Mountain biking in Nelson Preserve

The kids and I have been having so much fun biking in our new neighborhood. I taught Sydney to go down the steep hill on her bike and she is doing great with that. Next up for her is going on the dirt trails. Luke loves to go to the rock quarry.  When we went last week their was a guy on his dirt bike going up and down the quarry, doing wheelies. Ava and I like venture out on excursions that can last a couple hours.

Yesterday we decided to follow a dirt path along the edge of the ridge by the river. We had so much fun stopping along the way taking photos!  We went about 2 miles out and turned around because I didn’t bring water and we were dying of thirst. It was a more humid cloudy day... so cool but not too cool and we didn’t have to worry about the hot sun. We found a rock quarry along our way, an abandoned shed with graffiti, the Cle Elum river which was so clear you could see to the bottom, a bench overlooking the view, a huge pile of boulders, and beautiful wild flowers along the way.

Lucy vs. the Elk

Yesterday evening Luke and I were hanging with the dogs in the backyard. I had just hung the hammock and we were planning on relaxing. Sometimes when I am in the backyard, I unleash the dogs and let them Run in the yard.

Well, Lucy saw elk at the bottom of our hill and her instinct set in... she took off down the hill and chased them a mile away! Luke immediately took off after her (lionheart). I yelled at Ava to grab to grab the bags of treats to lure Lucy but she was so far out by then. So Ava and I took off in our slippers after Luke and Lucy. We could not find them for 5-10 minutes in the woods. It was so scariest 5-10 minutes of our lives!  We both had scary visions of worst case scenarios. We were telling their names and it was silent.

Then all of a sudden we heard Luke respond... he almost had an asthma attack and he ran after her all the way to the ridge by the river where she chased the elk.  This is a kid who hates to run and he kept up with Lucy and the Elk. Eventually the Elk stopped and Lucy just stood there looking at them. Luke felt very small. He heard us yelling his name and then we saw Lucy and Ava grabbed her. It happened so fast and was scary... when we walked back home we had realized just how far we had ran and had no idea how far it really was!! It was nuts!!

Coronavirus 2020

The world has changed quite a bit since my last post a few years ago. I thought this may be a good time to start writing again since we are in lockdown and have been for a over a month.  Luckily, the timing of building our vacation home in Cle Elum worked out!  According to the internet their are only 16 Covid-19 cases here as opposed to thousands in Bothell. We were about 10 minutes from the epicenter at the beginning of the debacle in February. The Life Center of Kirkland was the first place that had many deaths in the US. I pulled the kids from school earlier than most because I had been reading about this Coronavirus since China announced it in January 2020. As a person who gets anxious about diseases and getting ill, I intently watched it unfold and sadly sicken many in China.  I feared it but knew it was only a matter of time before it reached the US. As soon as I heard it was spreading in our community, in late February, I took the kids out of school.  The superintendent, Michell Reid, cancelled school and the teachers took a week to try to put together an online learning model for the district. The first go of it was pretty impressive. Anyone who didn’t have a computer was allowed to pick one up.  Within a couple weeks of that when we realized school not be meeting in the physical classroom for a long while, the district revamped online learning and that is where we are at now.

Luke seems to have the least amount of work in 7th grade. Ava and Sydney has daily zoom meetings and quite a few assignments. Ava can navigate through her schedule independently, while Sydney needs to me to go through it with her daily. After a week, and me putting aside expectations, Sydney and I have hit a groove.  This might prove to be the best and most efficient way for her to learn Yet... 1x1.  She has a hard time focusing during classroom discussions but it is good for her to see her classmates daily at the very least. Other kids are struggling with this “shelter at place” way of life but I have to say that my kiddos are doing just fine with it as of now. Ava gets the most stir crazy, but she and I head out on long bike rides and she accompanied me to the store... n95 masks, gloves and all...

