girls of summer

late summer days and nights are my second favorite season of the year.

my first favorite season is october. 

backpacking: toleak point, bonus

but wait! there's more! a handful of straggler pics (for mere!) from around camp:

the best part of any camping trip: le feu. 

not sure how much longer i'll be able to pick him up like this.

(in this case, i'm trying to keep his feet out of the sand since he's all clean and ready for bed.)

the young boys minus eli, who--like a deft ninja--is a little tricky to catch.

backpacking: toleak point, part 3 of 3

and lest we forget that this was, in fact, quite the hike, here are a few pics of the joy in the journey.

there:

and back again:

(burying banana boat.)

backpacking: toleak point, part 2 of 3

one of our most invaluable backpacking supplies turned out to be this lightweight tarp that bryan designed and sewed (himself!) as a bivvy shelter nearly ten years ago. we threw it in last minute once the weather report included the possibility of rain the first night. and lucky, too, because yeah, it rained. we huddled in the sand under the tarp for several hours (well, some of us did, the boys were mostly playing out in the ocean, so what was a little rain to them anyway?) and then the following day once the sun came out all nice and bright, we repurposed the shelter to shield us from the blazing hotness. pacific northwest, amiright?

dallin insisted on bringing two books with him backpacking. well, to be clear, he insisted on bringing three books with him backpacking, but we whittled him down to two. he promised to carry them himself on his own back, which he did (mostly), and when all was said and done, it turns out he was right, and we should have brought him three books.

bene has no sisters of his own, but he hearts afton and hopes she plays with him and laughs heartily at all his silly antics forever and ever, amen.

meet banana boat. something the boys scavenged early on (my guess is it was once part of a buoy of sorts). they took turns maniacally throwing banana boat into the ocean and waiting with bated breath (read: more maniacal screaming) as the ocean waves buried and dunked and tossed banana boat about before returning it to shore. they spent literal *hours* throwing banana boat into the ocean. alas, as is the destiny of all things repeatedly tossed into the ocean by groups of small boys having the time of their lives, eventually, banana boat did not return. 

edited to add: since publishing, i have been informed that it was "captain baseball" (another scavenged find seen here in owen's hand) that was lost at sea after being tossed to the waves one too many times and in fact NOT banana boat. as to the fate of banana boat, well, on the morning of the last day, the boys buried it in the sand--deep--so that no one else could play with it ever. kids are charming like that.

backpacking: toleak point, part 1 of 3

early morning tidepools.

backpacking: toleak point, intro

our ragtag crew logged thirteen miles hiking and two nights camping last week schlepping up and back to toleak point on the olympic peninsula south coast wilderness trail.

besides long walks on the beach, this stretch includes two overland passages wherein one climbs up (and back down) steep headlands using cable ropes, ladders, and of course, the good old fashioned hands and knees approach. the kids were pretty split on how much they enjoyed this particular aspect of their sojourn. they were, however, not split on how much they enjoyed the beach, the waves, the water, the sand, the tidepools, and the sixty-two starfish they found.

more pics to follow.