To Stehekin

In early July, we took an amazing sailboat trip from the family cabin on Lake Chelan all the way to Stehekin! The day we arrived at the lake, we started prepping the boat for the trip. Gerry arranged beds for R and S on the boat. At that point we weren't sure whether we were going to try to sleep in the boat or in our tent. Here's Spring in her little bed.
And here's Reed in his bed. As it turned out, we didn't wind up sleeping in the boat, but it was nice for each kid to have their own little place to hang out and play.

There was LOTS of excitement the night before we left. And if I'm honest, I have to say, there were some nerves too. The kids don't always like to stay above deck on the sailboat, and I was dreading spending the entire trip below deck. I think Gerry was probably nervous too. He really wanted to make sure we all enjoyed ourselves!

But soon, we were on our way. It didn't take Reed long to discover that peeking out the hatch was his favorite way to take in the view.

We stopped to take a little walk along the way. We saw tons of butterflies on this trip, they were especially thick here. Somebody had spilled something sweet by the dock and there were dozens of butterflies attracted to it. By the time we were back from our little walk, most of the butterflies had gone.

And after about eight hours of motoring, we found our home for the night. R and S were definitely ready to get off the boat and play. There was just enough beach there for them to be able to throw rocks. :)

And we had a gorgeous view!

Reed found a pile of ash left from somebody cleaning out the firepits. That kid LOVES kicking dust around and making "smoke". It looked cool, but we had to tell him to stop, it was getting everywhere!

The next morning, we went and checked out the creek (Prince Creek?) that was a short walk from our campsite. It had very obviously jumped channels recently. There were large trees that were now in the middle of the fast flowing creek and a dry creek bed just a short distance away.

And then, we were on our way again. One of the fun things we did on the boat was watch for waterfalls and we saw a lot of them. It was a pretty short boat ride (2 hours?) till we reached Weaver Point where we would camp for the night. We motored again as there was not a breath of wind. If you know much about Lake Chelan, then you'll know that's pretty unusual.

I love this picture! Spring had passed out for a late afternoon nap in my arms and I love that you can see Reed in the background fishing. We had seen some little fish (juvenile trout?) swimming around the dock and he was determined to catch one. Someday we'll tell him that he was fishing with an open swivel instead of a hook. We just didn't have the means to prepare a fish and didn't have any barbless hooks to catch and release. Anyway, he just looks so focused.

R and S had lots of fun playing on the beach.

You can tell by their clothes that it wasn't super warm there. Partly we were in the shade in the afternoon, but it also wasn't all that hot for most of the trip. Quite pleasant. :)

Then as early as we could get out the next day, we went over to Stehekin and tied up at the marina there.

Then, we rented two bikes and a trailer and headed off. Our first stop was the old Stehekin school house. Seeing all the pictures of previous classes in there kind of made me want to move to Stehekin.

Then we went up to Rainbow Falls. Apparently this was way more water than it usually has. It's hard to capture the full extent of the falls in a picture, but it was beautiful! And cold! Reed and Spring didn't want to stay there long!

Then, we biked a little further to Harlequin camp along the Stehekin River, a lovely grove of cedars.

By the time we left, it was starting to get hot and I was glad for every bit of hurrying we had done in the morning to get over to Stehekin. I think we went so far as to get the kids dressed and feed them breakfast on the ride over. You can't do that in a moving car!

We stopped at the famous Stehe.kin bake.ry for lunch on our way back. Not sure why I didn't take any pictures of it, but it definitely lived up to its reputation!!

When we got back to camp in the afternoon, it was hot and I had gotten cranky about something or other, so I decided to do something I never do, I jumped in the lake! I'm normally an ease in and hoot and holler kind of gal, but I knew I needed to do something big to change my mood and that easing in was not going to do it. It changed my mood instantly! I went in cranky and seconds later I was gasping and laughing!! I didn't tell G what I was doing because I was afraid if I talked about it, I would chicken out, so he was quick to have gotten this picture! And can I just mention how much colder the lake water is so close to the source? BRRR!

The plan for the next day was to get about halfway back to the cabin and camp again. We motored to Lucerne to visit a friend of Gerry's uncle and take a break. As we were there though, the wind started picking up. We made a bee-line for the boat so that we could actually SAIL in the sailboat! Everybody was having a great time and we were making good time, so we didn't bother to check out the first camps we passed. Then, as we started looking for places to stop, all the campgrounds were full, or only had hot, dusty spots available. At a certain point, we just decided to go all the way home! The kids got a bit tired of being on the boat, especially because it was rocking pretty hard in the wind and waves. I wound up letting them watch movies for a few hours in the ip.ad. It meant that I spent quite a bit of time below deck, but mercifully, I could see the hills out the small cabin windows so that I didn't get seasick.

