First Day of School, part 1

Just to keep things exciting and more fun to keep track of, we will have a whopping THREE first days of school this year.

We've got some education skillz over here.

Josh is starting 11th grade. He is only taking one class at the high school, but I told him he had to get a first day of school picture like everyone else. He's excited to be an upperclassman, but pointed out that this isn't how he thought this year would go.  

Michael starts 8th grade. He had been looking forward to being one of the older kids and participating in the mentor program that pairs 6th graders up with 8th graders, but no such luck. However, he did manage to get THREE band classes (again) and NO yoga this year and that makes up for a lot of other disappointments.

Ben is starting 6th grade. He wasn't thrilled about middle school and actually seems happier that it is online (yes, I know he's probably in the minority).  Along with other expected courses, he also got History of Rock and Roll this semester so this should be fun.

Summer Week 11 (Paradise Point, Naches Peak Loop, Millersylvania, school prep)

Sunday

Our last full week of summer before school was a fun one. We began with a camping trip with Rachel and Mom (but no Jason - apparently he has this "job" thing so he can't drop everything last minute?) as Rachel's birthday party/going away party. She's headed across the pond for a year in Deutschland. 

On her actual birthday Mom made the phenomenal toilet paper cake, so we stuck with simple s'mores for our campout. Rachel showed us a trick of shoving a piece of chocolate inside the marshmallow before putting it over the fire. She appeared to be happy with the results. 

I can't eat graham crackers and normally don't like marshmallows (how are they food???), but this did look pretty good.

After stuffing ourselves with food, some of us decided to check out the trails in the park. Descriptions online said there was a 1 mile trail so we thought it would be easy.  However, descriptions online did not have an accurate map of the trail(s) so Mom, Isaac, and Michael headed back in frustration while Ben, Rachel and I pushed on.

It turned out to be kind of an interesting trail that paralleled the river.

It also turned out to be 1 mile one way and we started the hike later in the evening. Luckily, we brought a headlamp and made it safely to the end and back to the campsite. Also luckily, Isaac didn't have to poop while we were gone as I am not sure Mom would have appreciated taking him on that adventure in the camp bathrooms.

Monday

This was a new campsite for us and it seemed quite full Sunday night. Luckily, it cleared out Monday morning. We reserved two campsites - one for tents and one with a yurt. Mom's idea of camping involves a hotel room, but we did manage to pique her interest when we told her about the yurts at the state parks. Josh and Michael were more than happy to sacrifice and stay in the yurt with her (sleeps 4), especially when they found out that there was a heater and electrical outlet. So Ben, Isaac and I stayed in the big tent (Ben got to sleep on Jason's cot - win!). Rachel also opted for tent sleeping as she hasn't had a chance to camp this summer.

 This kid is a pretty big fan of camping. 

These kids take about 12 hours to wake up in the morning.

In a first for us, this park had a volleyball net and large field to play in. Since Rachel and Michael were going to be in the same place at the same time, I had brought the volleyball. Rachel and the older boys were happy to spend the morning playing while we waited for the clouds to burn off so we could go to the beach.

Isaac, on the other hand, was devastated and VERY cranky about the fact that he couldn't play with them. Not that they had said that he couldn't, but it became incredibly obvious within minutes that he was never going to get to hit the ball and could possibly get trampled. To soothe his outer beast, I gave him my camera and made him the sports photographer.

When volleyball became boring, they moved on to monkey-in-the-middle frisbee.

This game got a little intense.

Eventually everyone was hungry and thirsty, we we returned to our campsite for water and lunch. By about 2pm we figured it was warm enough to get in the water, so we packed up the kayaks and drove to the "beach".

On some positive notes: the water was not frigid, the river was very slow, the river was quite shallow (at low tide), and the sand was great to walk on.

We had three kayaks and Ben decided to hitch a ride on the back of Michael's and Rachel's. At one point he walked down the river to catch up with them. It was crazy shallow.

By the time Rachel and the older boys got back from their kayak adventure, I had managed to quickly evacuate our spot on what was actually a sandbar (oops!) and relocate all our gear to higher ground. The boys stayed there with snacks while Rachel and I went down the river for a bit. Then we all worked up a sweat drying the kayaks and packing them back up so we could head back to start a fire and make dinner.

