close by when I came across Lake Sylvia state park. I'd seen the signs for it on our drive to the beach, but not one had ever recommended it to me so it went unvisited until this week. It has the benefit of a lake for swimming and kayaking as well as a trail system to hike so I texted a friend and off we went.

We decided to do some hiking first when the day was cooler. The hike almost didn't happen because Ben got waylaid, but we did manage to extract him and head down the forestry trail.

There really are some lovely trails here. The confusing bit is that none of the maps of the area (on the website, at trail head, and a couple on the trail) actually match. At one point there were some pretty shifty pieces of cardboard stapled to trees to label the trails. But we did about 5 miles and nobody got lost so I consider that a win.

Eventually we made it back to the swimming area by the beach. I had send Grump 1 and Grump 2 back to the car early during the hike with caveat that if they weren't going to hike they had to pump up the kayaks while we were gone. They figured that was a fair trade, though there was some grumbling about how long we'd been gone when we got back. 

The swimming area was divided into a shallow area and a very shallow area. This suited me as I could safely stay on beach and watch Isaac splash around.

Most of us took a turn in the kayaks. Ben even found a way to make kayaking be about picking blackberries.

Michael and Ben eventually joined Isaac in the water, though neither of them went so far as to put on their swim suits. They did go so far as to get completely soaked so that was fun for them. Michael learned that cotton stretches when it's wet and Ben discovered that synthetics dry pretty quickly in the sun.

I discovered that if you kayak in a wet kayak (also not in a swim suit) then you look like you wet your pants until they dry.

Wednesday

Just one pic for the day. Josh, Ben, Isaac and I ran errands with Mom in the morning after a quick walk at Watershed Park. The day involved a stressful trip to Costco and then leaving the kids in the car while Mom and I went into Trader Joe's.

Friday

This morning found us at Priest Point Park with some different friends. Ben was getting pretty tired at this point of having to get up before 9am (oh, the humanity!) to hike and wasn't very interested in having his picture taken.

Summer Week 7 (Cape Disappointment, berries)

Sunday

This kid is starting to get some speed on this bike when he isn't distracted by every little thing. On this particular ride he tricked me into walking over to the sprinklers and getting my pants soaking wet.

After dinner we all went to the park where Isaac rode his bike some more and the rest of us got a volleyball lesson from Aunt Rachel. She kept telling the boys that if they hit the ball right it wouldn't hurt. I think Aunt Rachel has hit a volleyball one too many times because it does hurt those of us who haven't had the nerves killed in our lower arms. 

Monday

To make amends with Mom for our Fort Worden hike and with Ben for, well, I'm not sure but in any case we went on a teeny walk (not a hike!) and did a bunch of blackberry picking. Ben ate everything he picked. He did try to help me pick some for jam but he just didn't have the willpower. No worries. There was more than enough to go around.

Isaac, Josh, and Michael aren't really into getting their arms scratched up for fruit so they wandered ahead on the path for a bit.

We discovered that Josh has some musical skills after all.

Tuesday

After a frantic morning of jam making, packing, dismantling Michael's room, and a variety of random tasks we got on the road and drove to Cape Disappointment for camping trip #3. 

Interesting fact: Cape Disappointment got its name from the fact that the boat that was supposed to take them home had already left when Lewis and Clark made it to the coast. I have always thought the area was gorgeous, but another 3000+ walk home would be incredibly disappointing. In fact, I probably would have used a stronger word myself.

Interesting fact: It always rains on the second night of our camping trips here which makes packing up oh so fun.

Interesting fact: Josh's feet didn't touch the water in the three days we were there and he was proud of that fact.

The boys were all a bit grumpy (read: in full on teen 'tude mode) when we arrived, so I took a walk on the beach after we were set up to get a break.

I love this beach.

Wednesday

Two campfires and a sugar-filled breakfast later and the boys were in improved spirits. 

Nothing kills their mood like a HIKE so hike we did. 

Kidding. I mean, we did hike, but they didn't get as grumpy as I thought. Ben turned into a squirrel. (More on that later)

We hiked up to one of the lighthouses and spent some time enjoying the view before Josh, Ben and I hiked back to get the car to pick up the rest of the crew.

With the sweaty exercise out of the way we grabbed our gear and hung out on the beach. Still chilly waves but somehow warmer than the other beaches we've been to recently.

Josh stuck to his plan and refused to get wet even while others were jumping in the waves and body surfing. Way to stick to his decision and not given in to fun temptation.....I guess.