It made for a long day (9 hours?) in the boat, but I think we were all glad to be back to the cabin. And coming home early meant that we got to be there for an extra day which was really nice. I think we would have been exhausted if we had come back from the sailing trip one day and packed up and driven home the next.

Bedtime that night. Some weary children having stories with Daddy.

Spring being cute. :)

One way to get your camera-shy kid to be in a picture is to be in the picture with him!

Daddy-daughter cuteness!

June?

Here's the problem with letting your blog get months out of date (again). You lose track of the things you did! I only have a handful of pictures from June... and I don't see any major family events in June when I look back at my calendar, but presumably we did *something* that month. But all I can tell you about is the hike the kids and I took through the local park that month! Oh, and I took an advance doula training that month which was really cool, but I didn't take any pictures.

Poor Spring had chosen some pretty uncomfortable shoes that day. Really hard soles, hard leather upper and bordering on too small. She walked a long way in them, and I wound up carrying her part way home. Even so, she wound up with a blister. Yeah... I've since hidden the shoes.

May

We'll start the May post off with some random cuteness. R and S were pretending that the toy boxes were boats. There may be nothing I enjoy watching so much as imaginative play!

The garden was off to a great start! I think Spring is munching down some lettuce. She really loves being able to pick food out of the garden and eat it right away.

We had purchased some kites and were waiting for an appropriately blustery day to take them out and try them. The first windy day we got, we headed to the park to try them out! This photo is for proof that we did in fact get one of the kites flying.

But most of the time we did a lot of running. It was really windy, but I think because the park is surrounded by woods, we didn't have enough wind close to the ground.



Spring was having a tough time. She was really cold and the wind kept blowing her hair in her face. It was hard to convince her to stay.



Though she did have occasional moments of fun!

After all the fussing and struggling to get the kites aloft, we finally packed up to go home, but then promptly took a detour to explore the creek that runs through the adjacent woods. Considering how sad and cold Spring had been just moments earlier, I didn't figure we'd stay at the creek long, but she must have stuck it out for another half hour! Guess the creek was more exciting than kites!



Reed at the creek. It was dim in the woods, but of course, he still wanted his sunglasses. It could be midnight on the darkest night of the year and he'd still probably want his sunglasses. ;) He's just too cool!


In anticipation of our summer travels, we got Spring a sleeping bag. The kids love to play family (note their Spring holding their baby) but with sleeping bags, the game turned into camping family!



Both Reed...


...and Spring were really excited about her getting a sleeping bag.


Reed very sweetly told her all about camping and sleeping in sleeping bags. He's such a good brother!


And Mem.orial D.ay took us back to the lake. The new favorite game was playing caterpillars. They wrap up in their chrysalis (aka hammock) and hatch out as a beautiful butterfly!


Peeking out of the chrysalis...


Beautiful butterfly!

April

I think I got stalled on my April post because I wanted to make a really spectacular post because Grandma Lisa had come to visit. This is what happens when you let the perfect be the enemy of the good. :)

But before we show a few highlights from Grandma's visit, we started the month by going to Lake Chelan. The kids were thrilled to get to hang out on the boat, even if we didn't really go sailing.

Cute kissy picture. :)

Having Grandma here was good motivation to set up the cool picnic table that Gma and Gpa sent us. It's the perfect place to enjoy smoothies!

We made a trip to the Sea.ttle Aqu.rium with Gma.

Reed being a jellyfish.

We met with some of Gerry's side of the family for our Seattle adventure. It was fun to see the little kiddos together!

And you can always count on Gma to spoil the grandkids a little while she's here. R and S have been in love with the Buzz wings and spaceship since Gma got them!

March

One of the things I've noticed while updating the blog today is that I need to get better about taking pictures!!

After months of Spring coming with me when I worked in Reed's class at preschool, we finally decided to enroll her in preschool too. She was getting REALLY upset on days when brother would go to school and she had to stay home so we finally just signed her up. Here she is on her first day. :)

Spring and Daddy starting some plants for the garden. She's definitely our little farmer. We've got lettuce growing right now, and she loves to pick it and eat it!

We also got out for a walk with some friends in Banner Forest in March. The kids found a HUGE puddle to throw sticks and rocks in. The sides by the puddle were really steep so I spent the whole time worrying that one of them was going to fall in, but everybody stayed dry!

Then we found a leaf that had been torn in the shape of a mask.