Bucket List and a Parable

I finally crossed something off my bucket list.  I biked through the Iron Horse Trail tunnel.  It's a 2-mile-long abandoned train tunnel that I've been wanting to ride through ever since we moved here the first time around and now I've finally done it.  Randy, Marcus, and Ethan got the chance to do it with Scouts but not me so I took advantage of the blissful time I had when Randy took all the boys but Henry to Utah.  It was also much easier to load my single bike into the back of the van than it would've been to load all the boys' bikes as well.
It was a beautiful, sunny Labor Day.  I was a little bit nervous to go where I'd never been before, with a baby, so I tried to be extra prepared.  (Randy's years in scouting have rubbed off on me a bit).  I packed some snacks and a water bottle, double-checked the directions online, found my parking pass, and even remembered Henry's bike helmet.  We stopped at the store for a couple of headlamps, and away we went.

I got Henry situated in his bike seat and rode the short distance from the parking lot to the tunnel entrance where I stopped to turn on our headlamps.  Henry was pretty confused by everything at this point.  We entered the tunnel with no one inside it or behind us and I bet I was only about fifty feet in when the complete darkness of the tunnel engulfed us.  I could hardly see.  I stopped to make sure my headlamp was working and it was, so figured I just needed to give my eyes some time to adjust to the dark and waited a bit before going forward.  I began biking again and still struggled along.  I could see a tiny pinpoint of light at the end of the tunnel and could see a little bit of the ground just in front of my bike but that was it.  I felt like I was riding my bike through thick fog as I swerved over every little bump.  Two miles is a long distance when you're slowing weaving from side to side in darkness and I thought about turning around but my boys would've mocked me for my inability to ride my bike in the dark.  I couldn't figure out why it was so hard to see so I readjusted my headlamp again, waving my hand in front of it to be sure it worked, and then realized the problem.  I was wearing my sunglasses!!  Duh.

He never cried or made a sound, even when I asked him questions or tried to get him to sing a song with me.  But he sure looked cute!

The end of the tunnel

After I took off my sunglasses the whole tunnel opened up to me.  I could see the high ceilings up above and the walls on either side, as well as the small potholes created from the water dripping down from the ceiling.  I couldn't stop laughing at myself as we cruised right along and made it out of the other end of the tunnel in no time.  Henry sat quietly through the whole thing, illuminating the walls of the tunnel with his headlamp as he quickly glanced from side to side.  I'm pretty sure he was terrified and confused and thankfully too young to know what an idiot I was so that was nice.

Happy to be alive

We continued to bike along the 20-mile trail for a bit before I stopped so Henry could explore a snow shed.  Back in the day, the train companies built snow sheds to protect the track from avalanches.  They've restored a couple of them along the trail and on a beautiful summer day, it's hard to imagine that avalanches of snow are even a possibility.

the snow shed

My adventure buddy

Eventually, we turned around and biked back through the tunnel.  This time I remembered to take off my sunglasses!  It was a completely different experience going back as enough time had passed that the tunnel was filled with people biking, couples walking, and lots of kids with glow sticks riding along on biked and in strollers.
I can't help but think of my sunglasses and how something really difficult was created by my own doing.  Life can be hard.  Maybe we just need to figure out what is holding us back and do something about it.  Change starts with us to take off those "sunglasses" and enjoy the ride!

Goodbye Summer

Summer is officially over.  In a couple hours the kids will be heading off to the bus stop with their new shoes, backpacks loaded with new school supplies, and I will be home with Henry jumping for joy and wondering how time seems to fly by faster with each passing summer.
This summer was a whirlwind of fun, laziness, activities, and rain.  We crammed so much into our summer.  It was a rare day that we didn't go somewhere or do something, which is just the way I like it.  The monotony of school days, grocery shopping, and neverending laundry really gets me down.  I've found the best remedy for it is living it up in the summertime by dragging my kids to different lakes, beaches, and parks, where they can't say "I'm bored" and where I don't have to say, "Get off your screen!"

Look at Parker's face.  That boy is having the best time!

