Twin Lakes

Hey, y'all - 

Laney and I were talking just yesterday about this past summer. Because it was such an action- and visitor-packed three months, I wanted to know what Laney's favorite thing had been about the season. Was is Hawaii? Summer camp? Being in a play? Paddle boarding? Getting to live down the hall from the two coolest parents who ever lived? The Jungle party?

She thought about it a minute and finally decided: Camping with Julia and Christian. "Huh," I thought. "If it's the winning entry, maybe I should get around to putting it on the blog." So let's take it from the top:

My friend Amy came to visit at the very end of July, and brought her delightful (truly) children, Julia and Christian. I got to have some fun Moms-only time with Amy, which I loved, because no one laughs like Amy does. 

Amy's kids had never been camping, so we wanted to take them while they were here. Your dad picked a spot waaaay over almost on the Idaho border called Twin Lakes. I had never heard of it. To get there, you drive forever and ever on an unpaved mountain road, slowly gaining elevation, until you're at about 8,000 ft in the Beavertooth Mountains. I had never heard of the Beavertooth Mountains, either. Moving westward, the map in my mind goes something like this: "Missoula...blah blah blah...the Macy's in Burbank."

It was absolutely beautiful. 110% worth the drive to come over a ridge and see two alpine lakes hidden in these incredible mountains (pictured above. Photo by the Forest Service. I did not hike that mountain).

When we pulled up to the primitive campground, an entire troop of Boy Scouts was packing up and we got to take over their spot. I can only assume they all had to earn some kind of firewood-chopping badge, because this was the supply they left by our campfire:

(That's your dad grilling chicken for the best soft tacos I've maybe ever had). 

The scouts had also did some whittling, and we kept finding little wizarding wands (or wooden daggers? mini swords?) around the campsite, which was sort of magical for Hagen.

No phone signal. No wifi. No electricity. No running water. No way to entertain ourselves but to swim and paddle board and explore and dress Hagen up like a knight:

There were boulders near our campsite that the kids climbed, and we took the hammock for extra relaxation.

SERENITY NOW!!

Christian recently earned his black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and even though Hagen at that point was a "no belt," that didn't stop him from demonstrating some REAL ninja moves. 

Surprisingly for a black belt, Christian was completely unfamiliar with these moves. They are secret! deadly! And apparently do not appear in the official handbook. 

On the way home, we pulled over to check out the creek running alongside the dirt road and pushed our way through the bushes to find this (cue the harps):

I don't think I've ever seen anything so cool. Sometimes the water was just a few inches deep as it raced over the granite rocks, and sometimes little pools had formed that were about a foot and a half deep. The whole family could explore. Laney immediately took off her shoes and hiked to the top. 

Ella the dog followed me around, because as the weakest member of our pack, I require extra supervision. She was right on my heels the whole time, until your dad yelled "Stop being such a helicopter mom, Ella."

Laney, I can see why you picked this adventure as your favorite.

Love,
Mom

Labor Day

Hey, y'all - 

We decided to be spontaneous (is that an oxymoron?) and planned a last-minute trip to Spokane for Labor Day. Work ended on Friday and we blew this pop stand. 

I found a great rate on a hotel in the park in downtown Spokane for a "poolside room." And when the Red Lion says "poolside," they are NOT messing around. Our room was basically at the bottom of the waterslide.

Laney didn't care one bit that it was freezing cold in that water. Hagen lasted about 20 minutes before he said, "This cold is silly. I'd like to go lie down in a warm bed and take a nap." "Me, too, buddy!" agreed the lifeguard. 

We rode the carnival rides in the park downtown. 

...And someone in our group was EXTREMELY excited to finally be tall enough to ride something on his own. 

We went out for Chinese food, and if the prognosticating copywriters for PF Chang's get their way, the next few weeks are looking good for Team Burbach. 

We went to the mall for ice cream and giggles at Ben & Jerry's.

Then we sat and enjoyed a little bit of the concert across the lake.

Laney got to pick the Sunday morning activity, so we went to Chuck E Cheese's. (The "E" is short for E. Coli. Just kidding! Don't sue me.) Here's a pro parenting tip from me to you: If you simply MUST go to Chuck E Cheese's, 9:30am on a Sunday morning is the BEST time to go. You don't have to pretend to eat the food, because they don't even start serving til 11am. You will probably be the only person in the whole place, as we were. 

