July

Well July is over somehow. 

This is the summer of the middle school boys. 

They hit the summer hard from sun up to sun down.

They start almost every day at the water slides, then end up in a neighborhood, usually at sagebrush lane. Sometimes we matriculate to the beach. 

But they are always out and always together. I love it. 

My big kids have jobs.

This is Evan today after a 9 hour shift working a little crane - moving flats of raspberries. 

He has only worked three times this summer and I'm cool with that. 

Avery's out saving lives at the waterslides. 

One day us moms took the boys to Galbraith. 

Andrew is getting better and better, but still doesn't really love it. 

One day all the kids went to Playland

and us moms climbed the Grouse Grind. 

Remember I did it solo last year. I love that new tradition. 

#larsingtons

We spent a night with the Kelvingtons before Lance's funeral - me and Avery came a day early because flights were looking full. 

We picked up the boys from the airport the next morning.

This summer is so funny because all the big kids have jobs, so it's hard to get them all at the same time doing the same thing. 

We spend a lot of time at Semiahmoo, except sometimes it's just us moms out there with our feet in the sand! 

This is a picture response to a lot of people who texted us if we are under a tsunami warning? 

Us three were hanging at the beach when some people around us packed up in a hurry, then texts started coming in on all our phones about tsunamis. 

We have tsunami alarms that "practice" alarm every Monday - and they were currently silent. 

Turns out we were not in danger, but we did get put under the category of watch and then alert. 

We planned a weenie roast on the beach, 

and then we showed up to signs on all the pits saying "burn ban, no fires".

Usually that happens in August. Not July. 

Wednesday I went with Roxanne and her crew to Winchester Lookout. 

This is my third time up this mountain, and YES it is still kinda scary. I can't believe we did it with kids willy nilly. 

Baker just floats in the air like a queen. 

It was HOT! Me Roxanne and Vance jumped in the cold water. 

 

Mount Washington Real Quick

Saturday morning, bright and early,

Jim and I went to the Langley airport to wait for Joe to pick us up in his airplane and take us to the island for a day at Mount Washington. 

I didn't have a sunrise to sunset day this summer, and here we are - watching the sun rise from the air. 

There was fog on the rivers, 

and the prettiest light on the mountain range. It was like someone painted the layers in light blue to darker blue. 

We met up at Mount Washington.

I love this vibe - gear spread about, everyone suiting up for an adventure. 

They all went mountain biking all day, 

us three moms went hiking around Lake Helen Mckenzie. 

At this bridge a ton of whiskey jack birds came swarming at us to get fed. They have been domesticated. 

At the lake we debated getting all the way in - but a quick foot dip was refreshing enough. 

Lunch meet up, 

then we rode up the chairlift. 

For one minute we thought about climbing the mountain, but it was way more better to sit and enjoy the view from our comfy lift. 

At one point I had to look on google maps to orient myself to where I was. 

How was I just suddenly on the island? Real quick? 

Every single time I ride up the chair lift while at Silver Star, one of the Black children talk about the bra tree here at Mount Washington. And here I am, seeing it in real life! So exciting. haha

And then we hustled back. 

With the sun setting, we drove down the mountain, 

to the airport,

up and over from the island back to the city. 

The light changing again as we came in for a landing. 

It was the coolest day. 

Home by bed time. 

 

School's Out!

Welp, no more elementary kids in this house. 

Only Middle/High Schoolers. 

Insulation was installed the other day. 

Any day now this baby will be done and we can move in. 

We have two bears in our area. 

They came walking right up Sagebrush lane. Our neighbor four houses down got them on his ring camera. 

There is bear poop on our back roads and trails. 

Looks like they like cherries. 

The last day of school/first day of summer break 

we had a weenie roast at the beach. 

Right as we were getting cold and ready to pack it in, the boys got a fire roaring. 

It felt so good against the chill, but it's time to go!

So they had to carry the giant flaming drift wood logs to the water and douse the flames. 

Yay summer!

The second day of summer, the boys went to Whistler for a day trip.

See that bear down there in the trees?

They saw lots of bears and rode all day, got Whistler hands, crashed a little.

Evan is doing trails that Jim and Joe do. All those younger boys are going to surpass the dads soon. 

Third day of summer: 

To the beach of course. 

While Evan was doing all that, 

Avery has been at girls camp:

And Andrew has been slumming it on Sagebrush with his boys. 

They spent an entire day up and down the street,

and then the next night a massive sleepover at Hunter's. 

A Sunday walk with this wolfpack. 

All the kids are massive and adult sized. 

The straddle pet.

Lastly,

Sunday Robbie sent this to me. Annie found it in a Book of Mormon from the library. 

They go to church in the building I grew up going in.

This is my class - our teacher Laurie Bendickson. 

I can't explain how this picture makes me feel. 

That's me! And I know all of those little friends. They are all my cousins in one way or another (except the boy on the left. I don't know him). 

I don't know. It's just so crazy to realize that I'm a grown, old adult. I'm in charge. 

I just don't feel like I am very different from that little girl in this picture, but also I am massively a new and different person from that little girl. How can we be the same? Our souls are the same? How. 

Our brain grew and learned new things. Do I have the same brain? 

I just can't figure out how I am the same person as that little girl. 

Literally everything about me is different including all my cells that have regenerated. 

So what is the same? Our memories? 

This picture situation combined with the fact that my kids are huge - I just can't figure it out.