Yellow House

Hello people, I sent my kids off to the first day of school today. 

First day of Senior Year school. So I've had adrenaline dumping all day because I don't understand any of it. 

So let's take it back to a couple of weeks ago when we pretended like summer would last forever:

Yellow House 2025

First of all the weather in August was COLD. Look at Falls Lake showing off with clouds and rain and coats. 

Second of all, we had two bonus kids join us: Ronin and Carmyn. They were so fun to have around. 

Balanced!

We hung out on the tent pad dock under the trees to escape the rain a bit. 

We ate sandwiches. 

The next morning most of the gang hit up the mountain for a full day. 

And, welp, I didn't ever get a picture of Joe and Jim riding off with a wheelie.

Instead it was just a giant heard of children on bikes. 

Lisa and I climbed up to the top with our feet,

and met up with the bikers when they had just got off the lift. 

Then the whole family rode the second half of the day. 

Andrew did amazing! 

Lord Aberdeen refeshments at the end of the day. 

That evening we wandered around looking at stuff.

Like our original Yellow House,

Crankworks jumps, 

Brewer's Pond bear exhibit.

Hunter rafted over to the island in the middle of the pond. 

Next Day: Lake Kalamalka 

Joe and a few boys climbed up this cliff and jumped off. 

Then Avery swam over and jumped off of it. 

She's so brave!

So of course Evan had to too. 

Jim has a tweaked back that involves chiropractor three times a week, so he was not allowed to jump. 

The water was so perfect. It felt amazing. 

I love summer lakes. So far this summer I have swam in:

Lake Padden

Baker Lake

Twin Lakes

Kalamalka

Semiahmoo (ocean)

These two crack me up with their bracket wars. 

Just like last year, they drew out the bracket for the foosball tournament, and then had to talk compromise on which bracket to use. 

Chatgpt got involved. 

The dads went head to head as the final two, 

Joe took the title for the third year in a row. 

Last day of biking!

Avery and Andrew got a bee in their bonnet and wanted to ride full day. 

Avery is strangely so good at mountain biking for not really ever going to Galbraith or anything.

She is able to keep up with everyone on the blue trails no problem. 

Andrew made me nervous. I was going to ride with him in the morning and then Jim would ride with him in the afternoon. He needs a bit more coaching, and you definitely have to stay behind him to bring up the rear. 

So we set off on "Easy Street", the trail that leads down to the chair lift. It is NOT easy and it's NOT green. It's TRICKY. 

We came upon this steep-ish part that was rocky and a little slippery, and Andrew slid out and "crashed" on some sharp rocks. His knee was bleeding pretty good.

We kept on down to the chair lift, and while riding up the lift, I knew that his knee was not just a little cut. 

It was deep. 

I felt so sick inside. Ugg. If only he was wearing pants or knee pads, this would be way less of an injury. 

Deer!

So we got to the top of the mountain, and I took him over to the medic while the whole gang took off biking. I was so bummed. I was so excited about riding with everyone all day.

The medic said it needed some stitches.

I started crying because I'm a mom and that's what I get to do is cry when I feel lots of feelings.

He said said to me, the crying mom: "I see a lot of injuries...he's actually in really good shape."

meaning it could be much much worse. 

But also it could be nothing if he wore pants/pads! I brought pants/pads alllll the way here, he just wouldn't wear them. 

LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER.

 

A nice guy named Nathan drove us down the mountain in a truck and into a clinic to get cleaned up and assessed. 

Two different medics agreed it needed stitches. 

Vernon "is usually pretty quick! you can be back and riding in a few hours".

I took Andrew home and discussed with Lisa. We thought "maybe we can wash it up in the tub and throw some butterflies on it? Then head back out?"

So me and Andrew went to the tub to wash it out....we pulled the bandage away and immediately Andrew said "I think I should go to the hospital". 

Agree. It was not going to be butterflied. 

So I drove down to Vernon, 30 minutes away. 

Lisa prepped me that Canadian ER's take about 8 million hours. 

I was pretty discouraged.

This is what the whole gang was doing.

This is what we were doing.

The good news! is that we actually got in pretty quick! Just a couple of hours.

And I am so so glad we went.

The doctor numbed it and then SCRUBBBED it. Vigorously. It was so dirty. It needed a numb scrubbing. 

Back at home, everyone was at the house eating lunch. Evan was saying "I bet my mom makes me wear knee pads" and pretty much right that second Jim got a text from me saying:

 "Evan has to wear knee pads for the second half of the day."

I asked the doctor how many stitches it needs?

he said "six or seven"

so me and Andrew giggled "six seeevvven"

and I had to explain why that is funny to doctor, (and turns out that was SO CRINGE to Andrew)

I texted back to the house that Andrew got 6-7 stitches and the whole house:

"SIX SEEVVVVAN"

And then we were on our way!

