Casa Camisas

We had a teacher workday during the last week of September, and so decided to spend it visiting The Farm at Swan’s Trail, our usual pumpkin-picking place.

I admit it was a little early to pick pumpkins. The poor gourds didn’t have much of a chance of lasting all the way until Halloween, but who cares? FALL IS OFFICIALLY UPON US.

We got to play on big slides, jumping pillows, and explore a corn maze. Some of our friends were there, too, which made it especially enjoyable. I wonder, though, if this was the last time Jeff will be game to play with the other kids.

Katie really, really didn’t want to walk through the corn maze, so I took her apple picking while the others went with their friends.

We also took a ride on the hay wagon. This is the face Katie made when the tractor’s big engine started up.

And did I mention the kittens? SO MANY LITTLE BLACK KITTENS!

There it is.

I am now officially a mother of a teenager. That didn’t take very long, did it?

 

We celebrated by inviting over a bunch of pals and watching the first Lord of the Rings movie. He’s been wanting to watch that show since he was five years old. I hope it was worth the wait!

Eleanor and William gave him a shield they had purchased together at the Viking Days festival back in August. Eleanor later painted it with a traditional Viking design. Happy Birthday, my sweet flipperling Jeff!

We had a Grandma in Seattle for a bit this month.

It was a great chance to take William on a trip to the gaming pub.

And I had an excuse to do touristy Seattle things.

But of course, the big reason for the trip was to go to the annual (and possibly last) Mom & Me camp with our local Girl Scout service unit.

It was so good to see Camp Robbinswold again. Eleanor and I are both very much in love with this place.

We spent the weekend crafting, hiking, playing games, singing songs, and eating waaaaaay too much food. And even though I managed to get yelled at during both of our ferry rides (it always happens) it was a wonderful time.

September has been crammed with a variety of first things.

The first day of school:

Jeff (7th grade) isn’t smiling because he wants to look cool. Eleanor (5th grade) has taken pains to make sure her new necklace is showing in this picture. William (3rd grade) isn’t smiling because I insisted he wear a jacket instead of the dirty hoodie he loves. Katie (pre-K) is very excited about the little blue notebook she found in her schultute last night. Off we go!

We were then able to squeeze in our annual backyard circus during the last warm weekend of the summer (I suppose that’s a “last thing,” not a first):

Katie then had her first day of preschool the following Tuesday. Three hours of kid-free time for me, every day!

Here she is lining up to walk to her classroom:

Then, William had his first day of Cub Scouts. He usually refuses to wear jeans, but he eagerly puts them on every week for Cubs, so he has loops for his scout belt to go through. I love that kid.

 

 

The big event for our Yellowstone trip was something Brian, Jeffrey, and I had been planning for months: a 10+ mile hike. It’s one of the requirements for the Boy Scout Hiking badge. Since my parents were accompanying us to the park, they offered to take the younger kids and shuttle our car from one trailhead to another.

This opened up a ton of hiking possibilities in the park. When Brian mentioned it to the park rangers in the Backcountry Hiking office, their eyes lit up with excitement. Of course, the hike we chose was dependent on factors out of our control; any untoward bear behavior could result in a trail being closed to hikers by the rangers. So after choosing a Top Three or so, we were able to pick a good 13.5 mile stretch through the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone.

This is a river canyon that winds along the northern border of the park. It took us good 2 hours just to drive there from West Yellowstone, so Brian, Jeff, and I left at 6:00 a.m. Dawn was just breaking when we started up the trail.

We hadn’t gone long before we heard a series of howls off in the distance. Several animals howling at once — was it wolves, or coyotes? Initially, the howls were faint, but they grew louder and then suddenly burst into a series of barks and bays. Wow, I thought, some elk just met its maker.

There’s no way of proving it one way or the other, but we’d like to assume that it was wolves we heard howling that morning.

I admit that the first section of this hike was my favorite. This plateau was stunning; the grasses running up and over the hillsides look velvety and untouched. As the trail began to turn towards the black-colored mountains that form the canyon, Jeff spontaneously burst into song, belting out “America the Beautiful” for all the bison to hear.

