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.

thirty-seven

becoming more and more like myself every year.

and still managing to find some surprises along the way. 

a (late) father's day

the on-again-off-again tradition returns! summer and afton continue to row this boat whilst their brothers take turns coasting. dallin was particularly into the revelry this year (insert much sarcasm), as it appears he felt personally attacked by this song.

happy belated father's day, dads! many of whom now no longer leave home at all, so this song stands as a bit of an ironic tribute, 2020 style.





an as previously unposted version, circa 2017:



and in case any of you want to idle away your time heading way, way back, here are the originals:
https://wheelerwonderland.blogspot.com/2014/06/for-their-dad.html

**family goal to get this song up to tempo before the kids grow up and move away

golden girl

happy golden birthday to our afton!

though she finished up elementary school a few weeks ago without much fanfare, if you read her writing or saw her art, you would know afton crushed it. ever a deep thinker. a deep feeler. a perfectionist (on her way to becoming an expressionist). excited to grow up. excited to grow out her bangs. excited to climb trees and swim oceans and collect rocks and save animals. afton loves things that sparkle and things that shine and all the cats! and her chickens in stardew valley. and probably playing stardew valley (with maddy!) most of all. 

she took up the violin this year. she advanced in gymnastics. she endured two (!) oral surgeries. and she won a $50 amazon gift card for correctly guessing the number of jellybeans in a jar at her orthodontist. 

smart. strong-willed. sophisticated. creative. observant. hilarious! meticulous. devoted. learning who she is and how to stay true to that north star.

we love you, wafty bay! shine. sparkle. glow. grow. on.

and that's a wrap

here's to the teachers. here's to the parents. and here's to the kids. 

we made it. now go have an ice cream cookie sandwich.

you earned this one.

last day of school, june 2020

higher than soul can hope

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

e.e. cummings

the empire is gone, mando

all that are left are mercenaries and warlords.

i have spoken.

birthday bobby

caleb is eight years old.

and he finally got his dream birthday.

his actual birthday was yesterday, but he celebrated on saturday by staying in his pajamas all day, building lego sets, playing video games, and eating all his favorite foods. destined to have a birthday over spring break for time and all eternity, he was so excited this year to NOT BE TRAVELING.

caleb loves the aforementioned legos, video games, and delicious food, as well as riding his bike, going to school, playing with his siblings, and pushing all the buttons (both the physical kind and the metaphorical ones, too). he's literal, punctual, dogged, and absolute. tender. confident. resourceful.

having long been satisfied with the "thumbs up" as his go-to method of communication (especially with adults), you're lucky if you've heard him engage in any kind of lengthy conversation, but around these parts dallin does enough talking for the both of them. kind of like a modern day moses and aaron, only they're mostly up to no good.

caleb can fill in a blank US map with all fifty states, their abbreviations and capitals, and remember any date you tell him--even ones he overhears in passing. but his spelling is atrocious cause he just can't be bothered with those pesky details. he dislikes reading, anything that subverts his independence, and pie. he absolutely loves to make his sisters tea every night and thinks his father hung the moon.

ever our enigma wrapped in a riddle, caleb recently did us a solid by agreeing to a deep dive on his brain for a clearer mapping of what makes this cool cat tick. turns out that caleb's superpower is he can process information as fast as is humanly possible. which might explain why he's so dang good at those video games.

happy, happy birthday, buddy! still not good enough to beat me at sonic, but you’ll get there.

love, mom

because He is the way

"I testify that the Savior’s Atonement lifts from us not only the burden of our sins but also the burden of our disappointments and sorrows, our heartaches and our despair. From the beginning, trust in such help was to give us both a reason and a way to improve, an incentive to lay down our burdens and take up our salvation. There can and will be plenty of difficulties in life. Nevertheless, the soul that comes unto Christ, who knows His voice and strives to do as He did, finds a strength, as the hymn says, “beyond [his] own.” The Savior reminds us that He has “graven [us] upon the palms of [His] hands.” Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now. When He says to the poor in spirit, “Come unto me,” He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the way."

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland 

but if not (in japan)

sixteen years ago, bryan and i looked deeply into each other's starry eyes and whispered: "you. yes, you are the one with whom i want to endure a global pandemic."

and the rest, as they say, is history.

we were supposed to be stepping off a plane in tokyo, japan today with our four totlets in tow, but instead, well, i'm sure you know what is instead. a disappointing change of plans for sure, but a comparatively mild hiccup in a devastating situation that has upended and hurt the lives of so many people. we united today with many in fasting and prayer for those (and they are not a few) whose suffering is great, that "the present pandemic may be controlled, caregivers protected, the economy strengthened, and life normalized."

****************

happy anniversary to my life's great partner: light to my soul, ease to my burdens, calm to my storm, peanut butter to my jelly.

"life sure can try to put love throught it, but we built this right, so nothing's ever gonna move it."

(fun bonus fact! maren morris celebrated her fourteenth birthday the same day bryan and i were married. she turns thirty today. happy birthday, maren!)

and then he was six

eleven days ago, our littlest man turned six.

dallin brings the juice, the pump, the energy, and a dash of unbridled anger to our crew. he is what he is and he wants what he wants and you will never have to sit around and wonder what any of that is. oh, he'll tell you. right now. to your face. and not in a whisper.

an immovable object and an unstoppable force all rolled into one deceptively adorable package. the most precocious of my very precocious children. tiny and powerful and hilariously unaware that he's so tiny.

an absolute sponge for knowledge. a cut-up. a dancer. a singer (a fan favorite if you're close enough to hear him belt it out on sundays). a wonderer. a jumper. a fighter. a snuggler. a meddler. and a talker most of all.

dallin spent his big day with his very favorite things: lucky charms, spider-man, mama, and ice cream.

you're a cool dude, son. and here's to you and i having spent the wild and craziest six years of our respective lives together (a random coincidence, i’m sure).

happy birthday, woo!