This is all blurring over the parts where I cried because I didn't want to be at the ER, cried because I felt bad for Andrew, cried because the "whole day was ruined".

Andrew was such an amazing kid. At one point when I was acting overwhelmed, he said "hey do you want to take turns on Block Blast and see who can get a better score?"

He's just such a balanced child. 

So we drove back up the mountain. Andrew decided he actually did NOT want to go back out and get a ride in. I said that is a great idea. 

Plus Hunter was home nursing injuries because his dad "ran him over and didn't even stop."

We were both starving and scarfed the best sandwhich ever. Andrew talked about eating a sandwich the whole drive back to this house.

I texted Jim to find out where he was so I could get a few rides. I did two laps of Jedi and it was SO FUN. 

It was a weird day though: morning in the ER

afternoon on the mountain bike.

Spaghetti for dinner. 

We watched a superman movie, but I went to bed early because I was so exhausted. 

And then it was time to go. 

We had to jet home early to get to the school's free physcial clinic, plus tomorrow would be the block party Lisa had been working on all year.

So we had to skip hanging out at the village and eating BBQ together.

It was like we lost a day. 

Yellow House

It's so hard to collect the memories and store them when more and more memories keep piling up.

I have so many. I don't want to lose them.

There's always a naked butt at Falls Lake. 

Sandwiches, fish hook on a tree...

Kelowna playing Big Bootie, 

and this game of transporting the gravel - 

Evan scoops to Andrew, Andrew to Hudson, Hudson releases them down the slide. 

Fun!

Then to a park in Vernon for pizza. 

A bird walked under Hunter's armpit,

the boys rescued a frisbee from a tree,

Andrew hit a stranger with that frisbee and called out "sorey!" in his best Canadian accent. 

Groceries, free box of miscelaneous snacks because we spend so much money, 

finally arriving a the Yellow House. 

This year all the boys went full day with the dads. 

Remember the kids used to trail behind me and Lisa all day?

Now they trail behind the dads. 

And they are getting so good!

Me and Avery and Andrew did half day. 

Andrew...is learning. He crashed pretty good that first day. 

Jim is trying to explain how much of mountain biking is just being in control - and widening the threshold as you get more comfortable. 

PS This first day of riding was our 22nd anniversary. We woke "early" and left the house to share a pastry down at the cafe together. 

We also did one run together - Jedi Mind Trick. 

Most of the other runs were with these kids. 

We had so much fun. 

One time we saw a little bear digging around a tree stump. 

That night we went to check out the CrankWorks jumps. 

So many adult sized bikes! 

There is no room to fetch your shoes under there.

But this day was beach day!

I jumped in from that rock Hunter is standing on,

and for some reason my watch came off!

I yelped "Joe! My watch fell off!" (remember the time HIS watch came off in a waterfall rock jump, and it was gone forever?)

He immediately jumped in and retrieved it. Phew. 

There were so many interactive animals this year (for better or worse). 

Evan is out there trying to feed a sunflower seed to a bird.

For some reason the screens on the windows kept coming off in our house. 

And the doors were left wide open to get some air flow (it was so HOT!). 

And that would invite all the flying things to come on in.

One of the days a bird came in and Bailey caught and released it back outside. 

There were three cups turned upside down on the table with hornets trapped in them. 

That night the children had mac and cheese, and the adults went to Red Antler.

Then we sat outside and lured a ground squirrel into our ice cream cup. 

I was afraid it would touch my feet, so I kept them aloft like this.

No one else was afraid, or put their feet up - so I got complacent and put them back to the ground, 

and then the squirrel came over and TOUCHED MY FEET! Sniffed them! Just like I was afraid he would!

No thank you, Alan!

Later we had our second annual fooseball tourney.

You know what the real drama was though? Both Cooper and Andrew made brackets, and they fought over which bracket to use. 

For some reason Andrew's was the bracket we landed on, and some people were pretty mad about it. 

There was a fist fight between brothers.

 I love when other people's kids fight or do naughty things and I get to sit and watch it all go down and watch the other parents do their parenting and say mom things and dad things. 

"What did you think was going to happen?" etc. 

Seriously, it's educational. 

PS Joe is the two time reigning champ. Andrew says next year we will have to give him a "disability".

Do you mean handicap? 

Anyway. I think we ended up watching San Andreas the dumb movie to end the night. 

Last day of riding. 

Seven years of this picture. 

Earlier in the morning, Jim told Andrew he couldn't ride at all because he wasn't really giving his best effort, etc. and it was getting too dangerous. 

This put a bee in Andrew's bonnet and he spent the morning trying to "get it". I took him down to the pump track and on the way down he asked if maybe I don't try and instruct him? 

"Not that you're a bad teacher, it's just that I am a bad student".

I told him that sounds like a smart plan. Because two days ago we really got mad at each other when I tried to give him a quick "lesson" at the pump track.