He also kept singing “Home on the Range.” We had also tied a bear bell to his belt, and later wondered why we had bothered. Jeff IS a bear bell.

This suspension bridge marked the “official” entrance to the canyon.

So far, we had only seen two other hikers on the trail: a pair of backpackers who had just woken up from spending the night on the riverside. We only saw about 20 people total through the day, which is considered pretty sparse by Yellowstone-in-the-summer standards.

Soon we were hiking just a stone’s throw away from the Yellowstone River. There were numerous elk bones and antlers along the way. The farther we walked, the . . . ah, fresher the bones appeared.

A rainstorm prompted our lunch break under a big pine tree. We thought it was the perfect place to stop and munch while waiting out the storm. We didn’t find out until afterwards that a very fresh (yet picked-clean) elk carcass was just nearby. Since bear like to stick around carcasses, we got ourselves out of there fast. (On the other hand, we had a Human Bear Bell with us, so we probably had little cause for concern).

The second half of the hike was where my body began to protest. I managed to stub both of my big toes quite badly on boulders, and then the hip flexer muscle on my left leg began to get sore. But onwards we climbed!

Jeff found this cool tree that had grown up and around an elk antler. The antler stuck out on either side of the trunk.

And my hip flexer began to protest quite a bit more. Still we climbed!

We came to this meadow that was occupied by a bison, so we climbed up and over a hill to avoid him. My hip flexer whined a bit sharply.

We walked through a stunning plain of chest-high golden grasses. As we pushed through, a herd of bison noticed our approach and began to run up a hillside to get away. Don’t worry, they were well beyond the  25 yards required for safe bison viewing. But still, I kinda felt like I should have had a bonnet and handcart for a moment.

Around Mile 10, we came to a creek that we needed to ford. I pulled off my shoes, and found out that my stubbed toes were in far worse shape than I thought. Three toes were blue, and the toenails on both big toes were cracked clear across. A blood blister was forming at the base of the left toenail. Ow!

Needless to say, it felt soooooo goooood to dip my feet in a cold stream for a while. The water shoes we packed were totally worth the investment.

Many pats on the back for completing the crossing without anybody falling in. And now:

THE LAST THREE MILES

This is where my hip flexer gave up the ghost. At this point it was extremely painful to put any weight on my left leg. I was doing a zombie step-drag the entire rest of the way.

Soon we came to the suspension bridge signifying the exit from the canyon. It had a lovely view of the river churning below, but I admit the bouncy-bounciness caused me to freak out about the height a bit. Brian teased me that it was the only part of the hike I was in a hurry to finish.

We began to see more families with young children or groups of senior citizens, doing in-and-out mini hikes, so we knew we were approaching the end. Brian and I felt like they were the seabirds sailors see when coming near land. (Unlike the backpackers, these daytrippers were appropriately impressed when we told them we had started at the Blacktail trailhead. It felt good.)

Alas, the last 1.5 miles was all switchbacks. Steep, straight-up punishing switchbacks. It was pretty miserable, which is too bad since it was still consistently gorgeous.

Brian, who was feeling fine, marched on ahead to see if the car had been shuttled over to the trailhead. Then he came back and took Jeff’s backpack. Jeff, who had been only slightly faster than I, perked up over the removal of his pack and sprinted up the remaining switchbacks!

Sprinted! Oh, to be twelve again.

I’ve never been so happy to see a car. When we met up with my family in Canyon Village, the three of us insisted we stop and eat right then and there. I don’t think we packed enough calories for the hike. (Only ~800 calories per person, for a hike that burned ~3500. Not smart.)

I also was not able to walk properly on my left leg for about a week. Even when we returned home to Seattle, I had to climb stairs with only my right leg. But still. Totally worth it. I love this park.

I had two chief goals for this year’s trip to Yellowstone:

1. Survive the 13.5-mile hike with Jeffrey
2. Help William get the “Young Scientist” badge from the Old Faithful Visitor’s Center

This badge is hecka cool. You have to be eight years old to earn it; Jeff and Eleanor have both done so on previous trips. You check out a backpack full of gear from the ranger station, which includes very neato equipment like a collection of thermal rock samples, a stopwatch, and — best of all — a laser thermometer that allows you to measure the temperature of the thermal features.