Tuesday

WE FINALLY BROKE THE CURSE! For the previous FIVE camping trips it RAINED on the second night. It takes for-ev-er to take down three tents when you have to dry off three rain covers, three tents, and three tarps. It makes the minions very cranky. Especially because we then have to put everything back up at home to dry off and then pack it all up AGAIN.

But Tuesday morning arrived dry after a dry night and we managed to pack up in record time. I had forgotten that it doesn't have to be torture! Of course, the yurt was even easier: they packed up their gear and just swept the floor. Done! The kids are now huge fans of yurts.

We took a few pictures to commemorate our adventure with Rachel before she leaves.

Thursday

Wednesday was a rough day with the minions so I texted a friend to see if she wanted to go hiking before I lost my ever-loving mind. Luckily she said YES! Naches Peak was on my list for the summer, but I just couldn't handle the thought of another mentally and emotionally exhausting day with my recalcitrant hikers. This was a much better way to go.

We missed the peak for the flowers, but we also missed the peak of the traffic as the crazy masses crowded this hike earlier in the summer.

Why are mountain lakes so much prettier than other lakes? Am I just biased?

It was not a great time of day for pictures, but the views of Rainier are stunning on this hike.

In the end, we didn't hike in crazy heat (my husband's concern) and we finished the hike well before dark (her husband's concern) and we had a great time.

Saturday

This next little while is going to be filled with lasts! This was our last Saturday morning walk with Rachel. We headed over to Millersylvania just to mix things up a bit. I think we got 4.5ish miles in.

Then we met up with the head of our walking group to get our participant medals. You get one after you've done 10 jog-or-nots with the group. This has been Ben's motivation from the start, but we had to wait a while to actually get the medals. Thanks, Covid!

I don't know what Rachel did for the rest of her Saturday, but I know what we did. The boys worked on their chores while Jason and I made big messes so we could reorganize the house for remote continuous learning 2.0. Josh and Michael already have decent learning spaces, but we've been slowly accruing items to get desks etc ready for Ben and Isaac. It took hours, but I promise the table no longer looks like this.

Ben is almost set. I think Jason added a couple of things (light etc) after I took this picture, but Ben seems happy with the space. I am sure it will up with other things as the year goes along.

This is the start of Isaac's space (formally where the big beast of a desk we had stood). I'm waiting to see what materials his teachers provide before adding to much stuff. He doesn't actually start until the 14th, so we have more time.

Big events coming soon with school starting and Rachel leaving. Guess we're going to have to figure out a new normal again.

August on Facebook

So many questions. But most importantly, if I have 4 kids is it more effective to get one for each of them OR just one for me?

I know you're only supposed to want the best for your kids, but last night I sat on the couch in pain after a very strenuous hike watching my 11yo and 16yo (who went with me) run up and down our stairs like mountain goats and part of me was bitter that they didn't hurt AT ALL. (Though this morning they don't seem to be moving quickly. )

ALL 6 of us home ALL of the time. So, yeah, this.

Josh learned an important lesson last night while making dinner: the difference between WAX paper and PARCHMENT paper in the oven.

On a related note, today he is going to learn how to get melted wax paper off of a baking sheet.

Summer Week 10 (Potatoes, Mount Ellinor, Woodard Bay, Potatoes, Rachel B-day)

Sunday

We're still working on learning volleyball skills from Rachel before she heads across the Atlantic. Some of us are making more progress than others. 

Michael does really well - now we just have to hope that there is some league he can play in sometime in the not too distant future.

Monday

I had to bribe the boys with Costco lunch and that was only worked on three of them, but we spent some of the morning digging up potatoes at the community garden. This harvest is usually a big work party with a table full of pastries on the side, but covid19 has changed all of that. The fact that we are a family group of workers means we can do more work than most in a shorter period of time. The people who run the garden really appreciated this.  The boys.....not so much.

Part way through the morning, Josh and I had to bail on the potato fun. He had an appointment to get his braces off. We went through the whole check-in process. I took a before picture:

And then....nothing. The ortho looked at his mouth, recommended he keep wearing the bands for another four weeks, and we went home.  