After we got all of our towels soaked it was time to feed hungry bellies. I am still working out the kinks on the camping food plan.

We needed to use to a creative work around when my first plan for cooking the burgers didn't work. This one was a bit more, um, dangerous than I probably would recommend. The end result was a great show and delicious AND Jason didn't have any permanent damage to his arms from the flames. 

The aluminum foil took quite a beating though.

Thursday

The rain started at about 3am (yeah, ask me how know) until about 7am (ask me how I know) so many of us didn't get a lot of sleep. Jason thought he heard raccoons running around so I dreamed about those in the few minutes of sleep I got. Once it stopped raining it was another lovely day. 

There was just enough sunlight to dry a few of the towels enough for us to get them soaking wet wiping down the tents and tarps. While we were packing up, we kept finding this ENORMOUS squirrel in the trees. 

He was pretty helpful when asked, but if he had two seconds free we found him right back up in the trees.

While we were away Mom worked her magic again and painted Michael's room. The rest of us agree that this room is GREEN. Very GREEN. But Michael is happy so mission accomplished!

Friday

I want history to know that, when it comes to getting sick, our kids have MAD SKILLZ. Seriously. No school. No church. No youth groups. No sports. No (in person) lessons. No playing at friends' houses. AND THEY STILL GET SICK!

AGH!!!

We suspected on our camping trip that Josh and Ben *might* be sick, but by Friday Josh was a bit of a mess. (No, not covid19.) Ben seemed to be recovering but still not great. So it was a slow day. Jason caught up at work and the boys and I put up the wet tents and tarps in the backyard to dry out.

Saturday

Ben was well enough for our Saturday walk luckily. Rachel's friend came along and experienced the berry distracted kid that is Ben. At one point I mentioned how sad it was that he isn't tall enough to get the large clusters of berries higher up that most people couldn't reach. Heather came up with a great solution that made us the envy of all the path walkers. 

Summer Week 6 (Fort Worden, Westhaven)

Sunday

The bad temperatures were coming. We knew they were coming. Some of us would have the chance to escape.

But some of us would not.

Jason could not escape. Desperate times. Desperate measures. We have a ladder, broom, dust mop and foam board so Jason did what any sane person would do and placed the boards up in our windows that we can't reach and have no blinds. 

So far it seems to be a decent solution to the problem - they block some of the light and likely some of the heat.

Monday

Josh had a couple of appointments, so we left him and Jason to the heat. The rest of us plus Nana drove to Fort Worden where the sun was shining, the sand was hot, and the water was FRIGID.

When the beach started getting crowded with lots of people (many of whom were unable to understand keeping their distance), we hiked up to check out the battery buildings. Mom was not amused by uphill climb and then subsequent stairs, so we left her chilling on some stairs so the kids could go up the tunnel to heaven before heading back down (with Nana) and heading back to a toasty house.

When we first got to the beach, I handed the sunblock to Michael and Ben along with some instructions on parts of their bodies to spray. 

It's really difficult to listen to your mom when the water and sand are beckoning to you.

It was aloe night at the Millers.

For a moment I considered that possibly I had a bad bottle of sunblock, but Isaac (whom I sprayed) came home with only slightly rosy cheeks.

Wednesday
The boys had complained a bit about the hot sand, so I found a solution to that problem - a beach with partly cloudy skies and a high of 65F weather.

Then they complained that they were too cold. (They had hoodies/jackets.)

Life lesson: you canNOT have it all.

Personally, this is my kind of beach weather. Isaac agreed.

This is my favorite beach weather, but I also don't get in the water that much. The fact that the water here is so cold it makes my feet hurt doesn't help.

Usually the boys aren't bothered by the cold.

This was one of the days when having teenagers was exhausting. When the older boys were little, people told me that teens were more tiring than little kids. I thought that they were just so removed from life with small children that they couldn't remember.

Well, I am not that far removed so I do remember (though, yes, Isaac was something else) and I do have to say that teens are their own special kind of exhaustion that puts toddlers to shame at times.

The older three were not interested in the beach, water, sand, frisbee, balls, sand toys, board games, kite, or books that I brought.

The food was generally acceptable. But mostly they asked to go home and generally pined for their electronic devices.

And so Isaac became, for once, the "easy one".

We did eventually convince Ben to let us bury him in the sand.

He really wanted to take a nap.

Saturday
We got a late start to our Saturday walk and ended up getting back home in the dark. Dusk to dark happened pretty quickly.