William and I got very lucky — Beehive Geyser went off right as we began our trek around the Old Faithful geyser basin! Beehive is unique in that it has a little “indicator geyser” in front of it that goes off roughly ten minutes before the big one does. Because of this, a sizeable crowd had gathered to see it. The mist made a rainbow on the ground, and when the breeze picked up, we all got sprayed with warm water.

It was great to have some one-on-one time with Wimmy. He has a curious mind and loves to learn. It’s always been a pleasure to teach him new things.

Of COURSE we saw Old Faithful. From a distance, this time.

After earning the badge, (check!) we picknicked on the side of the Firehole River. It would have been nice to let the kids swim and splash, but the weather was deemed a little too breezy. (Which, in retrospect, is kind of ridiculous. These are the same kids that splashed in alpine streams in 58 degree weather.)

After lunch we drove across to my favorite thermal area: Mud Volcano. It’s my favorite because there’s been so much recent change to this area in recent decades, and also for the sheer variety of thermal activity. A cooking hillside! A sour lake! The Dragon’s Mouth, and the Black Dragon’s Caldron!

Plus my favorite “magic hill.” I don’t know why, but I love this view.

As a bonus, there was a herd of bison grazing and knocking over trees just off the upper boardwalk!

We followed up all this excitement with dinner at the counter at Fishing Bridge . . .

. . . . followed by a drive through Hayden Valley to scout out wildlife. We stopped at a pull-out where a bunch of hard-core animal watchers had telescopes set up. Jeffrey, being who he is, had no problem going up to them, asking what they were looking at, and if he could have a peek. Thanks to his audacity, we all got to have a peek at a black wolf, far across the valley. William, who wrote a report about wolves  in 2nd grade and now considers it his favorite animal, was beyond thrilled. I, on the other hand . . . meh. It looked like a dot with ears, even with the telescope.

If that weren’t enough, we spotted a pair of coyote later on, playing and wrestling on the far side of a river. They were incredibly frisky, chasing each other around, knocking each other over, and behaving essentially like a pair of puppies. I’ve never seen the like before. Alas, they did not photograph well. So, to conclude, I’ll just present another picture of the lovely Hayden Valley:

Sweet William was baptized today while we were in Utah visiting family. It was great to have aunts, uncles, and cousins there as well as grandparents.

I was so busy that I forgot to take any pictures myself (what is wrong with me?) but fortunately Aunt Deb came to the rescue.

My mom gave a talk about the Holy Ghost, and Kathryn spoke about baptism, using the idea of a gate as a metaphor. (She had a slide show with different pictures of gates and everything!).

After the baptism we all took a moment to write down thoughts for William to go in a memory book, and then Brian, the kids, and myself all sang the “Faith, Hope & Charity” round that Brian wrote several months ago. Erich accompanied us on the guitar. I think we look a little too much like the Von Trapp Family Singers.

(When my brother-in-law, Patrick, took a look at this photo, his response was, “Wow, how did you manage to get Seth Rogen to play at your son’s baptism?”)

And afterwards? PIE. This was something we’d promised William ages ago, since Eleanor also ate pie on her baptism day. Well, twist my arm why don’t you? Who doesn’t love a reason to get pie?

Sweet Wimmy, we love you so.

Our summer trip to Utah was briefer than it has been in the past, mainly so we could squeeze in a Yellowstone trip at the end.

The days were just packed. I’m impressed that I was able to hit all of my delicious Utah food places. And could still squeeze into my jeans afterwards.

We went to:

— Visit Uncle Alex at the Krispy Kreme donut store! He gave us two dozen donuts for free!!!

(It took us the whole rest of the day to eat them all.)

— A family reunion (on the Hansen side) at Mountain Dell Park up Emigration Canyon. Face painting was the kids’ favorite part.

