Maren's NY/DC Trip

Wow, This felt like such a fever dream… but all jokes aside this was the best experience of my life. And now for the photo dump that is mostly in order.

This is Larry, I took a bunch of pictures of him but this is the only one that got into the photo dump also this happens to be my first time on a plane. Larry the fish has been with me since 2024, and he has been in my pocket since! We do life together.

this is a one more picture from the plane. It was just a cool experience.

At the end of our trip, we found out that our plane was delayed like 3 hours and it was like 3 in the morning when we boarded, so when everyone was sleeping on the floor. I got a Mod pizza at like 2 in the morning!

This was at Amish town, best pretzel of my life. An Amish family invited us to dinner. Everything was homemade. It was cool because they had the animals that they got the milk and butter from for dinner, so whenever they need a restock, they just make their own ingredients! We taught the kids about 6/7. The family was nice, and the kids were confused by our phones. One of the kids came on the bus and he got to honk the horn. It looked like it was the best experience of his life.

This was the cutest baby goat ever at Amish town, they were everywhere and so cute. I have now seen a baby goat smile, and I have JOY.

Funny story- Emma and I were riding the elevator to get to our room from the pool. There was a person in front of us on his phone. I was being silly and dancing behind him. When we got out of the elevator, Emma turned to me and said, "You know he was on Facetime, right? He saw all of that, and so did the person on the call!." We laughed so hard about that.

This is a photo I found on the web. Sadly, I did not get a picture of myself doing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier ceremony. I was one of two people in my class chosen to do perform the Changing of the Guard. We got the seventh woman ever as the person becoming the new guard. I also dressed up to show respect for this honor. To be considered, I had to learn how they walked and rehearse the steps, write an essay, and take a test. It was a neat experience and I am glad I was able to participate and do it.

This was at the WW2 museum. I don't do it justice when I say it was depressing. I was the first to start getting teary eyed. Seeing all of the photos and artifacts made the whole thing so real.

I got to see the Declaration of Independence, it was neat. but the writing was too fine so I couldn't read it. I can't believe how small their handwriting could be!

This snazzy picture was right above the declaration of independence, but why they had to give him so much steaze is not known to me.

I know what your thinking, "What the what am I looking at?". That's about what I say, too. It was actually a really cool place. We went to a old house with a bunch of secret doors and by what I have heard, there are more then 100 if them. A really rich guy, a million years ago, made a mansion and it is now a museum.

Random thing- it is really funny that me, Addy ,and Ev have all seen some kind of  Minion ad in Times Square!

Ok, just one more pictures of Larry in NY. He was living his best life.

This is the boat that we took to see the Statue of Liberty.

This penguin is Addy's that she got from NY at the Statue of Liberty when she went, so I was on my own mini side quest to get this picture by the statue for Addy.

Idk what this picture is at this point, all I remember is that on this day we went to like 100 memorials in like two seconds. And it was like a million degrees. We were kind of dying. I liked it though. It is important to know that Jefferson's face was creepily watching us over the water.

this is just a cool picture of The Rock. I found a few questionable things on the ground walking through the city. It was all new to me, and it was cool to walk there. There were food trucks everywhere! On street corners you could find two food trucks next to each other selling the exact same thing with the exact same set up. There was also a homeless guy with a pet rat. That was pretty sweet. 

I got this at The Rock...enjoy the nightmares that this will be in. 

 

This was a cool Italian place we went to in Little Italy, I was kind of disappointed at Chinatown and little Italy because it was basically just a tourist trap with little to nothing to do with China or Italy, but this place was cool.

 Story time- so we were just eating and talking when this like little 4 foot tall Italian man comes in and starts absolutely ripping on the key board. We all just got up and conga lined, did the can can, etc. It was wild.

This is just me on the bus passing time.

This was yummy food, but we went there after the plane and bus so we were all just dead tired.

This is just me when we went to the giant indoor greenhouse flower garden, it was a cool time filler. We saw frogs in the leaves, and it was the best.

MAMMA J!!!! we love mamma J. She was our GOATED bus driver that we all love. She had an intercom in the bus for us to make music requests for our extra long bus rides. I still miss her.

Lindsey's Birthday and other Tid Bits

The simple purpose of this blog is to fill in all of the little happenings that make up our daily life. It would be easy to gloss over and forget these events, but there is permanence and magic that comes with journaling.

The blog has been a little bit hit or miss recently, but we are now back on track! 

