Snow Mountain Ranch Run

Our fridge was in need of Costco replenishment, and I was in need of a solo trail run, so yesterday (Saturday), I combined business with pleasure. I drove to Snow Mountain Ranch in Cowiche, WA (57 minutes away from home) and went on a run up to the top of the hill there. It was a bright sunny 76 degree clear day but the breeze kept me from getting too hot. The trail was much crispier and browner than it was when we hiked it six weeks ago in May. Most of the wildflowers were dead (and the wind rattled their dry leaves in a very creepy way), but as I climbed higher, I discovered a few hardy little blooms among the desert crust and sage brush.  For the first mile of the trail I was wondering why I had driven an entire hour to run somewhere that was browner and drier than the irrigated planted countryside at home. Thankfully the rest of the trail had enough variety in flora and fauna (however dry and muted it appeared) to feel different and worth the drive.

Swim-run-repeat

Last week was exceptionally busy, filled with all sorts of physical activity: swim team practice, cross country practice, track and field camp, and two swim meets. We are all worn out. No lazy summer days for us! Our daily breakdown for June 24-28th:

• 7:30-8:30am: Swim team practice for Jay and Rose, cross country summer practice for Jeff and/or Shaina, bike riding practice for Amber
• 10am-12pm Kids track and field camp for all five of us.
• 5:45pm-9pm Tuesday and Thursday: Swim meets for Jay and Rose.

We barely had time to catch our breath all week! When I wrote down our activities, they didn't look as tiring as they were in real time. But we are a family who prefers to take life slowly and minimize kids' commitments, so swim team plus track camp plus swim meets felt super busy for us! The longest days had Jay and Rose outside at events for nearly seven hours total! They handled it quite well. We made sure to have long relatively quiet afternoons with movies and computers to recover from the rigors of the day and rest up for the next activity. 

The Super and the Glue

Something that's been on my mind a lot lately is transition. Not the shockingly intense/freakishly painful phase of labor--just the normal type of transition where change comes. It feels like our family in the middle of a big transition between little kids and big kids. It's been almost a year since we bought diapers/pull-ups, and Amber is starting preschool this fall. (We are one year and 2 months away from kindergarten--woah. Jay only has one more year left in elementary school--double woah). I feel my own role and responsibilities as a mom shifting in response to my kids' growth. It's almost like a strange sort of mini-identity crisis! I keep thinking "now what!?"

Whites Ridge

Saturday (June 22nd) we decided to go on a family hike. But first we had family pancakes in Grandview with Grampa Dan. At 6:30 on Saturday morning, Jeff ran the ten miles to Grandview. Jay and Rose rode their bikes along with him for the entire distance. Amber and I drove to Grandview in time to travel back up the bike path and join them for the last mile of their ride/run. Amber rode her bike and I jogged with her. She managed to crash into a telephone pole right before we met up with Jeff and the big kids. When Jeff, Jay, and Rose appeared, Amber and I turned around and followed everyone to Grampa Dan's house.

The first week of summer

We settled into a routine surprisingly quickly during the first week of summer. Swim team practice was at 7:30-8:30am, and Jeff holds summer cross country daily runs during that time. So all five of us went to the pool in the mornings. Jeff and I switched off staying in the park with/chasing Amber while the other went running with whichever high schoolers showed up. Everyone got exercise at the beginning of the day. Jeff's decree for the kids this summer is that in order to play computer games each day, they have to either run a mile or bike four miles. So after swim team practice ended each day last week, Jay, Rose, and Ian from next door met in our yard and went on a run together. It was so cute and awesome and I tried not to feel bad for those diligent kids who had already swum for an hour. Jeff knows how to wield the power of screen time! It's all about finding the proper motivation.