There are toilet paper, paper towel and cleaning supply shortages. We had to go get alcohol to disinfect from the distillery in Roslyn. Trips to grocery store happen for us every 3 weeks and are exhausting and stressful. The cart is so full that food is falling out. Frozen fruit and veggies for the most part have replaced most fresh choices.. unless it has a thick skin.  After a trip to the store, everything is laid out in the garage and wiped down with a clorox wipe or sprayed with alcohol. Fresh fruits and veggies and soaked in colloidal silver in the sink. Then, all of the door knobs, and our hands are disinfected too many times to count. Luckily we found that Swiftwater Winery, here in Suncadia is making carry out meals that are delicious and affordable so we have been ordering that twice a week so I can have a break from cooking.

Halloween 2016

This was the first year the kids scored a TON of candy! We started out in our old neighborhood, Collage, and then went through our beighborhood and the next one over. When the day started out, it was pouring so we were so happy that the temperature was mild at nighttime and the rain held off for a while. We went trick or treating with Robyn, Sammy and Danny.

I helped out at school in Sydney's classroom and Ava's. Then I listened to Luke read his "realistic fiction" story to his whole class! I was amazed at how calm he was! I would of been a nervous wreck up there in front of class. Luke did say he was nervous but I certainly could not tell.

School Pictures 2016

School Pictures are here! They turned out great and that is All I really have to say about it! Yay!

Dear Blog

Dear Blog,

I literally think of you everyday and how I want to write but our lives have grown so busy that it is fallen off my list of priorities.  My soul hears these whispers telling me to write more, I know it is a creative outlet that will actually help me deal with all the business so here I am today making time for it.

I promised Luke that I would get back to it, knowing that that promise would help me stay on track.  It is a calming ritual for him and I to read and talk about our memories at night.

All three of my precious kids are so weighed down by anxiety and OCD.  The heavy energy of it just sucks them all in the morning and then before I know... no one wants to go to school.  Every day is different so I am always trying to figure out the trigger... is it a lack of vitamin, the lack of sun, lack of meat or iron?  Are they just overly sensitive or is a real disorder in their brain that is harder to treat than a behavior?  Sometimes I get so caught up in fixing the problem that I forget my own advice that I always tell them.  Give it God... do the best you can and it Let It Be!  Some things are not meant to be fixed by me... this is their journey and I have given them the tools but now THEY need to use them.  I need to exercise faith and continue to pray...

So that is where I will leave you today, my dear old blog that is always here for me.  I need to celebrate my quiet time I had this morning because all 3 did successfully go to school today!  I am sitting in an outdoor church by Farmer Brown's garden at the neighborhood Methodist church.  Lucy is playing with her doggy friend, Harry.  I will visit you again tomorrow!

Pumpkin Patch 2016

The 5 of us had such great a time at the Thomas Family Farm!  This was our second year going.  My favorite part is the rock quarry where you get to mine gems from a bag of dirt you buy.  Another one of my favorite parts was watching the kids play!  I feel like they are getting so old so it was fun to watch them having fun playing in the tunnel slides, burying each other in the corn kernel pit, and squelching around in muddy pumpkin Patch!  I had quite the clean up when we got home but it was well worth the mess!  Before bed, we watched old video's from 6 years ago!  My... what a big difference 6 years is!  They are just bigger versions of themselves now and it is so cute to see how their same little souls are still shining through!

Happy 1st Birthday Lucy!

This never posted from June...

Lucy turned 1 on Friday, June 3rd.  We spoiled her with lots of new toys, lots of love and peanut butter & bacon doggy ice cream.  She is the best pluffers in the world.  None of us can imagine her not being in our lives!  

Morning snuggles...

First day of school 2016

Today was the first day of school and it went very well, especially for Luke and Ava.  Luke amazed me at how much he has matured since last year.  He handled it all so well, especially without having an open house this year.  Ava is in class with her good friend, Evelyn and some other friends from last year.  She friended a new girl today at recess.  I was so proud of her for trying to make the new girl feel comfortable.  Sydney had a hard time with her clothes and getting her shoes on but she ultimately did it.  She was scared, "feeling shy" and was shedding some tears.  She did walk into the classroom with everyone and luckily Missy Cornwell was volunteering to help her class.  She is only half day... Gone for 3 hours.  I think that will be enough for her.  She was exhausted after we walked home. Luke and as a were so sweet to console her.  Ava's classroom shares the same pod as hers. I am so proud of my kids!

Someday we will be able to ditch the wagon!