A change in perspective

A few weeks ago I got an email from my friends saying they were selling their canoe and car.  Bubba and I usually check in with each other about big purchases, but I wanted that canoe!  I could see big adventures, and I jumped at it.  Bubba was skeptical at first, but over the past few weeks has gotten really excited.

(As an aside, this is one of the reasons we're so good together-I get excited about a new idea, and he is skeptical.  He either talks me out of doing something really off the wall or really big, or we start something really fun or really big.  My excitements are not usually small.  For example, buying a canoe.  Or a business.)

But then we brought the canoe home, and the first thing he does is see if he can haul it with his bike.  And, yes, he can.  Not well, however.  He will no doubt be refining his system.

How is he the sensible one???

And then we had to be patient, since he went back to work, but finally today we tried out our new canoe.  And thank goodness!  We had a crappy night last night, and were in crappy moods this morning, and then we started loading the canoe.  Onto the car.

We drove to a put in at the Fremont Canal literally a 3 minute drive from our house.  We got onto the water, and forgot all about our tired crappiness.  Because how awesome is this?

And how often do you see the Ballard Bridge from down here?

Usually I'm up top trying to relax because there's nothing I can do about being late and stuck in traffic while the bridge is up.  

Taking a running break

Snacktime for these hungry ones

Getting more comfortable

Getting a little too comfortable (at times)

Back on land

I thought we'd be out for an hour or two, but by the time we got back, it was 4 hours, and 4 happy moods later.  And to top it off, on the way home, really, in the 3 minutes we spent in the car, Aspen asked why we drove since we weren't going very far.  I think that might have been the highlight of Bubba's day.

So worth the effort

Something I've thought a lot about recently is life, happiness, effort and children.  Those dang kiddos make everything so much harder!  But they bring whole new levels of emotion and meaning to everything for me.  So this year, we're putting lots more effort into getting outside, and it's been so fun.

We just got back from our first camping trip of the year, and our longest trip so far (3 nights-wootwoot!).  We went to Mineral Park campground, just outside of North Cascades National Park, with 2 really good friends.  They brought the Vanagon, while we slept in tents, which the kids love.

Breakfast in the Westie, with Aspen's baby

We talked about going out for a hike, but decided to play on a toddler-friendly scale.  We hiked around our camps, ate salmonberries and huckleberries, took naps.

River "hopping" around camp.

Hunting and eating berries is serious business to Aspen

berry-finding 

River's hungry face

I'm really glad we kept our goals super small.  This was River's first camping trip since he was 8 months old, and I think just living outside for 3 days was enough for him to acclimate to, without the grown ups having a bigger agenda.

Laura telling River about plants

Bubba and Aspen peeking in a tree cave

The kids found the days exhausting, and needed more food than usual.  Sleep too.  It took a little while to realize that.  I've started keeping notes of our trips outside, hoping to learn from the past.

So we slung up a hammock for resting and a slack line for playing.

At least, that was what we thought.  Aspen had other ideas...

Laura helping Aspen walk on the slack line

Bubba came back from taking Aspen to the bathroom with a story: she had stopped in the middle of the path, and he told her she could go ahead.  Aspen says "Daddy, I can't, because I'm scared of that," pointing to a deer 15 feet away from her.  Aspen's biggest nature experience to date.  The deer hung around our camp quite a bit that night, and we saw him a lot.  He was young, and has a lot to learn, that deer.

River's first marshmallow

Aspen with a "classic" smore

On our way out there, I saw a smoke shop, but it was old, and I thought it said Smore Shop.  And a new dessert fad was born!  After the kids went to bed, we tried out all kinds of smores for my new business venture: classic smore with dark chocolate, dark chocolate with gingersnap, graham cracker with salted caramel peanut butter chocolate truffle-you'd think it would have been too much, but no, it was amazing.  We'll have to work on coming up with different combinations in our future trips.

Napping baby, snuggly forest floor, peach and a book.  How awesome is that?

And then River surprised us by coming out of the tent after his nap.  Apparently he learned how to work the zipper.

It was hard to get out, and we got back the day Bubba had to go back to work, but I'm so glad we went.