Mt Townsend

The kids and I took a quick trip up to Mt. Townsend.  I was so glad we did it except Elijah wasn't feeling great and Jarom got car sick on the way there.  Elijah made it up.  I am always impressed with his stamina to keep going even when it is isn't easy.  Jarom felt better after a bit too. 

On the way up the mountain Elijah tried to stack as many rocks as possible on this flower.  I think it kept up to eight before it fell over.  

There are such great views up there.

You can see Mt Rainier in the distance.  

Josiah resting and eating.

We are on top and loving it.  Although Elijah still wasn't feeling really well so he enjoyed the top as much as he could. 

Jarom toes were killing him on the way down so he would walk backwards at times to give them a break. 

 

Pics of Random things

We have done lots of random things in the last several months and most don't warrant their own post so here is another random post of random stuff because I can't think of any other fun title for this.  

We got some exercise at a park nearby and Josiah thought I was funny to have Ali decorated with an acorn on her head.

Elijah made a tracker jacker.  This is inspired from the book Hunger Games.  Nathan read this series to all of us.  

We started having youth activities in July.  It was much better to combine both the young women and young men.  The youth have done a great job planning activities.  

Nathan and I discovered this  ginormous crack in our garage.  We found out that Josiah and Jarom  cleaned this crack out for fun and I think its always been there but gave us a bit of panic.  

We tried to sell a bunch of things one weekend.  Jarom was our cool advertiser on stilts with a sign for a bit of time.  He is such a trooper.  The yard sale did terrible and we ended up donating most items. 

The pears arrived and Josiah got a little OCD about setting them out.  This is the most organized pears I have ever seen.  

Those pears were canned and also turned into jelly.  I love having canned fruit. 

This is one of the few times that we have hiked together this summer.  

We also got to see the comet one evening and were able to get a good view.  These pictures are dark but you can also see the big dipper in the first one.  

 

West Eagle Meadows

We planned our family backpacking trip August 20-22 to Silver lakes area.  However, we kept watching our weather report and it was deteriorating the closer the dates came.  Backpacking in the pouring rain didn't sound so good the night before we were to leave.  I got this crazy idea that we should go to Eastern Oregon instead.  The big plus side of this idea was that we could also stop and see G & G Wood.  We left early the next morning for our near 8 hour drive to backpack up to Echo lake.  We would base came there and hike in other areas.  As we drove Elijah began to not feel good.  He would throw up every so often.  We kept hoping it was just a fluke but ended up stopping in the Tricities at an urgent care.  The doctors diagnosis was strep throat.  He took swab test and gave us a prescription for antibiotics.  We were sent on our way.  We thought this could be the best results because our kids usually kick strep within a day of antibiotics.  

We continued on our way knowing that hiking that day would not happen.  We did enjoy our time exploring West Eagle meadows and Elijah seemed to get better as the day wore on.  

The next morning Elijah was weak and did not feel like hiking.  We were bummed we couldn't go up to the lake as a family but decided it best for Elijah not to go. The older kids and I packed up and headed up to Echo lake. The plan was that we would go up there and then I would spend a bit of time there.  Then head back down.  Nathan went up as soon as I got back down.  I was tired and don't think I had ever felt disoriented as I did coming down.  I was moving fast since it took longer to get up than we thought.  I spent 20 minutes at the lake with the kids so it was pretty much a straight 12 mile hike for me.  It was so fun though and I only regret I didn't get one picture of the lake before taking off.  

Elijah and I were on our own for the night.  He seemed to feel better and better throughout the day and was spear fishing in the creek for a long time.   We ate trail mix and packaged salmon for dinner because we hadn't planned on being separated.  The stove went up with the others so they could have a good hot meal.  It was fun to hang out with just Elijah. We ended up sleeping in the van because I could not fall asleep.  It was driving me crazy.  The van wasn't much better.

The others met back up with us mid morning the next day and we headed back on the dirt road.  It didn't take long for Elijah throw up.  He hadn't since on the way up.  He threw up a couple of more times and that sealed the deal on us just heading back home instead of visiting grandparents like planned.  Everyone was so bummed but we are getting used to be disappointed during the crazy COVID time.  

We are thankful we could camp in the nice weather and be together most of the time.  It was a long drive but well worth the time in the end.  

Hanging out by the creek.

We walked out the meadow once Elijah felt up to it.  It was a neat area.  I remember being here when I was a kid.  

Jarom climbed into the bent tree.  We also got attacked by mosquitoes.

The older kids and I headed up to the lake.

This is what I look like after hiking 10 miles.  Ha ha!  I did have a band on my head.

This is what I look like after dipping my head in the creek.

The spear fisher.

The extremely dirty window of the van.  This proved it was a great trip.

 

The boys in Oregon

Josiah and Jarom got the chance to stay with their cousins this summer for nearly 2 weeks.  They had a blast.  I am glad that these pictures were taken otherwise I don't think I would have had any documentation.  I did get a couple of pictures of them shearing a goat but lost them.  It was so good for them to be there.  James and Amy took them hiking up Hunt Mountain.  This will be always be a cherished memory since James told the kids fun stories along the way.  

Sadie, Elijah, and I had big plans to spend a couple of days at my Dad's before going to get the boys from Haines.  We had planned to be in Haines for a couple of days also.  However, Elijah had been playing with the neighbor boy on Wednesday and GM got sick as the day went on.  He had a fever, headache etc.. so his dad took him the next morning to be tested for COVID.  This meant we were stuck here till the results came back.  Elijah was exposed him most of the day.  The results didn't come back till Monday morning.  They were negative which is what I thought would be the case but we had to be safe plus the doctor that Gm saw recommended we not go anywhere.  Sadie took those days off work and we didn't get to leave till 5 days later than planned.  I felt like we were just waiting all weekend long.  It was a bummer for sure.  We were all packed by Thursday just in case we could leave at a moments notice.  We were ready to roll as soon as we did get the results from the neighbor.  We stopped by to see my dad for a bit then went on to Haines.  I think we spent a little bit over 24 hours in Haines.

This is the sunset progression of my walk at Kerns' when I went to get the boys.  It was fun to see it and I was also thankful that most of my walk was facing away from it.  The sun is cool but so bright for this PN westerner.