Mama and Kids Backpacking Trip to Independence Lake

After our backpacking trip to the Olympic Coast, Edison said he didn't want to wait another year to go backpacking again, so I decided to take the kids mid-week on my own. It was a little daunting, but we managed just fine and Edison did a great job carrying some extra gear.

 We opted for a short, one-mile hike, off the Mountain Loop Highway to a place called Independence Lake. It was more up and down on the trail than I was expecting, but the kids handled it all in stride.

 The lake was beautiful, though the haze from the wildfires in BC was a bummer. There was a log jam at the creek end of the lake and it was perfect for a swimming platform.

 We explored the steep creek exiting the lake.

 We got a great camp site - the only one at that end of the lake. I put all three kids in the two-person backpacking tent and I got to cross off sleeping overnight in the hammock from my bucket-list. There were hoards of flies, but they didn't bite and they went to bed at dusk, thank goodness!

 This is taken right before Reed fell into the water and had to wear shorts and crocs the rest of the trip.

 At the other end of the lake it was wetter earth and a huge wildflower meadow with trail criss-crossing through it. The kids were giddy running through those paths with flowers taller than themselves.

 Though some of the sounds of the forest were a little creepy at night, we settled in under a full moon and had a good sleep. We were all happy campers at breakfast.

 Success!!! Perhaps we will try this again next year!

SeaFair and Playing at Home

We rafted up with Eric, Erin, Jim and the Philpott boys for the Blue Angels show at SeaFair this year. The kids were impressed by the jets and did a ton of jumping off the boat. There were a ton of boats down there - anything that floats - and it definitely felt like a scene.

 

 

Reed got a cape from one of Eben's friends and it made him so happy! The kids ran around like superheroes for the rest of the night!

 Building Legos with Sully.

AUGUST - Mount Adams Leadership Camp

I returned to my camp counselor roots (I LOVE SUMMER CAMP) and spent a week working as a senior counselor for the Mount Adams session of student leadership camp supported by the Association of Washington School Principles Leadership at Cispus Center near Mount St. Helens. We had 17 of our Shorecrest student leaders attend and they got to learn from the innovators of the servant leadership concepts and curriculum while I got to work alongside people I have the highest esteem for in the student activities realm. We had three days of 105 degree heat (aka hottest camp session ever) but despite that, we did some amazing work together and we are very excited to “serve the work” of continuing to build an inclusive school climate that serves student needs. The students I got to work with were such beautiful and earnest humans who are sincere in their desire to be their best selves and to serve the students of their schools. I was joined by two awesome Shorecrest grads who are near and dear to me: Mikayla Sincavage and Evan Deiparine who served on staff as a member of the Core support team and a Junior Counselor respectively. I had a great mentor in Sue Dunfield and had the pleasure of partnering up with Ethan Kusters as my JC. Leigh Barry was my go to, first year SC buddy. I was surrounded by amazing people and I hope to continue my work there and the relationships that were started there into the future. Plus I earned 30 clock hours and lost five pounds. Triple win! (Thanks to Navath Nhan for taking all the high quality photos in here!)

The Narwhal Council goes creekside....

 

and dresses up for the final night.

With my amazing Junior Counselor, Ethan Kusters. He rocked it and I felt totally at home and supported because of him.

 

The Cispus campus was truly beautiful - especially at night.

With SC grads also on staff - Mikayla Sincavage and Evan Deiparine.  

 The Shorecrest contingent... it is going to be a great year!

The senior and core staff teams. So many wonderful people in this picture!

 In honor of Dexter...

 With Kati Simpson - such a bright spirit in her!

 

 With fellow Shoreline teacher, Paul Villanueva from Shorewood. He introduced me to this camp and the servant leadership curriculum when I began Activities Coordinator in 2010. He has changed my life in this respect!

 With awesome kindness advocate and speaker, Houston Kraft.

 And with the camp director, John Norlin, who is a force for servant leadership in this state and beyond!

 With my ASB Core team for 2017-18. I think we're going to rock it!

 Closing up School Group time with an interconnectedness web.

 And after the kids left... we went to Joe Fenbert's to play stickball on his incredible custom-built field in the woods.

 

 Finally we capped it all off with dinner and sleeping under the stars (after a lengthy eval and debrief) at Marty and Susan Fortin's house. It was so awesome and just what we needed!

 

Tenting it at the Fortin's Friday night.

Rafting with the Rutledges, Swimming Finals and Seattle Storm Game

The Wenatchee is still flowing and we got a visit from Heidi, Max, and Maggie and an awesome day on the lower river with all the kids. It was a little bumpy (2300 cfs) but do-able and kid friendly.

 Charlotte got to swim in a couple relays at the girls northern swimming finals. She did great and moved on to the All Cities meet with her relay team - eventually placing 4th in greater Seattle area! And to think she'd never been on a swim team at the start of May. Here they are doing a pre-meet cheer with coach Matt.

 The 100 free relay team extraordinaire: Ivy, Claire, Delaney and Charlotte.

 Edison swam in two relays and two individual events at the boys norther finals meet. He placed 8th in the fly and moved on to All Cities in the 25 fly and did a great job!

 Meg and Chris came over to plan our Canada trip. Reed was very excited to see Jack. The two of them were super cute putting all the stuffed animals to bed.

 As part of the King County Library System summer reading challenge, kids can earn Seattle Storm tickets for the minutes they read. I've got three great readers, so we got the tickets and went to the game on Friday night at Key Arena and were joined by Michael, Jenabel and Jasper. The kids got a bag of popcorn with free refills and went back and forth about 20 times for refills. Score! Plus the Storm had a strong game and made over 109 points to beat Dallas!