An AmbEvening

Last night we were trying to get everyone together for family prayer. Ian (Jay's friend from next door) was at our house, and he always joins in when we have family prayer. We were all kneeling in a circle around the ottoman in the family room, waiting for Amber to kneel down when she suddenly sprinted off. I called after her but she ignored me as usual, so I got up and went to get her. I found her sitting in her bedroom wearing nothing but pink undies, clutching her new pajamas to her bare belly. The PJs were inside out, and she couldn't figure out how to turn them right side out to put them on. She was frustrated, but in her independent and stubbornly Amber way, she refused to let me help her.

Ahtanum State Forest

Jeff and I decided to surprise the kids with a camping trip on the last day of school. I spent most of the day Friday getting everything ready, and I had the van all loaded up by the time Jay and Rose got home on their last day of school. They knew that there would be a surprise, but they didn't know what it was until they walked in the door after school. Rose entered the house saying "I'm a third grader!" and Jay walked with a triumphant "I'm a fifth grader!" Then Jay asked "so where's this surprise?" and I told them that we were going camping for one night to celebrate the beginning of summer and the end of another school year. They were happy, but I swear the only time they are really ecstatic about anything is when I cook mac and cheese for dinner. Haha.

The end of school

Journal clips from the last two weeks of school, interspersed with relevant pictures:

Monday, June 3rd. Today was the first swim team practice for Jay and Rose, from 5:30-6:30pm, and I volunteered to drive them. SWEET BREAK FROM AMBER. I hung around for half an hour at the pool, watching the practice. Jay swam in the experienced group while Rose lined up with the beginners to take her swim test. One at a time the kids got in the pool with a lifeguard and attempted to swim across the pool and back short ways. At least three kids couldn't even make it across once, and the lifeguard glided over and helped them out of the pool, where their parents waited to take them home. I was nervous for Rose, but she doggy paddled back and forth with surprising speed and confidence.

Kalchess Ridge

The mountains were calling me, and I finally answered the call on Saturday morning. Jeff stayed home with the kids while I adventured. It was a 1 hour 46 minute drive to the trail of my choice at Kalchess Ridge, another gem plucked from the treasure chest that is the All Trails app. The Kalchess Ridge Trail is an out and back trail: 6.4 miles out, 6.4 miles back. I ran 12 miles and walked the rest in to finish. It took me 3 hours to cover that distance due to the veritable natural obstacle course on the trail. Here are the rest of the numbers. The trail had:

The battle of Monday

Monday was a BATTLE: against messes and mischief, against what I wanted vs. what Amber wanted. In short, Monday was a long drawn out battle of wills.

On Monday morning after Jay and Rose left on the bus, Amber asked me to turn on music for her in the playroom while I did a little sewing in the basement, so I sent some Tinkerbell music up on Alexa. Amber often happily plays in the playroom when the right music is on--earlier that same day, she had disappeared to play happily with Barbies for 20 minutes. I thought we were on a roll for a smooth peaceful morning.

Ambike

On Tuesday, June 4, 2019, I took Amber to the church parking lot to try out her bike without training wheels. At the church, I only had to run with Amber for a few minutes before she was pedaling all over the parking lot, weaving a lot, but upright. It was so exciting! Then she started getting frustrated when she tipped every time she slowed down. I told her that before, her bike helped her, but now she had to help her bike. She thought about that for a few seconds and then asked for her training wheels back.

Jeff-day

Jeff's birthday was on Saturday, June 1st. We kicked off celebrating his 37 years a day early during our weekly family movie night with his beloved birthday pizza: homemade bacon mushroom cream pizza with brownies for dessert.

CFM, Cowiche Canyon, and Cousins

Adapting the church's Come Follow Me scripture study plan to our family is an ever-changing ever-challenging adventure. Last week we had a wide range of lessons, but we actually managed FOUR whole evenings of CFM-ing so it was a successful week. I like tracking what we do for our lessons because it's an interesting window into a small daily routine.

May details

May is done; June has begun. Here are a few tidbit de-tales to round out our May, so I can move on and embrace JUNE:

1. AmBiking
2. ParQuest A
3. ParQuest B
4. Registering 
5. Rose baking 
6. Temple-ing 
7. AmBefriending
8. Star Trekking