It’s a bit overdue, huh? Since returning home, we celebrated a birthday (can my baby really be one already?!), prepared ourselves to begin this Lenten season and have also had a lovely slew of illnesses come our way. We’ve been having an unseasonably warm February though, so it’s been nice to be able to head outside for some vitamin D when things have gotten rough.
So the trip. It was wonderful. It was gray, cold and rainy the entire time, (and we all caught a stomach bug!) but we still managed to get out for a beach visit, hiking, some backyard play, a ride on the ferry to another island and even a (very) snowy adventure to Mount Baker. And we also drank lots of hot tea, coffee and homebrewed IPA. And ate chocolate cake! My sister baked me the most delicious chocolate cake for my 29th birthday, which came and went while we were there. All of my photos were with the phone after all, although we did get to snap a few indoors with the big camera. I’m so glad we went. There was so much peace and joy to be found in listening to cousins talk about legos and rocks, dress-up and ballet, sipping hot tea with my sister in her kitchen, donning woolen socks and knitted hats, and taking in the view of beautiful, towering hemlocks that texture every landscape of the island. I genuinely love it there.
It’s always so awesome, especially for the mamas that first day. Everyone is thrilled to wake up to each other and they spend the day in cousin bliss while the the grown-ups get to sit around and sip coffee and actually talk, without interruption or sketchy phone connections.
{about as good as it got for my crazy kids- they were too excited to hold still!}
And I loved getting to spend time reading with, snuggling with and hanging out with my niece and nephews. They are so precious and special to their Auntie Brit.
{“Take my picture Aunt Brittany!” You don’t have to ask me twice, sweetie
}
{The one afternoon that the sun came out and the skies cleared}
{Poor Amelia was inside, beginning to feel ill with the stomach bug which eventually took us all down}
Although the evening temperatures were close to bringing snow to the backyard, they never did plunge low enough. We thought that a day trip to Mount Baker for some sledding would be a huge treat for all of the kids (especially Asher who was dying to see some snow- he has missed it since we spent a winter in Oklahoma). We ended up delaying the trip a day so that everyone was clear of the chuck bucket and seeming back to their cheery selves (except me, who never did throw up, but felt like I got run over by a truck the morning we went). We collected bibs, snow jackets, boots and gloves from the closet and from church friends and threw all the gear in the back of the van, packed up six kids and drove to the mountain.
All to spend maybe an hour out in the snow. Because not only was the snow knee deep (for adults), but it was coming down in gusts like crazy.
It was rough getting across the big snow bowl (frozen lake covered by feet of snow!) to the other side where we did our sledding, but the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.
The sledding part was super fun. But it all began to unravel, first with Oliver (who never wanted to venture out into a snowstorm in the first place) and quickly we decided that some of the adults should start back with the criers, warm the cars up and bring them closer. Schlepping back across that frozen lake with a screaming baby was a serious challenge…not only was I pretty much running on one 800mg of ibprofen, but I realized that I am seriously out of shape (hello Lenten goals!). As we fought our way back to the cars, Brian and I laughed and agreed that the sledding trip was the best mistake we had ever made.
Other trip highlights included my birthday. The big 29. One year left in this decade of my twenties and you better believe I’m gonna make it count. I’ve found that since the divorce, these first milestones and holidays such as these definitely come along with a certain bit of pain, but they also come with deeper reflection. I honestly never would have dreamed that at 29 I would be a single mom with little idea of what the rest of my life will look like. But when I have hopeless thoughts like those, the ones that immediately follow are filled with a deeper peace than I’ve known in my whole life. At 29, I have three gorgeous children. At 29, I know exactly who I am and I know what really matters. And while I might not know exactly where it will be right now, I know that in the coming years, I will raise up children and I will grow food. At 29, I’m still supported my the most amazing parents and sisters (and brother-in-laws!). At 29, I am greatly blessed. And that is more than enough for me.
For my birthday, all I wanted was a day to get out with the kids and hike in the woods. And that we did! We hiked the beach and the forest, noticing all of the beautiful bits of nature that a Washington January has to offer. She offers many.
We ended the evening with a feast followed by homemade chocolate cake and also celebrated by cracking open Brian’s first homebrew, an IPA which turned out to be pretty amazing. 29 might have been my favorite birthday yet.
