Mount St. Helen’s Or Bust!

Another big day of driving took us to northern Oregon and into Washington.  We enjoyed the open scenery dotted with volcanic mountains, and also figured out that gas stations pumping gas is a thing here (we were much less nervous the second time it happened:-).  Multnomah Falls outside of Portland was our first destination of the day.  We were disappointed to find the 3-mile trail to the top of the Falls was closed due to a previous forest fire.  So we joined the masses to stroll to the bridge below the falls.  It was pretty, but not worth the time it took to get there and battle for a parking spot.  
Bridge in the background 

Picture from the bridge

After being disappointed by the falls, we were anxious for a real adventure and made haste to Mount St. Helen’s.  The National Park was well off the beaten path, but so worth the drive!  It was amazing to see the forest change from thick evergreen trees to baby trees and grasses that have started to regrow in the eruption zone.  

Forest just outside of the eruption zone

We raced to the top and were disappointed by clouds covering the top of the crater.  

The desolation and beauty was breathtaking.  Logs and stumps were artifacts of the eruption and were surrounded by wildflowers in blooms.  

 We rushed into the visitor center 15 minutes before closing and wished for more time.  Before we knew it, the doors were being locked and  we were forced to point the minivan to Olympia, our stop for the night.  

It was another long day of driving, but we all thoroughly enjoyed Mount St. Helen and hope to hike to Spirit Lake on our next visit. 

Crater Lake—here we come!

The first day of major driving was suddenly upon us, and I won’t mince words—I didn’t love it😳.  We made it out of the busyness of the Bay Area, observed forest fires in Winters, stopped for lunch and samples at the Olive Pit in Corning before hunkering down for the long trek to southern Oregon and Crater Lake.  We stopped for dinner at a brewery in Klamath Falls.  Dinner was followed by a Walmart stop for supplies, and people watching. There’s nothing like a trip to Walmart to sample the local culture😜.  We were only more perplexed when our stop for gas resulted in what appeared to be a motorcycle gang running the gas station.  They pumped our gas and made friendly conversation.  We were relieved to make it out unscathed!

Crater Lake National Park was another 45 minute drive.  We pulled in around 7PM and made our way to Watchman Tower for a 0.8 mile hike to an old fire lookout tower.  The tower sits on the crater of this ancient volcano.  We were quickly losing sanity and enjoyed stretching our legs, throwing some snowballs, and learning about the history of this scenic spot.  (The lake started forming in a crater of a volcano that collapsed during an eruption 7700 years ago.  It’s the deepest lake in the U.S. and the cleanest lake in the world!)

We had to dig out pants and sweatshirts—the temperature dropped from 85 in Klamath Falls to 60 at Crater Lake!



The center island (Wizard Island) was a smaller volcano that was active after the larger volcano collapsed.  

We pulled into the Eagle Inn at Crater Lake around 9PM and collapsed in the quarky, but clean A-frame cabin.  Sounds of trains and trucks dotted our night, but we were thankful for soft mattresses, cool night air, and a reprieve from the minivan:-)

The Bolthouse’s Take Over SF

Vacation kicked off with 60 hours in the Bay Area.  We invaded Phil and Caroline’s Nicasio retreat like settlers headed west in a wagon train....our wagon just happened to be a Chrysler minivan.  The boys were up at the crack of dawn and their highest priority the first day was taking a dip in the pool regardless of water or air temperature.  

We followed up swimming and breakfast with a trip to the city with the Bolthouse clan from Novato.  The boys were thrilled with the drive down curvy Lombard street, and the Dad’s didn’t seem to sweat the drive too much either.  We landed at Pier 33 for a tour of Alcatraz.  Upon landing on the island, the mamas were overwhelmed with juxtaposition of beautiful blooming flowers against the backdrop of crumbling prison walls.  Of course this resulted in the mama’s desire to capture the children in picture perfect poses....and the children preferred to act like monkeys and decorate each other’s heads with rabbit ears😫.  

Sweet Kendalle was very cooperative:-)

The boys’ favorite part came when we actually enetered the prison.  They ate up the audio tour that featured tales of Al Capone, solitary confinement cells and the infamous escape of three prisoners.

It all served as a great lesson of why we obey laws!  Nobody liked the idea of living there permanently.  

Back at Pier 33 and ready for some lunch!

We headed back to Nicasio after our city adventure for swimming and dinner at the village bar and grill.  Dinner was followed with an impromptu game of baseball on the village ball field.  The phrase “There’s no crying in baseball!” was uttered just a few times:-). 

Our second day didn’t didn’t take us far, but was filled with fun!  The boys took another morning swim, which we followed with a hike in a redwood grove near Nicasio.  

The grandeur of these trees took our breath away, and the shade they provided protected us from the morning heat.  

We followed up hiking with an afternoon at the pool.  The boys took breaks from swimming to catch lizards.  Caroline outdid herself with a pulled pork dinner, which we followed with another game of baseball.  
Everyone loved riding to the village baseball diamond in the open air of Uncle Phil’s truck.  Todd, Darin, John and Kenny took on Deanna, Sarah, Jacob and Nolan with Phil filling in where needed.  It was an exciting 3-inning matchup that resulted in the mom’s team being victorious with a score of 11-8.  