Later he told me he was glad dad said he couldn't ride because it made him realize that he really wanted to ride! And he needed to try and improve and implement the tips we have been telling him. 

So then Jim did two laps with him in the afternoon and said he did much better! 

Also Cooper had a pretty good wreck this day. He came home before lunch licking his wounds. He took a shower and got into pajamas as a signal that he was done for the day. 

Back on the chairlift, Evan was pretty shook about it Cooper's wreck. He was nervous and hesitant. He and Jim discussed how some days are like that. You just keep to your comfortable threshold until you regain confidence, etc etc. 

After a few minutes of silence - Hudson - who was riding beside father and son on the chairlift said: 

"what a great speech!"

haha

But earlier, earlier in the morning when most of the boys were biking, a storm blew in.

We were at the cafe eating stale pastries when suddenly a tornado took over. Practically.

Me and Lisa were gonna climb the mountain, but it was raining so we all ran home instead. 

Of course all the screens were blown off the windows of the house. Annoying. 

Put a pin in THAT.

One of the consequences of that storm was the power went out in the village and our house. 

And therefore the fire alarm started blaring.

So Cooper in his pajamas at home, alone, had to figure out what to do about a blaring alarm.

He flagged down a neighbor and called Lisa. 

The alarm continued to BLAST, so anyone who wanted to rest at the house COULD NOT. 

Instead they had to come rest on the grass in the village. 

Why do these memories matter? I don't know. It's just fun to remember what a wild day this was. 

This is us after a crazy and fun day, a rendezvous on the lawn to debrief about our day. 

Eat sunflower seeds, drinks from Aberdeen Market. 

Cooper put his riding pants on and got back on the horse. The alternative was to listen to the alarm at the house. 

Can you tell how the boys bring their bikes home and just dump them wherever? 

One of the dads poked the fire alarm reset button with a broomstick, and we circled up and laughed about stuff like:

Joe was covered in mosquito bites because OF COURSE there has to be at least one situation every year where we are stuck on a trail without deet. This time they were biking down some trails and suddenly Hudson had to poop. Emergency right now poop. Joe tried to talk him in to holding it until they got to the village, but it was a do or die situation. So while Hudson took care of that, Joe got one thousand bites.

If you go back through the years at Yellow House, you will see this reoccurring theme. 

This is my favorite of the stories.

PS the power is still out. We had planned frozen lasagna for dinner, but could not without an oven. 

So honestly, we just let the kids fend for themselves. They had garbage from the free giant box of snacks we got at the SuperStore. Maybe some cherries?  

They played spoons and Skyjo. I finished a puzzle. 

Andrew told us about how he was dared to steal candy from the penny candy bins in the EVOLVE store, but he was "in a real pickle because the worker came over, elbow propped up and started talking about politics"...

and he is in the middle of the story about maybe he stole and maybe he didn't,

and Jim starts talking to Joe about something else. Me and Lisa die laugh because: don't you want to know if your son STOLE candy from a store?!

But in the end, no, he didn't steal. And, yes, I lectured him hard about not stealing anything, ever. 

AND THEN. Andrew and Hunter come running into the living room saying: "I need a spray can, your phone, and (something else I can't remember)." 

I was like....whyyyy? But didn't totally care. 

Then I heard something about a BAT in me and Jim's room?

And a niggle in my brain said maybe we should pay attention to that rumor?

So I told Jim to go investigate Hunter and Andrew's shenanigans. 

And yeah. Literally there was a BAT IN OUR ROOM.

Because SCREENS are BLOWING OFF THE WINDOWS. 

Somewhere there is a terrible video of the chaos of catching the bat shot by Andrew. Jim used a broom and a window screen and a garbage can to catch the BAT IN MY ROOM. It flew around in circles, landed, flew around in circles, etc. 

Is there bat guano on my bed? I don't know. 

Jim My Hero brought the screen covered garbage out to the living room and released the bat out the back. 

PS Still no power in the house. 

Us adults took a drive.

We saw a mama moose and baby moose,

a dead dear that attracted crows and a lynx.

We drove around with the van door wide open for better view. 

We returned to a house that was getting darker and darker. Kids hungry and hungry.

Then this, my favorite activity, went down: The kids started scrounging for ingredients to make eggless cookie dough. 

We just sat on the couch in the dark while they pulled old stale staples from the cupboards. They got so excited when every ingredient was there (except the vanilla!)

They were stoked and collaborative. I swear magic happens when the power is out. 

There was such massive cousin vibes happening. 

The final product was pretty gross (STALE!) but they had so much fun.

Finally around 9:45 the power came back on.

There was a flurry of cooking up Yackasoba (basically ramen) for the hungry kids. 

Cooper offered to make me a batch and it was the most delicious meal of my life. 

The cousin vibes continued on until late in the night. 

Adults went to bed, kids continued to be ridiculous. 

Time to go home. Boo.