On our last day, my sister and I decided to take the kids out on one last big adventure. We were going to head over to Coupeville, a little town that I really wanted to visit and from there catch the ferry to Port Townsend and go visit the big lighthouse on the island. We looked up ferry times, set the game plan. The next morning we picked out outfits for everybody carefully and packed the big camera in hopes of getting some great photos out at the lighthouse. We made it to Coupeville for lunch at the Knead and Feed and I pretty much fell in love with the town as soon I turned down Main Street.
After an amazing lunch, we walked around a bit and headed over to the ferry, deciding against bringing the cars and going it on foot with the strollers. And therein lay the fatal flaw. When we arrived on the island we realized that there would indeed NOT be any walking up to the lighthouse if we’d like to make it before dark, so in a desperate attempt to save the afternoon, we jumped on a city bus. Well, we didn’t jump really, we strained and pulled and instructed and blushed as we hauled our two strollers and six children onto the bus, having no idea where we were really going. In the end, we discovered that there was no way we would make it to the lighthouse before dark and looking at the tourist map, we asked the driver if we should visit the local creamery. He really was a kind man and he tried his best, I’m sure, but we honestly thought he knew what he was talking about when he let us off at the stop for the creamery. We hurried by the large tattoo parlor and found the small creamery just around the corner, but as we ushered everyone inside, it was obvious that this place was not going to offer us the redemptive ice cream cones that we were hoping it might. This creamery was a local cheese making shop and was filled with artisan cheeses, crackers, breads and wines. The face of the girl working in the shop when we came pushing through was pretty priceless. We finally just had to laugh out loud at it all and we told the girl our story as we fed our children cheese samples and selected some wine and cheese to bring home with us. Cause at this point, we more than deserved it. We caught a bus back to the ferry and made the long journey home. Even though it was a bit of a bust, we had a great time (the ferry was so much fun for the kids) and we had us quite a delicious spread to enjoy once we had everyone tucked into bed. Next time we will see the lighthouse.
None of us were really ready to come home, especially not me.
Washington…we will be back.
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Since being home, we celebrated another birthday…I can’t believe my sweet Oliver is already one.
He is the smallest of the family, but such a source of great warmth. Like the hearth of our home that we all gather round when we need some comfort from the chill of the world. He is so much like his big brother at this age, yet unique in many ways too. He is a steady walker now and he wears a head full of curls. He has eight tiny teeth that he shows all the time because he is almost always flashing the cheesiest smile you’ve ever seen. I feel so honored to be the arms he most prefers and his cuddle mate at night. I’m blessed to be his mama. We celebrated his day by picking the rest of our garden carrots and making him a homemade carrot cake. It was this one and it was definitely a hit. One for the family cookbooks, it will be made again.
{He got the traditional first birthday Rody. Yes. We now own a small herd of Rodys.}
And now are are one week into Lent. This Lent, I had several goals and sacrifices in mind for myself and so far I feel like I’m already benefiting from them in spiritual and physical ways. Amongst the many things I thought and prayed about, I’ve been praying my rosary again daily and have been trying my hardest to be a more calm, peaceful, joyful and mindful mama in all that I do and say. I’ve also been trying to carve out a little bit more time for myself. A hot bath or a half hour to go on a run and a fresh new journal to spend some more time with. I told Asher that I would start nature journaling with him too!
So how is your Lent going so far friends? Care to share any of your own personal goals or sacrifices?
The kids and I are currently working on some little Mass books, a project from the book A Year With God. Asher has several different little Mass books for children that he likes bringing to church and trying to follow along with, so this has been a really fun project for him to get to make his own. Hopefully I can snap a few photos and share later this week. Besides that little project, our homeschool has basically consisted of lots of under-the-covers reading together and a little bit of sentence writing and occasionally a bit of math. It’s amazing to listen to Asher read and discuss things with me these days. That kid. He and Amelia are both really into the Little House books these days. What’s everyone else learning about this February?
Ok, so if you are still reading this post, I applaud you. It was a long one and true to form, I began to ramble about all sorts of other stuff there towards the end there.
Blessings friends!
Yes, the camera is finally fixed, yay!
by mamabrit
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