We loved our time in the Bay Area with our Bolthouse family.  It was a great way to kick off our summer adventure!

Flying to San Francisco is just like a game of poker

It’s the first day of another trip, and while it’s only the afternoon, the race to get everyone and everything ready has me exhausted.  I was up with the roosters to weed the garden and mow before badgering the boys to eat a high protein breakfast and complete their daily worksheet (no sleepy summer brains in this house!). After dropping the boys at sports camp it was a race through the morning before picking them up early from camp to head to the airport.  

The air conditioned car lulled two boys to sleep and we were at the airport in no time.  Navigating the check-in, parking, security and boarding process is a piece of standardized work I developed years ago, so you can imagine my dismay when the security screeners asked all food to be removed from carry on bags.  WHAT!?  Since when is this a thing?  I was horrified at the prospect of this for a couple of reasons:  1) the general public being exposed to the ridiculous quantity of food in my backpack and 2)the thought of my three, ravenous boys seeing the buffet of food available to them.  

The ridiculous amount of food can be attributed to the ridiculous flight.  We were supposed to fly direct from Denver to San Francisco, only to have our direct flight turn to a connecting DEN-SEA-SFO flight.  Two legs of flying with dinner falling in the middle—the quantity of food three hungry boys will need from 2pm-8pm is alarming.  And so, you could find me pulling out cheese sticks, meat sticks, granola bars, apples, carrots, bagels and PB&Js.  I felt ridiculous piling the bounty atop my flip flops in the security tray.  

Beyond the embarrassment of perfect strangers judging, I had three very interested boys assessing the loot.  “Granola Bars!”   “MEAT STICKS!!!”  Jacob called it out like the Broncos players being announced before a home game.  And with this went any leverage I had.  The gig was up.  The boys knew all of the cards in my hand.  I was like a poker player who had dropped my cards in the middle of a game.  

The trio fortunately forgot all about the buffet in a backpack upon boarding the tricked out Airbus plane that would fly us west.  Each had their own interactive screen with movies, shows and maps—oh my!  Needless to say, we didn’t hear a peep the entire flight, and their biggest concern with changing planes in Seattle was whether the next plane would have the same amenities.  Cheers to vacation...and the technology that makes that vacation bearable.  Seriously—roadtrip bingo and the license plate game is for the birds!

Two Weeks on a Farm

Two weeks, 3 boys, and a farm.  What a perfect equation for happiness.   There is nothing like summer on the farm and each summer is unique as the boys change.  Nerf guns are always a hit, as are the chickens and Grandma’s farm cats, Little Bit and Big Boy.  Chicken eggs, camping and biking were new to the mix this year!  

Minnows and a monster tadpole were also included in the minagere of farm pets this year.  Fastie Tad Tadpole (named by John) was corralled in the creek on Day 1.  He spent the next two weeks confined in either a five gallon bucket or a kiddie pool, being hand fed fish food Grandma passed off as tadpole food.  The farm cats took particular interest in Fastie early on, which led to him becoming a tadpole refugee on the enclosed back porch.  Fastie’s freedom was won at the end of two weeks, thanks to my insistance that Colorado tadpoles are of a different species and Fastie wouldn’t be suited to the high dessert climate of Colorado😂.  The boys reluctantly bought this tall tale and Grandma chauffeured the trio of Jacob, John and Fastie to the Ledges for a final goodbye.  Grandma said she had never seen two more forlorn-looking boys😭.  

Also new this summer was camping out with Grandpa in the treehouse!   The stakes were high—for this was the treehouse of my childhood built in the tree my Grandma planted as a girl.  All manner of sleeping bags, pillows and snacks were involved, as were box fans and padding for Grandpa.   Night 1 was such a hit that the boys and Grandpa (adding more padding to his bedroll) opted to camp out the next night too—through a thunderstorm no less!  Grandpa secured a special spot in heaven, but more importantly in the boys’ hearts.  

The brave backyard campers 

All this fun didn’t come without a cost, and this year it was man-eating mosquitos and nasty black nats.  Jacob and I seemed to contract the biggest bites, or maybe they just itched the most?  One thing about Iowa—there is no lack of concoctions to ward off mosquitos.  Victoria’s Secret’s vanilla body spray is always a go-to.  The first weekend found Grandpa measuring out a mixture of mouthwash, salt and water, running it through the blender, and spraying it around the yard.  Fareway, the local grocer, was also stocking a new product we lovingly referred to as “the brown bottle bug spray” which was the far and away winner!  Everyone was talking about the brown bottle—even the librarian recommended it when I shared my bug bite woes.  