It was held in the same park and pavilion where our old ward in SLC held their annual summer picnic. Coincidentally — the reunion was scheduled on the same day as said picnic. Alas, we did not stay. (That would have been weird.)

— The Utah Museum of Natural History (which we visited after the reunion, because we can’t stay away from that place, apparently)

— A glorious trip to Day Murray Music to browse around

— A reunion dinner with the Plethora and Plethora “cousins.” Eleanor was shy at first, but soon reconnected and had a blast.

— The Living Planet Aquarium (Which was very nice, but way overpriced for what you get. There was a massive, mulistory play area that cost an extra $3, but featured multiple overstuffed couches for lounging adults. There was nothing aquarium-related about it in the least, but still. Genius idea.)

— Dinner with the Jones family, who live in Colorado but were visiting Utah at the same time as us. Caitlin taught all the kids how to play Nerts.

— A drive to Cascade Springs, in the mountains above Provo. Randy and Kathryn hadn’t ever been there before, which surprised me. It’s one of the best hikes in the area for really little kids. Despite this, Katie managed to whine about the trail being too difficult the entiiiiiiire time.

— The hike was followed by a trip to Midway to eat lunch at Tarahumara, our favorite Mexican restaurant. We have yet to find a good Mexican restaurant in Seattle, so this was muchly appreciated.

It also didn’t hurt that Tarahumara has added a bakery since we were last there.

— A visit with DeLynn’s stable. What a dream to ride barebacked on all the donkeys you want!

— Finally, a visit to the Museum of Natural Curiosity, which our kids remembered (and still loved) from our Utah trip the year before. Coincidentally, the Jones family was there visiting at the same time.

This was the last of our whirlwind Utah stay; unfortuntately, it ended on a stressful note. On the drive home from the children’s museum, our car began stalling in traffic. The engine would just spontaneously die, along with all the electrical systems. We couldn’t even turn on the hazard lights to warn other drivers that something was wrong. I am incredibly thankful that it didn’t happen on the freeway. I was very stressed out about the repair (especially since we had just replaced the radiator the week before) but it turned out to only be a faulty battery wire that took an hour to fix and cost $70. Whew!

Onwards to Yellowstone!

Our family vacation began on August 28, so the week before that was kind of the “last week of summer” for the family.

I decided to formally observe The Last Week of Summer by finally making it to the Edmonds Theater for one of their free screenings of children’s films.

This week’s film was the original 1970s “The Muppet Movie,” a film which I myself have never seen on the big screen. Our friends Margaret, Daniel, and Laurel were able to come along, too.

Katie was delighted that they had kid-sized popcorn and sodas for $1 a piece. I was delighted to discover that “The Muppet Movie” is still funny. “I think I need directions!” “Have you tried Hare Krishna?” Oh, 1970s.

After the movie, we decided to take a stroll across the street to the Edmonds Bakery.

To tell the truth, the Edmonds Bakery doesn’t make the best baked goods. They’re fairly mediocre. The reason we go there is because of the crazy collection of cookie jars on the wall. There are hundreds of them, stacked on shelves on all four walls. It’s an excellent place to play “I Spy.”

Yesterday we went to Viking Days at the Nordic Heritage Museum. It’s a celebration of all things Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, and Icelandic. Plus, Vikings!

We spent time gazing at the LEGO Valhalla inside the museum for a moment, and ate hot fresh Aebleskivers (aka “pancake balls”) outside (Brian observed the cooks carefully to see how they managed to make them so fluffy, so we can try it at home).

But the real stars of the show were the historical SCA people and their Viking encampment. There were so many handicrafts to try!

So much armor to try on!

So many glorious, glorious victories to be won on the battlefield!

We haven’t been to Viking Days since the summer we moved here (2012). I’ve wanted to go again since, but the memory of attending the first time was associated in my mind with the disorientation and loneliness that accompanies a relocation, so I hadn’t made a big effort to make it happen. I’m glad I made it a priority this year.

Jeffrey is now begging me to make him a Viking costume for Halloween. I’m already gleefully reading many internet articles about tunic construction, huzzah!