High Camp

Steve and I have both been campers at Tall Timber Ranch for the last, oh, 20 years or so?  (That's where we met, in case you were wondering).  Anyway, this last weekend the program director up there, Lyndsay, put together a most AWESOME weekend that we were blessed to be able to attend.  The weekend was spent up at Scottish Lakes High Camp in the Cascade Range.  An 8 mile snowmobile trip up a USFS/private timberland road to a sweet little camp nestled at 5000 feet.  From there, you can ski tour or snowshoe to your heart's content in the backcountry, soaking in the views and the fact that there was still 7' of snow on the ground in late April.  Oh - and did I mention that it has a wood fired hot tub and sauna for your tired muscles?  Definitely took advantage of that.

Because of some schedule conflicts, Steve was only able to join us for Friday night and Saturday night, (which was so nice that he made it to that much!), but the boys and I still had a lovely time up there by ourselves.  Jordan and Lyndsay took turns pulling Olaf around behind their skis, while I carried Forest on my back, and I got in a good 2.5 hour tour on my classic cross country skis.  (Also a LOT of sledding with the boys). I only fell twice with Forest on my back, and though he cried both times, it wasn't that bad.  Probably more startling than anything.  (Once I woke him up when I fell.  Ooops.)  By the end of the tour though, he was smiling, laughing, and yelling "MORE MORE MORE, GO MAMA, GO GO GO!" as we went downhill back to the camp.  Let me tell you, it's hard enough on classic XC skis going downhill without edges, but with a baby on your back you are automatically pulled towards being in the backseat on your skis.  Not my finest or most coordinated skiing effort, but certainly still a good time. 

Since it also happened to fall on the weekend of Earth Day, we had some great discussion regarding stewardship and Christian responsibility towards creation.  It is always SO interesting for me to hear from folks in other cities, other places in life, wide age ranges on topics like this, because opinions and perspectives can change over time.  Especially since most of our friends in Plain/Leavenworth share our goals for sustainability, and we live in a community that really supports it.  So I like to hear what other people are saying  All in all, very good discussion and a challenge to work on not only ourselves to take care of our little pieces of environment, but how to encourage those around us to do so as well (without just preaching it).  Good times. 

Scottish Lakes, thanks for a good time.  We'll be back.  Hopefully with babysitters though so I can get some real ski touring in :)

Waking up in our cabin of coziness

View of the Cascades from our resting spot

Taking in a view of Glacier Peak with my littles

lunch on the deck at the lodge

the groomer guy let Olaf play in the snowcat a little bit.  BOY HEAVEN.

breakfast at the lodge

storytime snuggles with Lyndsay

Pulling the kiddos 'round, up and down, on our last morning there. I was smart this time and wore snowshoes :)

life these days.

Ah.

Winter is (hopefully) finally on its way out.   I even broke out the clippers today to trip back some grasses and stuff from last year that I didn't get to before the snow fell.  Started pruning the maple and the hawthorne... Realized that I don't have any idea how to prune trees and I should probably do a little research before getting clipper crazy, so went back to pulling little weeds out of the soft ground.  Also, I see my daffodils and crocuses starting to peek through!  I need to rake off all the matted leaves and brush soon so they can get some sunshine.  Although I imagine the layers of leaves and mulch are keeping it warm in there, so maybe not yet?  I am not a master gardener in case you can't tell :)

Our life is alternately slow and boring, mixed with hectic and crazy, but always with a bunch of fun when the sweet kiddos are involved.  It has been a nutty busy spring for both Steve and I with work, so we treasure these little times together.

Happy April!

Olaf wears this at least every other night to chase Forest around.

Sweet dimples.

Having a great time playing with Cassie over at the Obergs for our monthly supper :)

Loving it!

My big boy did SO good at the dentist!  No fussing at all - and no cavities either :)  I was so proud of him.

We sat at watched out the window while Olaf had his teeth checked.

I got to do a ladies shopping trip with Shannon and Leighla in Seattle!  So.Much.Fun.

Crazy face man.

We headed to the aquarium in Seattle last Sunday for a little city adventure.  Forest stared into this tank at the aquarium and splashed for about a half hour... loved every minute of it

He cried when I took him away from it.  So did the little girl he splashed.

Grandpa came with us too!  (Sorry all I got in this photo was the back of your head, Mark!) We had fun hanging out in Seattle together.

That's a shark on his face in case you were wondering.

Then I went and did the "Big Climb" of the Columbia Tower.  69 floors in 15 minutes.  Not to shabby!  I got rad for Rudolph and raised some money for blood cancer research.  I also learned about this GIANT vein that pops out on my head when I exercise hard...  Fun, right?

Monster faces.