Kyla turned 15 on her first day of high school. It was a freshman-only day, so it was more fun than drag, and it was exciting to send her off.

We were still able to serve her favorite dinner on the front deck and eat chocolate cake for dessert, so it was still felt like a birthday. Her lil’ bro really loves his sister and wanted to make it a special day for her.

Fifteen for Kyla on her Fifteenth Birthday

1. She’s a great snuggler.
2. She’s adventurous.
3. She’s creative.
4. She’s smart.
5. She’s responsible.
6. I love how she delves so deeply into stories.
7. She learns about the world from so many sources, and remembers and applies her knowledge!
8. She is fearless!  I remember when she “stepped off” a very tall virtual tree just because she didn’t want to.
9. Kyla has begun to think about philosophy, and you can see her brain turning ideas around and looking it them from different angles.
10. Kyla doesn’t make a fuss about things, deliberately NOT whining, which is the harder thing to choose.
11. Kyla thinks about other people. For example, for her birthday, she wants to go to Wild Waves because she AND others will enjoy it. 
12. Kyla is really interested in learning more about evolution! 
13. When Kyla sees someone working on something, she jumps in and helps without being asked to.  She definitely sees herself as a integral part of our family machine.
14. Kyla knows herself well and makes decisions based on what is best for herself and doesn’t bow to peer pressure.  (She didn’t even get on the Among Us train!)
15. Kyla is an artist, and I love her style of her headband, her face paint, her “uniform”, her self-knowledge!

We wished we had been able to camp along side our family this weekend, but we made do with a good Saturday together. It wasn’t on purpose, but we did straddle Amber’s and Kyla’s birthdays, so molten lava cakes (thanks to Grandma’s oven) were on the menu.

I also got a glorious bike ride in with Brian, and Grandma got her first henna tattoo, courtesy of artist-extraordinaire, Piper. Amber got to open gifts, Taryn got Grandma snuggles, and we all got family love time.

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It had been a day. Over the week, I had prepped and packed Yeti so we could head down to Oregon reasonably early on Friday to meet my parents and one of my brother’s family for a weekend of camping. We made it only a few minutes before we realize that something was terribly wrong with Yeti. When we limped home, I had to 1) unpack, 2) find last-minute non-camping accommodations close to the campground, 3) figure out what to do with the bewilderingly broken RV, and 4) pack us back up in the minivan and get us on the road ASAP.

Luckily, Wes was there to heal my heart. The smooth concrete driveway has been this trickster’s friend, and he was thrilled to find out how well wheeled suitcases traveled on its surface. Funnier, completely not appropriate story, is how surprised he was when our suitcases got switched (they are identical bags in international size for our non-voyage world trip) and his started vibrating in the oddest way. Oops, I put the wrong toy in his bag, thinking it was mine. He asked a few times what that was, but I just had to keep answering that he really, really didn’t want to know. I’m still laughing.

My summer goal, besides reading my brains out, was for Wes and me to build and install a little free library (LFL) at the cabin. It turned out my dad did all the hard work, Dwayne was necessary to put the thing together, I did the design and decor, and Wes…did nothing. But I was very happy to install it and make it official– Charter #130680 can be found on the LFL map.

Happy Father’s Day, Dwayne and Dad!

School ended on Friday, and on Saturday we packed up and headed east. We made a 3 hour trip into 5 by stopping for lunch and a card game out in the sun, then topping up at a fudge shop.

But our true destination that first day was Entiat City Park, a lovely, new RV park right on the river. The paddle boarding was excellent. We also attempted to bike through a huge wind, explored town, and got plenty of sunshine.

Then on to meet up with my parents at Lake Alta, which we had heard was an amazing state park. And it kind of was, if you don’t count the camping part. Super hot, with gravel-on-asphalt sites surrounded by Honey Buckets. We have hopes for better accommodations post-construction, but we halved our 4 day reservation and found another park. But first, we did take advantage of the lake.

The first morning, I left my camera at camp when Dwayne and I went paddleboarding…and saw a bear come down for his morning drink, and so many sunning turtles, and fish, and birds-new-to-us. It was truly magical. The next morning, we dragged the kids along. And by drag, I mean I towed the little boat behind me all the way around the lake. Kyla was on her own SUP and carried her own weight, only dropping her paddle in a few times, necessitating me to drop the boat and quickly help her find it.

I got my mom out a bit with me on my SUP, and we enjoyed evenings of playing games together and reading out on the shore.

Once we decided not to tough it out at Alta, we found a park outside of Leavenworth that was a dream for us. Pool, cool creek, green grass, game room–I’d return to Blu-Shastian RV park again! And it was so fun to celebrate both Mothers and Fathers day with my parents and my fam. Love them all.

Kyla finished up middle school and Wes is done with elementary, and so we move on. But first, we grabbed some kids and stocked on reading material at Barnes & Noble, before Cold Stone warmed us up for SUMMER!!!!

Nine years later, I “graduated” from grade school! And, no, I don’t mean Wes. His completion of 5th grade just means I’ve completed my kids’ years there. I didn’t get to finish, really, as there is so much I would have wrapped up better if I knew that volunteers wouldn’t be allowed back in schools for about 2 years. However, I can still give a shout out to Wes for wrapping up the first half of his schooling. He has been attending our neighborhood elementary since he was two and old enough to suck his fingers while sitting in his sisters’ laps during my volunteer time in the library. He also did prekindergarten there and was biking up there on his own long before he was old enough to do so.

Ah, so many memories. (I didn’t claim they were all good.)

Here is the mental images I will have of remote learning for the last year plus: each of my kids on their beds with a laptop and a napping cat.

After our twelve-hour adventure Mother’s Day, I was ready to spend Sunday tearing apart the failed water feature and begin the 2.0 version. Enter sledgehammer…and really cute husband to help me move 300# rock.

Wes was still grumping from the long Saturday when he didn’t get to play any video games, and had to walk instead. And there was pretty much nothing on my plate he liked eating. But I thought it was perfect! Dwayne and Piper cooked dinner and then Piper made lava cakes for dessert.

I’m not nearly done yet but I’ve made some improvement. Project on!

I wanted to celebrate my mom by doing what I desired, which this year was to take my parents to Bainbridge Island for the day. Fortunately, my parents are spontaneous, adventurous and tolerant!

The goal was Bloedel Reserve, but first, we fortified ourselves at the creperie in Kingston.

We made it to the Reserve just with seconds to spare for our timed entry. My parents hadn’t been there before, and our only time was last November for my birthday. Oddly, the weather in mid-May was almost as nice as that weekend last November. Oh, Puget Sound, you amuse me.

I love this place! So many different ecosystems and plenty of wild flowers and formal gardens. The main house is still not open to visitors, but we did see a frog in the marsh, so there’s that.

The problem with Wes and my relationship is that the things I like best (stories, adventures, physical activity, and working outside) are the very things that make Wes most grumpy. Try to decipher this from his expression.

Piper usually just can’t expend enough energy to be grumpier than Whiney Wesley, so Happy Mother’s Day to Mom and Me!

This was not supposed to be the highlight, but after Bloedel, we drove to Poulsbo, and walked around the cute town just a bit before we got a table at The Loft, a restaurant that checks all the boxes for Dwayne. It was the first time we ate at a restaurant in a long time, but with three of the adults fully vaccinated, one mostly vaxed, and kids who are safe enough, we got to play cribbage over drinks, split appetizers and a bottle of wine, and get seven forks for three desserts (no blood was drawn, even over the cheesecake).

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What a delightful day! I adore my parents and being a parent myself. Now, on to Father’s Day.