Bonding Time: Hiking

Since it has been a mild Winter, I wanted to take my nature loving boy out hiking one day in the hills.

Jr. Jr. and I took the afternoon on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 19, since he didn't have school, and we hiked up to Battle Creek Falls. We took binoculars and the birding camera with us.

Just up from the parking area, we heard scritch-scratching in the underbrush, which I would have assumed was a spotted towhee but I could see robins, so not a spotted towhee (be careful about assuming). Jr. Jr. has really good eyes when it comes to spotting things so he helped me notice the bird that was not a robin. I got a look at it in the underbrush with binoculars and this is how things come out of my mouth since I'm a birder-

Me: You're right. That's not a robin. That's a thrush! Robins are actually thrushes but this one... if it has a reddish tail, it's a hermit thrush. Do you see the tail?

Jr. Jr. confirmed the reddish tail (I would use the term "rufous"). 

I love birding.

Besides the birds, we also enjoyed the hike together. We had plenty to talk about, including the ice we kept seeing in the stream and the water flowing under the ice. 

Nature's cool, man.

 

We made it all the way up to the falls and a little above the falls before turning around. I only slipped twice, once on the way up, once on the way down, both in the same location. Ha. Nothing scary. 

When we got back down to where we saw the hermit thrush on the way up, we saw it again with the robins. It decided it would be a good sport and posed in a tree so I could get some good pictures of it. I was very pleased with it sitting there for so long.

Jr. Jr. and I enjoyed that time together. I love that we have that love of nature in common.

  

I love bonding time! 

 

Earlier that day, I got out for my morning walk at the park with the Christmas lights. The city says they're going to leave them up until Valentine's Day like they did last year.

Lucky, Nichole, and I made cheese ball that day, too. Nichole shaped it into a witch's hat. It didn't last long. Mmmmm, cheese ball. 

 

January 19 was also Whisper "I Love You" Day. There was plenty of that going around. It was National Popcorn Day. The kids had popcorn. It was also Brew a Potion Day. We had hot chocolate and I told everyone to put whatever they wanted into or on it.

 

The next day, January 20, was Penguin Awareness Day. Jet and I watched "Surf's Up" together. I haven't watched that in a while. It was fun.

  

My Outside Time Has Changed a Bit

Now that the kids are back in school, I'm not able to get out in the dark with the Christmas lights at the park as easily so morning walks are a bit different.

Yesterday morning after dropping kids off at school, I went for a short walk around Riverview Park. The sun was shining nicely on the river so I of course had to go take a look (and a couple of pictures).

I got this picture then all of a sudden I saw a great blue heron flying along the river and into the trees farther downstream. How cool. I didn't even realize it was there but when I looked very closely and zoomed in a lot on my picture, I could see it toward the left side of the river. How fun.

I'm glad I chose that park and visited the river while I was there.

 

Since that day, January 6, was National Cuddle Up Day, Jet and I got to cuddle up to read together.

Since it was also National Bean Day, I made black beans and rice for dinner. Then I made cornbread to go with it. Then I threw together some fruits and vegetables and we had a balanced dinner. Woohoo.

 

This morning instead of going for a walk in a park, I decided to celebrate National Bobblehead Day and Old Rock Day, January 7, in a similar manner to how I used to celebrate. I used to go for drives and take pictures of Jr.'s bobblehead with mountains in the background because mountains are old rocks. Since we've had such a mild Winter so far, I just drove right up into the hills and went for a short walk on a hiking trail. The bobblehead went hiking with me.

I got distracted, of course, when I heard scritch-scratching in the brush. It was most likely a spotted towhee based on location and what I know of behavior. I heard one call later. I didn't bring binoculars or the good camera so I didn't get a look at it. That's okay. It was still fun celebrating actually being among the old rocks.

Have I mentioned that I live in a beautiful place? 

Fall Break 2025

When Jeremy is on trips (quite a few this year), he misses a lot (including us and we miss him, too). One thing we've made sure to do as a family, though, is when Jeremy is traveling, he calls in the morning and night for family prayer over the phone. Sometimes he joins in for family scripture study as well. It's important to keep that gospel foundation strong for our family even when we're separated.

 

Since Jeremy was gone so long on this last trip to South Carolina, he also missed Fall Break.

 

Slumber Party!

When our older children were little we had a tradition of having a slumber party the night before Fall Break or Spring Break. We'd watch movies or play video games then all sleep out in the living room together. Over time, we had less people sleep in the living room after our "party" and eventually the tradition kind of fizzled out.

After many years we brought it back this Fall Break with watching a movie and playing MarioKart while eating muffins. Only a few opted to sleep out in the living room but we did have good bonding time while we were up.

October 15 was National Mushroom Day so I wore my pajamas that have mushrooms on them and Jr. Jr. commented: That's why Jet didn't want me to have mush room on the couch. 

P.S. For dinner earlier we made shawarma for Shawarma Day.

 

The next day, we had leftovers for dinner for World Food Day on October 16.

We got some snuggles in before Nichole and I went to a Relief Society activity to paint pumpkins. 

