glacier

This weekend we finally bit the bullet and took the kiddos camping. While we camped a ton last summer when Sol was more or less immobile, we didn't make it out this past summer. There's so much to weigh. Weather conditions. Car time. Sleep saga. Life with two little children is a ton of work when you have running water and nightlights. Why would we add to that stress?

Because of this.



Just a few hours from our casita. It was the first weekend of fall. The aspens and larch were spinning their golden threads. The mornings were down jacket chilly. But the days were pretty much awesome.

We're all getting into this paddle boarding thing. It's the first time I've actually "recreated" as much as my husband on a weekend away. The kids love it too.


It's so peaceful. Standing strong on that board. Watching the fish jump, peering deep into the blue depths, staring into the craggy peaks like they're a second home.


We also had a few new items to try out. Like the van. She hasn't taken a three hour road trip yet. And she's a rockstar. It's amazing how much easier it is to travel with kids when I can get to them easily, whenever they need me (which, I'll add, is kinda a lot...).

After years and years of hurling my body into the backseat of my tiny, ancient Honda, bum wedged between massive carseats, the van feels like absolute luxury. We also secured a new tent at an end of season sale a while back. Again, after years in the two man, this happy orange number had us all sound and secure.

Of course, it's all fun and games until it's time to go to sleep. Sol was way over tired and hurling his little body around the tent while I tried and tried to calm him, tried to sing his songs, tried to get him to settle.

He's been officially off-the-boob for a week, so books and songs are my only tickets to ride. Jeff sent me on a water mission so I could cool out, my frustration and anxiety mounting. When I came back it was silent. Go dad. We actually managed to hang around the fire for a few hours before we did the Kessler sandwich sleep, me blissfully nuzzled between a downy boy and a dreadlocked girl.

While there was plenty of sadness wrapped up in easing Solomon off the boob, the cuddling that has replaced nursing is out of this world. He's one sweet little monkey. And he's actually managing to sleep some solid stretches. It was time. And as always seems to be the case with children, the next best thing replaces the last best thing and then some.


At the end of the day, the kids were awesome. So up for adventure. So into building rock castles (Els) and exploring every last inch of foliage, picking up every last pebble (Sol). Don't get me wrong, there were moments, to be sure. It's funny, not so much with Sol who at home is the one who wears me down a bit more. In the great outdoors, there's less havoc for him to cause. The lake was shallow and low, so I didn't worry about him going out too far. We were far from cars. He slept through the campfire. And he spent plenty of the weekend strapped into a carseat.

Els was the one prone to a bit more moodiness, a bit more drama. She "missed her little house" and was dying to get back to the Halloween costumes her Gran had sent the day we left.

That said, they burst in the doors when we returned and within minutes they had destroyed the house. Solomon was climbing the window (really...it's insane), after he'd already sat in Lucy's water dish, ate dogfood, unfurled the toilet paper roll, thrown a few toy baskets around the room, blown out of his diaper....you get the idea. Eliana sits in the middle of this chaos dressed as Buzz Lightyear pouring over a haggard Halloween costume catalogue, talking about Princess Leia versus Princess Jasmine, pondering aloud the merits of being Buzz Lightyear or maybe Belle while she wistfully flips through the pages. She's so heady, so lost in thought, so ready to bust out with the most random, but thoroughly eloquent comment at any point. Out of nowhere from the backseat we heard her say something like this: Hey guys. If I still have some treat and none of the chocolate is melted, I'll be sure to share some with my friends...

And then to Jeff when they were on the paddle board together, while looking out at the insane mountains of Glacier National Park, Dadda? Did God make this?

Ah how I would love to get lost in her thoughts...



It's so good to remember that it's always better just to do it. Just to take the risk. Just to bite the bullet. I sit here looking at these pictures filled with gratitude. For those two days together. For being so in the moment with my three most beloved people.