It was a pretty disappointing morning. Hopefully I will get to write about this again in a few weeks.

Tuesday

It's been a few years, but I admit that Mount Ellinor is still fresh in my mind. So, it wasn't the brightest thing I've ever done, but I went again. Ben had heard the tales and for some reason really wanted to do the hike. Honestly, I have no idea why because I know that I haven't said much of anything positive about it.  Either the kid really enjoys a challenge....or pain....or both. But Ben hasn't asked to do many things this summer. Josh wanted in as well. I wasn't able to make it to the top last time, so I invited Rachel and the Bremners to join us so there'd be other people who could hike with them if I had to bail again.

We left the house a little after 6am (no really). We decided to start from the upper trail head this time (thank goodness). Luckily it was not at all crowded so there was ample space and no line for the bathroom.

Our before picture:

In typical PNW fashion, it was sunny driving to the mountain, sunny driving from the mountain, but cloudy, SO CLOUDY on the mountain.  This is about as good as it got for our stunning views of Lake Cushman and the Hood Canal; however, it was nice not to hike under a beating sun and there were fewer people on the trail.

Also, there were lovely flowers. Probably past the peak, but definitely worth a break to breathe and take a picture. Ok, mostly to breathe.

I was tired before I started this hike. And I had many moments of really, really not wanting to be on this hike. I spent quite a bit of time quite a bit behind the rest of the group. But putting one foot in front of another, climbing one step after another, and taking more breaks that any normal person would need, but I made it to the top. Wahoo!

Impressive view, right?

Well, it was greatly improved when we did a 180.

We ate lunch and chilled at the top with a half dozen of our new best friends - CHIMPMUNKS. They were pretty sure we brought them lunch (we didn't) or that we would share (we didn't). We also saw a very lonely mountain goat whose days are likely numbered.

Eventually we decided it was time to head on down. There was some debate on what is worse: up or down. Rachel says down. Normally, I would agree, but in this case the up was pretty bad for me so the down was a relief.  Regardless, we successfully returned to the car and took an after picture to prove we survived.

While on the hike, Ben commented a few times that he didn't want to do this hike ever again. Later he said he would do it again in a few years. The further we got from the hike, the easier it became in his memory and a week later he is ready to go up in a few months.  Not likely.

Thursday

An early start to the day had three of the boys in the dentist chairs at 8am. I took a picture of this cool cat because the sunglasses they had him wear matched his coat and shorts.

Ben, Isaac and I spent the afternoon at Woodard Bay with Nana. I was still barely mobile after Ellinor and Mom generally doesn't go in for hikes with elevation change so we took the paved path to the water. Ben picked a few blackberries, but I think we're at the end of that season.

It was high, high tide this time so not a lot of beach to look for rocks to throw in the water. There were however quite a few seals out on one of the piers and listening to their groaning, grunting, clapping, and (possibly) farting was quite amusing. It was a lovely afternoon to get some vitamin D.

Friday

More potatoes! Ben hadn't come with us on Monday, so when I bribed him with Costco lunch to come on Friday he told me two things:

1. Costco lunch wasn't worth this.

2. I had misspoken and called it "picking potatoes" so he thought we'd be picking them off of bushes not digging them out of the ground. 

Trying to teach kids to serve others and have a good work ethic is so much fun!

Saturday

It's the day that only comes once a year! Rachel's birthday! My plan was for some of the boys and I to sneak over and decorate her car in the morning.

We got there later than expected and she came out to check on the voices she heard outside so it wasn't quite the surprise we were hoping for, but she was kind enough to go back inside until we finished.

It took a while and Michael spent a lot of time declaring that he wasn't going to participate in this act of vandalism, but we finally finished and hollered at Rachel to come on out and check out the final product.

She was a great sport about it. 

After dinner, Rachel and Mom joined us along with Mom's epic toilet paper cake creation so we could celebrate. Rachel made a special request for this cake and Mom did a fabulous job. Several of us actually wondered why on earth she was bringing a roll of toilet paper in the house on a plate. 

After everyone got sugared up, Rachel, Mom and the other boys played a cutthroat game of Throw, Throw Burrito. Rachel was the triumphant winner and proudly held up her FEAR ME token for all to see.