Summer Days

This summer is flying by. I have things that I was hoping to accomplish this summer, but they never seem to get done. The days go by in a blur, but I do try and make sure we get something fun in for the kids on most days. Here is some of this week's fun. We went to the arcade, CC went out with some friends, we went to a party in the park put on by our friend's company, and kept cool in the sprinklers, pool and river. Not pictured here are the dozens of hours spent at the baseball field this week. Today is the last day of the state tournament though, so soon baseball season will be behind us.

We continue to battle with Carrigan not feeling well multiple days of the week, so we try and make the most of the days she does feel good. We have a functional lung test this week and are hoping for answers or at least a path forward.

Market and More

 It has been a crazy week! On Monday, I was going about my normal business, when I found out about an opportunity to go to pick cherries on Tuesday. It had to be Tuesday, because they were likely cutting down all the trees on Wednesday to make room for more pears. Also, the orchard was an hour and a half away in Hood River. I quickly rearranged my schedule and made plans to go out the next day.

On Tuesday morning, Elsie and I headed out with a guy from our church to go pick. It was a long day of driving and picking in the sun. We ended up with probably close to 100lbs of the most beautiful cherries. We also got to experience some amazing views along the way.  We got home on Tuesday afternoon. I was exhausted and unsure what to do next in dealing with all the cherries. I had a baseball game to go to and then I found out that Carrigan got approved to have a booth at the farmer's market in town then next day.

To say that the next 36 hours was a whirlwind would be an understatement. We had 2 baseball games, one over an hour away from our house. I was running all over town to collect things CC still needed to get ready for the market. We had to be at the market super early to get set up and make sure we had everything we need since it was her first one. We rolled right from that into the market itself.

The market was an overall success. We had several people we know come by and support her. She also got really positive feedback from those who came by. She ended up making $205, although she poured most of that into supplies for this week's market.

Crunch time didn't end with the market. When I got home, the pitter I had ordered had finally come so once the girls went to bed, Jeremy and I spent an hour and a half processing cherries. We were a well oiled machine and pitted and prepped for freezing what would end up being just under 8 gallon sized bags worth of cherries.

With the market and the cherries behind us, I could finally finish preparing for my Stake Primary Activity on Saturday. We had a primary "Pioneer Trek to the Temple". We started at the stake center and played pioneer games, made butter, and made candles. We then walked to the Temple and participated in challenges and obstacles along the way.

While I was at my activity, Jeremy took the girls to the West Linn Old Time parade. CC was not feeling well, but was a good sport to be out there so that Elsie was not too shy to go out and grab candy.

I try to tell myself that someday life will slow down and I will miss these times, but right now, I just want to take a nap.

4th of July 2025

Summer rolls on and this week we were able to celebrate the 4th of July. This year all festivities, and most of the week for that matter, revolved around baseball. In addition to 4th of July, this week was also the WL Big Bang Baseball Tournament. This meant that we not only had a game everyday, but we also had to volunteer to do admissions, snack shack, and the scoreboard. On top of that, Merrick started practicing with his new basketball club team. We don't seem to have any shortage of things to keep us busy this summer.

As for the 4th, we continued most of the traditions we have developed over the last couple years. We started the day at the river paddleboarding. We like to get there pretty early so we can get parking and can be wrapping up by the time its getting really crowded. The river didn't disappoint this year. It was an overcast day and on the cooler side, but the water was warm enough and it didn't feel cold out on the water.

When we all had our fill at the river, we headed home for a late lunch and to get ready for some baseball. I'm not sure spending hours at a baseball game is really how I wanted to spend my holiday, but there is something very American about it. In any case, that's where we were. Unfortunately, we did not pull out the win.

After the game, we grabbed some pizza for dinner and headed out to watch fireworks. Merrick went out with Colvin. They rode scooters and chased fireworks around Pete's Mountain. As for the rest of us, like last year, we went down to the Cedaroak boat ramp and went down onto the dock to watch the fireworks. There were many houses along the river putting on displays. We would just turn ourselves in whichever direction fireworks were going off at the moment. Eventually, the girls got too tired, and even though the fireworks were still going strong, we headed home.

It was a fun-filled 4th, not one soon to be forgotten.

Mt. Rainer

 If you noticed my lack of blog post from last week, you may have wondered what caused break in routine. Well, the cause was just that, a break in routine. A couple of weeks ago, Jeremy remembered that he now gets Juneteenth off of work. Since it fell on a Thursday this year, we decided that he should take Friday off, Merrick should play hooky from his sports commitments and we should sneak away. The only problem was figuring out where to go. After considering all the usual favorites, we decided to try somewhere new, Packwood, Washington, a town at the Southern base of Mt. Rainer. 

We headed out Thursday afternoon, after some morning obligations, and arrived in Packwood just in time to grab some pizza for dinner and take an evening walk down to the river. Our house was not right on the river, but did have private river access right around the corner. On our walk, we discovered a beautiful, turquoise Cowlitz  River that was VERY cold. Since the Cowlitz river originates at the Cowlitz Glacier on Rainer, we were very close to the origination point and it definitely felt like Glacier water. The beauty all around us though was truly undeniable.

On Friday, we spent the day at Rainer. We did a little hiking, but mostly stopped and saw all the view points, rivers, and water falls. We also visited the visitors center at Paradise on the mountain. It was really cold at this point and even started to snow. For lunch, we headed to the east side of Rainer. We found a burger spot, went to cute, old time soda and ice cream shop, and bought some Rainer cherries from a roadside stand as is rained off and on. Eventually, we made our way back to our Airbnb. We hunkered in the for night, played some ping-pong and arcade games, and had some cornbread and chili as the rain descended.

Saturday morning, the rain continued. It was supposed to rain throughout the morning so we started the morning with some family games and then decided to check out some shops in town. We visited the local thrift shop and the town mercantile. By this time, the rain had let up and we were able to visit a farmer's market where we picked up some local tamales. With the rain now stopped, we decided to explore the river a little more. Some of us were braver than others with the cold water. Brave that is until we got out and the defrosting set in. We rounded out a great day with a campfire back at our Airbnb complete with roasted hot dogs and s'mores.

Sunday we had to head home, but before we did, we headed back to Rainer for some more hiking and exploring, it was still cloudy so we never got to see all of Rainer in her full glory, but it was clearer on Sunday and we could see just how much snow there was. We took a snowy hike and all of us except Merrick fell on snow. Around 3pm, we started our trek home.

We made it home Sunday evening without incident. It was a magical trip overall. We were able to work around the weather and do and see most everything we wanted, except the full view of Rainer. I guess that means we will just have to go back next summer for that. Oh, darn!