90% of our family's ticket inventory came from your dad playing this one game:

Prize tickets well spent:

On the way back to Missoula, we stopped in Wallace, ID to visit Jude and Finley and discovered Wallace was having the "Under The Freeway" Flea Market.

I bought Laney a $12 rotary phone in lemon yellow. It has "1974" stamped on the handset, so I'm going to assume it can survive a few more years in our house, vs. the cordless phone we bought her that quit working a week later. I've already named the phone "Old Yeller." Because it's old. And yellow. And she yells in it. The joke works on a lot of levels. 

We all had a ton of fun. 

Love,

Mom

Me In A Bag

Dear Laney,

For your first homework assignment of second grade, your teacher sent home a little brown paper lunch bag stapled to an instruction sheet titled "Me In A Bag." Your task was to fill the bag with ten objects that you could share with the class that would help introduce who you are as a person. Everything had to fit in the bag, and every item needed to share a little bit about your interests or hobbies or family... A one-bag bio, if you will. 

These were the items you chose:

1. HOT SAUCE PACKET FROM TACO BELL - "Because chicken tacos from Taco Bell are my favorite food."

2. A ROCK - "Because I like to go hiking and pick up rocks and I thought this one was pretty."

3. SWIM GOGGLES - "Because I learned to swim this summer and I love to go on the river and I passed the YMCA swim test at camp." [Ed. note: This is true. They gave you a plastic orange wristband at camp that you could wear for admission to the deep end of the pool. You were so proud of this that you wore the wristband to Hawaii and kept it on for most of our trip as if it were a universal symbol of swimming preparedness. I kept thinking you were going to show it to a Hawaiian lifeguard and assure them 'I passed the test in Missoula, so I'm good.'"]

4. PICTURES WITH HAGEN - "Because he's my brother and he's funny and I love him."

5. A PIECE OF SWIM NOODLE - "Because I just turned 7 and my dad built me a waterslide and it was my best birthday ever."

6. A GAME TIMER - "Because I LOVE to play board games." [This is true. You especially love a game called Family Challenge which makes your dad and me do physical challenges like "The most jumping jacks in 60 seconds!" We hate this game so, so much.]

7. GOLF BALL - "Because I'm really good at mini golf."

8. MY DAD'S NAVY HAT AND NAME TAG - "Because we're a Navy family."

9. SEASHELLS - "Because I collect them."

10. A LEI - "Because I went to Hawaii and I love it there."

You got your items all together, and then asked me to take a picture of you with your things. 

There you have it: a one-bag snapshot of the stuff that makes you you. 

Love,

Mom

First Day of School

Hey y'all -

Laney's school is only a few blocks from our house, so all last year, we could almost wait for the first bell to ring and still make it there before the second bell. We went two full years without a single tardy. [Side note to Laney: Your end-of-year report from kindergarten actually had "Tardies: 1" on it, and I told your dad I was going to march up to the school and get that corrected, but your dad said "Leave that poor woman alone." So I did. But you and I know the truth: if you don't get into Harvard one day because you have a tardy on your permanent record, you can blame your dad for being a quitter.]

THIS year, though, a big school bond passed and Laney's 100+ year-old school is getting a massive overhaul. While the school building is closed for an entire year for renovation, they're bussing the entire student body over to a previously-vacant school waaaay on the other side of town. We now have to be at the bus stop at 7:45, which is the time we used to wake up. This stinks. It also stinks because even more than when you left for kindergarten, Laney, I feel like you're leaving us and growing up. There's just something about getting on a bus. This is about where I started crying this year on the first day:

You, of course, thought I was nuts, because with your cowgirl boots and Scooby Doo lunchbox, you were ready to rock n' roll. 

Later later, second grader. 

Our second drop-off that morning didn't go so well. 

Hagen was not interested in kick-starting his first day of preschool at his new school:

First he tried the classic move of the nonviolent resistance movement: The "Go Limp." It took a nudge from Grandpops just to get him through the front door. 

This one baffled me a little, because Finley is in your class (as are Dylan and Kai, the only other two little dudes in the world you seem to like) and there's a metric ton of Legos and a slide and pet chickens. So I'm not sure what's not to love, although Ms. Correy DOES like to serve quinoa for lunch, so maybe that's it. 

It didn't take long for her to start texting me pictures of you having a fine time, though, which made me feel better.

That afternoon, Laney got off the bus just as excited about school as she'd been when she boarded it that morning. 

Hope all this well-adjusted happiness lasts. 

Love,

Mom