But mostly, I will look back on this summer as the summer of the bikes.  This was the summer we did a lot of biking together.  Way back in June, shortly after school ended, I bought a child's bike seat to go on the back of my bike so I can take Henry biking without hooking up the big bike Chariot.  I've wanted one of these seats for years and finally ordered one.  I also bought a CoPilot which is a cool half-bike that hooks onto the back of a bike so Parker can pedal along but not steer or do much work to keep up with the rest of us.  We biked to Pine Lake Park many times for the summer concerts or just to play at the playground.  Ethan, Landon, and Parker also rode on their own to the grocery store for sushi and donuts.  Sometimes I went with them and sometimes I didn't, but as long as I paid they were happy to go.  This summer was also the first time I biked at Duthie Hill, the incredible mountain bike park nearby.  Landon and Parker got their first thrills there as well and I've lost track of the number of times I've taken Ethan there.

Duthie Hill Mountain Biking Park is a biker's paradise

Henry scored this free little bike from our friends.  He mostly loves to push it down our steep driveway and watch it crash

Ethan finally got a new bike and tried it out at Duthie Hill with Marcus.  Naturally Marcus crashed and popped his tire, ending their adventure almost as soon as it began.

And Randy even got in on some of the bike action with us.  Notice his flat tire that made for a fun ending for our last bike ride.

And now my time is up.  Luckily the first day of school is also a late-start day so the early morning rush won't be quite as painful.

All Things Fall

We have had the most beautiful fall weather ever!  The sun has been shining almost daily and the temps in the mid-sixties.  It is awesome!  When the boys get home from school they play outside with their friends until it gets dark and if they try to come inside I force them back outside telling them when the rains come they can have screen time.  All this sunshine also means I haven't had to sit through a single rainy soccer or football game.  Hallelujah!  I've deliberately tried to snap a few pictures of the fall beauty here and there because I just can't get enough of it.  My boys just roll their eyes every time I point out another beautiful tree.

The boys didn't have school on Columbus Day and it was actually kinda rainy that day (the only day the whole month) but we went on our traditional bike ride for donuts and sushi.  Marcus stayed home with Henry so Henry could nap (and Marcus is too old to do things like this anymore) and Parker freaked out about riding his bike so he spent the time in his room not getting a donut.  Kindergartners have the best temper tantrums sometimes.  I'm glad experience has taught me it's a phase and will eventually pass.

Sushi for lunch, donuts for dessert. 

Biking home from lunch.

My street heading in one direction

And my street heading in the other direction (with the beautiful fence painted by Marcus)

 We met up with a bunch of other moms and their kids at the park one day after school because the weather was just too good to not share with everyone. 

here are just a few of the moms who dropped everything to make it to the park. Our kids packed that place!

Henry's favorite past time is throwing balls down our steep driveway and watching me chase after them.  And the pumpkin is a corn hole game (courtesy of the scouts) that we get to store at our house year round.  this year I decided it makes a good yard decoration.

And with fall comes Homecoming.  Yes, Marcus went.  It was a good intro into what dating will be like.  The kids got together with a big group of their friends and the parents worked out the details.  Thankfully the parents were on board with treating them as 14 year olds so there was no unchaperoned party bus to Seattle or an after-party with alcohol which is typical for these things. Dances here in WA are rare compared to how many I had at my high school growing up.  Here there are only two dances a year - Homecoming and Prom.  And only juniors and seniors can go to Prom.  The kids don't do activities during the day.  Instead everyone meets up at a park or someone's house for pictures.  Then the guys stand around while the girls take even more pictures of themselves.  Then they go out to dinner, which was a cheap pizza place for these guys, and then they went back to the school for the dance.  The dance where no one actually dances.  Typically they stand in line for another hour to get more pictures (which the girls pay for. Weird.) but these freshman didn't ever figure out where the pictures were so it never happened.  So funny!  After not dancing at the dance, they went back to a friend's house for the "After Party" which meant changing into casual clothes, hanging out and eating lots of junk food.  It was Marcus's favorite part of the whole thing.  And then I picked up Marcus and brought him home. 

All the guys

All the guys waiting while the girls took a million pictures of themselves (group shots, selfies, selfies with a friend, pictures with the parents, etc) 

Apparently the unwritten rule for Homecoming is the girls all wear short dresses (and freeze) and wear long dresses to Prom.  I'm so glad I have sons.  The night before the dance I had Marcus try on Randy's suits thinking they would fit.  Unfortunately Marcus is a little too big for them but he didn't care so neither did I.  I'm just happy he didn't split the crotch open and I told him to take small steps when he walked.  I guess it's a good thing there wasn't any dancing!