Rivaling the bugs were the storms.  There’s nothing I love more than a good Iowa thunderstorm, but this year’s storms pushed the envelope of enjoyment with their frequency and intensity.  We had 5 days of thunderstorms in a row.  A Colorado-like hail storm left us pacing on the front porch as we watched the trees, garden, fields, and my car take a beating.  A few days later it was torrential rains, which left roads and fields flooded.  My respect for farmers and fear of the storms only grew as I read about and EF5 tornado which struck the local farm town of Jordan 50 years earlier.  The entire town and surrounding farms were destroyed.  The anniversary of the tornado had everyone remembering; my Grandparents stood outside and watched from about 3 miles away, and then Grandpa helped with the cleanup.  There’s no doubt that Iowans are a sturdy and big-hearted folk.

A big part of every trip home is reconnecting with these sturdy, big-hearted people of my youth.  The boys got to meet my lunch lady, Mrs. Tripp, who ran the United Community School kitchen like a great general.  We also bumped into Mrs. Good, my junior high English teacher, at the grocery store.  She assured the boys their mommy was so much fun and received blank stares in return.  We had a game of bowling with my childhood friend and her kids, ran into a sorority sister at the pool, a few high school classmates at a different pool, had picnics with both sides of the family, swimming with cousins, and Friday night pizza at Great Grandpa Erb’s house with Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins.

The kids bowled, while Jessica and I chatted up a storm

These cousins love the old fire truck at Brookside Park

Our favorite people who get the biggest hugs are cousin Ella (age 20 months) who found her cousins intriguing and exhibited a marked shift in behavior when in their presence, trading dolls for guns and soft spoken words for shrieks of enthusiasm.  

Playing crack the egg

Kenny pushing Ella through the puddles at the Ledges

Great Grandpa is another favorite.  We bring him endless entertainment and sore ears (the last thing a hearing aid-wearing person needs is a trio or rowdy boys nearby!)  He leaves us with a sugar high (his candy dish is never empty) and great quips for the boys’ childhood.  News of a lost tooth is always met with Great Grandpa’s response, “You’ve been kissin’ girls again!?”

Grandma and Grandpa are our all-time favorite Iowans.  They stock the cupboards with tasty treats and the yard with fun toys.  They’re always up for listening to elementary jokes/riddles, and they never tire of cuddling up for a kid’s movie.  They bike and boat and wade to give their grandsons adventures and nurture a love for the place we all love—the fruited plains of Iowa.  

Biking the High Bridge trail from Madrid to Woodward

Catching minnows at the Ledges State Park

When the Tooth Fairy FAILS!

School is out.  Summer travel has started, and with it comes an acceleration of losing teeth.  The Bolthouse Boys seem to have a propensity for losing teeth on the road.  We’ve had three lost teeth on camping trips and about five at Grandma’s House.  As if traveling as a family of five isn’t stressful enough, I find myself having to play tooth fairy on the road.

Of all the responsibilities that accompany motherhood, the tooth fairy is one that has eluded me.  The tales I have spun to explain away the Bolthouse Tooth Fairy’s failures would impress even Mark Twain.  It goes something like this....

Bolthouse boy loses tooth.  Tooth is placed under pillow (in tent, or other non-home bed).  Tooth Fairy (aka MOM) forgets to swipe the tooth and plant the money.  Bolthouse Boy awakens, disappointed at presence of tooth and absence of money.  Bolthouse Boy expresses disappointment to Mom.  Bolthouse Mom seamlessly makes up excuse explaining away the Tooth Fairy’s failure, usually something like, “Oh no!  The Tooth Fairy probably went to our house.  She’ll find you tonight!”😬.  Bolthouse Mom then spends the remainder of the day startled by the thought of yet again failing at the role of Tooth Fairy.  

There are variations to the above story.  One time the Grandma Tooth Fairy left money without removing the tooth, expecting the Mommy Tooth Fairy to finish the job.  Of course the M.T.F. completely forgot and a confused Bolthouse Boy wanted to know why he had money and a tooth under his pillow.  This introduced the idea of a tooth fairy for each state, along with statutes for which tooth fairy gets to keep the tooth.  It all seemed like a great cover until the Colorado Tooth Fairy couldn’t find the tooth on the second night, assumed it lost, and planted the money only to have a toothless Bolthouse Boy find the “lost” tooth under his bed the next day.  

Each tooth lost leaves the Bolthouse Tooth Fairy fewer chances to get it right.  But I’m thinking the two-night Tooth Fairy method will just be the norm in our family.  Other Tooth Fairies sprinkle glitter and leave elaborate notes with their money....our Tooth Fairy can be known as directionally challenged.  It seems a logical explanation for a family always on the go!?

Whew—I can finally sleep soundly tonight—right after I replace the latest lost tooth with $2.  Waiting three nights for the tooth fairy would surely drive the toothless Bolthouse Boy into counseling!

And just to be sure Mommy/Colorado Tooth Fairy is on task, Grandma/Iowa Tooth Fairy left a little reminder on the bed😂

Royal Wedding Watch

Call us crazy, but we had the best time watching the royal wedding LIVE!  Hats and a traditional English spread made crawling out of bed at 4am a little easier.  
Lemon shortbread and blackberry Brie bites paired perfectly with English breakfast tea

Kristin and I (along with our hubbies) had a wedding pre-party with the English band, The Struts.