Normally I'm hands on involved in the activities (remember the sourdough?) but this time I was content to just sit and socialize. I also was able to praise Nichole's pumpkin painting. 

 

I got Kiki's Delivery Service vibes from it and not necessarily the movie. Isn't it so cute?

 

Fall Break Fun!

I hiked up Big Springs area with the kiddos. We'd been wanting to for a while and finally got the chance. We even had sun that day. 

A couple times, Jet and I took pictures of each other. This is how they turned out. 

Jr. Jr. pointed out to me how in Jet's picture the first time, Jr. Jr. was standing by me. In the other picture that I took, Jr. Jr. was standing by Jet. Ha Ha. Clever noticing. 

When we got home we had pasta to celebrate... National Pasta Day.

The mountains were gorgeous at sunset.

I love nature and I love living here and I especially love my children. 

 

The two oldest and I had some bonding time watching a movie one evening. While we watched, Jet watched Kiki's Delivery Service in a different room. I think he heard our conversation about Nichole's pumpkin.

 

Jet requested going to the library during Fall Break so on October 20, he and I went together. He was so well behaved. He followed directions. He stayed with me. We did a children's activity in the children's wing with pumpkin emotions. He got to play in the children's area and when it was time to move on to gather books on my list, he didn't put up a stink about it. He was quiet in the quiet areas, even when we had to get a book from the quietest area in the library. He was very good at whispering. We watched construction on the new courtyard/greenhouse area. He helped me check out our books and did a good job. I am so proud of him.

He did not yell, "Tractor!" in the middle of the library. Once we got out to the van, he was able to. "Tractor! Burninating the countryside..." For those that get the reference, he yells, "Trogdor!" but thinks it's "Tractor!" If you listen to Strong Bad from Homestar Runner, it does kind of sound like "Tractor."

Since October 20 was International Sloth Day, Jet requested a book about koalas. Why not?

I love bonding time with my children. And I love how this Fall Break went.

Our Vacation, Thy Creations, and Our Relations- Part 10

Cow Appreciation Day was July 9. As we were driving, I called out, "We appreciate you," a few times to cows we were passing. Tee Hee.

 

Road Trip! 

We decided a couple days before that day that since we were in Washington, we could go to Mount Rainier National Park using Lucky's National Parks Pass. We also found out that now you have to have timed reservations to get into certain areas of the park... between certain hours. All our kids are used to us getting them up early for trips, so we were able to get to the park early enough we got in no problem. 

 

Welcome to Jurassic Park, err... Mt Rainier National Park.

Jeremy's parents came with us and it was nice to share that experience with them. It reminded me of when we went to Yellowstone with them in 2017. I visited Mount Rainier once when I was a child and it was so foggy, we could only see glimpses of the mountain from time to time while we were walking around. This trip the sky was so clear, we could see so much. It was gorgeous.

We took so many pictures (with our phones and our Nikon camera) that it's hard to narrow down which to put on this post so bear with me.

We got some tips from Utah's Adventure Family about places to go and Jeremy did some research so we had a plan. We went up the Paradise Corridor through the Nisqually (Southwest) Entrance to the park. It's a good thing we went in the morning as it got busier and busier throughout the day. We didn't do some of the things we planned to do and that's okay. We had a full day with what we did.

 

Christine Falls

Ricksecker Point

 

Narada Falls

See the fence toward the top left of this picture?

That's where we are standing in this next picture. And you can see the bridge I took that last picture from at the top right of this picture.

It was a short hike for this waterfall. Jeremy, Lucky, and I decided to go down and back up and it was pleasant. The mist felt so good.

We told our other kids when we got back up that we got a picture of the waterfall. This is the picture. Tee Hee.

 

Nisqually Vista Trail

Look at that smile. Jeremy was happy to be there.

We got to see where the Nisqually River comes from the Nisqually Glacier.

It was definitely a hike, including hiking across snow on the trail that had not yet melted.

How Nichole takes a break in the middle of hiking

How Jeremy takes a break in the middle of hiking

 

Lunch Break

We stopped at yet another overlook (we stopped at so many).

Look. It's Narada Falls again but from a very different angle.

 

Reflection Lake

At first we thought the lake was too choppy to see the reflection, then we reached a point where people were going right up to the edge of the lake to take pictures and when I went there, I could see why. There was a still part right at the edge protected from the wind blowing across the rest of the lake. There was the reflection.

Longmire Museum. 

Outside the museum was a cross section/tree slice (aka cookie) showing different historical events during the tree's life. That was cool.

The museum also had a gift shop. My father-in-law likes any excuse to get me slug themed items (slugs are my thing). They are easier to find in the Pacific Northwest. Go figure. He got me a banana slug plushie which Jet immediately claimed. I'm happy to share. The boys named it Timothy. Jet took his hat off (which he also claimed. It's actually Jr.'s hat) and put it on Timothy but when we got back in the van he took the hat off and said, "No, banana slug. That's not your hat," while pointing his finger at Timothy in a scolding manner. Heh Heh.

It was a long but wonderful day.

 

I'll share more of our wonderful vacation later.