It's Summer!

But it sure doesn't feel like it because it's so cold!  It's a cool 67 degrees inside the house right now because I refuse to turn on the heat.  But it's kind of nice that the kids can play outside all day long without melting.  I even took/dragged the boys on a bike ride the other day, smack in the middle of the afternoon just because we could.  The Utah girl in me will never take for granted an opportunity to play outside in the summer when I don't melt into a big puddle of sweat.

Anyway, school ended and I did something I've never done before.....I threw a neighborhood party to celebrate summer.  It was a BYOSC Party {Bring Your Own Shaving Cream}.  I invited all our neighbors who have kids and only one family (the Mormons next door) could come.  So I invited another family to join us and we had a great time eating pizza and snacks before making a huge shaving cream mess in the yard.  It was fun and I'm considering making it a tradition to add to our other last-day-of-school traditions of rainbow pancakes for breakfast and ice cream sandwiches after the bus stop. 

 Last summer was a bad one due to the whole pregnancy/newborn thing.  The boys spent countless hours in front of the TV and I couldn't do much about it.  But it was bad.  And long.  And made us all really happy when school started.  So this summer I have been stressing about how to make it a great summer even if we aren't doing a whole lot and even if I have a baby that needs two naps a day and a teenager who is too old to do things with the family without throwing major attitude.  I told the boys about their new summer schedule of jobs/piano practicing/reading/exercise and they were furious.  I tried to get them to help me come up with a summer bucket list and they would have none of it.  Basically they were anticipating a summer of screen time and spending as little time together as possible and I quickly informed them the horrible summer of 2017 would never be repeated.  A couple hours later I locked all the boys out of the house.  I was mad.  They were mad.  Landon told me I was ruining his life.  The next day was almost as bad.  Ethan told me this was the worst summer EVER!  But I persevered and made a few changes.  I threw in 1 hour of screen time in the afternoon IF their jobs are done and IF the kitchen is clean and IF they are being good.  Oh, and they are only allowed a snack at 10:00 and 3:00.  GAME CHANGER!  I knew I was onto something good when the moment I announced it I almost had a mutiny on my hands.  Landon instantly started to cry.  Apparently limiting their access to the kitchen was hitting below the belt and it made me so happy.  Now I don't have to constantly clean the kitchen or nag someone to do it and the boys stay out of my way or I put them to work.  It's lovely.  I haven't locked anyone outside except that one time, been yelled at, or had to hide in my closet so that's a serious win.  But I'm giving most of the credit to our next door neighbors.  This is the first time since Okinawa that my kids have had friends they can play with at the drop of a hat and it sure makes it great that their mom doesn't allow any screen time so my kids think I'm pretty generous for allowing them their one hour. 

Ethan made matching bracelets for him and Henry to wear.  It's amazing what he can do when he doesn't watch TV!

We've spent some time at Pine Lake where the boys swim/kayak/paddle board while I follow Henry around while he eats dirt.  It's so boring.  But at least I don't have to put on a swim suit so that a major thumbs up.

Landon and Parker have discovered the freedom of the kayak.  Pretty soon they're going to paddle off into the sunset and I'll be turned in to social services.

 Henry is my entertainment at the lake.

The tradition of biking for sushi and donuts lives on.  Unfortunately a couple miles into the ride Landon's chain kept falling off his bike so after lots of tears, yelling, and drama, we turned around and went home.  Then I drove everyone to the store and gave Ethan a little hug for being so patient with Landon.  And Wednesday's are $5 sushi days so this will be a weekly tradition.

I forced everyone to go on a Sunday walk with me through a nearby preserve that we've never been to.  It was gorgeous and my boys could probably be heard for miles around as they yelled, wrestled, broke tree branches, sang songs, whined, teased, and even had fun.  And they wonder why they never see any wild life.  They're so loud they scare it away!  Parker held my hand on the steep parts and told me all about the things he's looking forward to doing in kindergarten.  Made my heart melt.

 I dropped Marcus and his friend off at EFY, a week-long church camp.  I loved that they both brought their stuff in garbage bags because why not?  Marcus is having a great time and I can't wait to hear all about it.  I have a feeling if I blink he'll be all grown up and graduating.