Lindsey's Birthday

Lindsey turned 12 this month, and that is a milestone that we simply can not miss with this girl. Come with me on a walk down memory lane. Lindsey has always been energetic, happy, chatty, and fun to be around. Here are some highlights:

We must begin with Lindsey's head. It is legitimately the perfect round shape. No joke, I think this is Logan's favorite part of her. He will often be heard saying, even today, "Lindsey, I like your head." This may sound extremely weird, but it has an affection to it that can't be matched. It is a thing that just is. Lindsey has a nice head.

I love Lindsey's smile. It lights up EVERYthing and it always has. 

Since L could walk, she has been outside. Often she can be found out in the snow, or on the trampoline. She doesn't like to sit still, and outside is her happy place. I remember being very happy when she could put her snow clothes on by herself because her constant need to be outside necessitated a lot of outfit changes.

At two years old I would always have a list of words the kids could say because the doctor would inevitably ask how many words were spoken by the age of two (50 was the benchmark). All of the kids hit this mark just right, and I estimated over 600 words for our sweet Lindz at her two year check up.

Lindz was extremely mischievous and always up to something. This is one of our many Hiawatha trail rides, and Lindsey had just thrown her shoe 250 feet down the ravine. Logan was able to retrieve it, but these shenanigans were pretty par for the course!

Look Dad! I am a burrito! Linsey has always had a 'thing' for her blanket. The blanket has changed over the years... but the 'thing' has not.

This girl is a fish. She could live in the water full time. She misses our boat more than anyone else and will still occasionally bring up boating memories.

Lindsey full accepted the challenge of keeping up with her siblings. She was climbing around the time she first started to walk. I found these shoes recently and they are tinier than the palm of my hand. 

This picture fully shows who is the little boss in our family. Lindsey would run everything if she could. She is also, to this day, one of the most responsible kids.

This girlie marches to her own drum. Base layers? What are those? I have seen everything from crop tops to tutus under this girls ski gear! 

 

Don't let this cuteness fool you. It must be said that this girl could be nicknamed 'dropsy' for the absentminded craziness that is Lindsey. She leaves a lovely trail wherever she goes. On the bright side, She is never hard to find!

Lindz has been doing Irish for a while now. This picture shows her poise and confidence that she carries with her everywhere she goes, and I am excited to sit back and watch her grow and rock this thing called life.

Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me. We love you Lindz!

Lindsey had a fun sleepover birthday party in Wallace. She had a rainbow theme that incorporated painting on canvases, and creating their own birthday cakes. These girls have all been friends forever, and it is a good time when they are together.

Recently, Lindsey told me that she hates the sound of silence, and whenever it is quiet she will talk. This totally tracks! Remember how she used over 600 words by the age of two? She uses her words often, and if I ever want someone to talk to, she is a good 'go to!'

Maren came up with the perfect present for Lindsey! She took her to the mall for the afternoon and they got their nails done together and went out for ice cream. This picture of Maren and Lindsey makes my heart happy!

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Adalie kept me company while the girls had their Wallace sleepover. I introduced Addy to The Fainting Goat. It did not disappoint. 

While we were in Wallace, Jackson took the opportunity to invite Aurora, Jocelyn, and Seth over for an epic Dungeon and Dragons sleepover. No pictures were taken, but plenty of sweet and salty snacks were consumed, and D and D reigned. 

Huckleberries!

Huckleberries are finally here! We have ventured into the mountains multiple times so far, and we have yet to be disappointed. Huckleberries are scarce this year, but the excitement of the hunt is wonderful!

Climbing

It is still fun having Marissa and her family living close by! We climb together as often as we can manage to get away! I recently went indoor climbing with Adalie and Maren. We have a blast, but didn't get any pictures. Drat!

Theater

We have seen a few plays in the last two weeks:

On a whim, we decided to go see Next to Normal: In Concert at Stage Left Theater. I have had this one on my radar for a long time since this play has stuck with me. We didn't know what to expect with the in concert part, but Stage Left did not disappoint. They never do!

Adalie went to see Tuck Everlasting with her friend, Faith. "It was pretty great and better than I expected. I had a wonderful night out." -Adalie

Come From Away has been a favorite since Logan and I first saw it on Broadway. We shared it with our family when it came to Spokane, and It was Adalie's top play for a long time. It has a special place in our hearts, and last Sunday, I had the opportunity to interpret for the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theater's version with a great team. The cast did a great job, and I loved every minute of prepping for this one. It was a fun challenge due to the quick dialogue and song/speaking style. CDA Summer Theater provides an interpreted performance for every show they do. It is wonderful having them in our community! Titanic: the Musical is coming up soon!

Out with Jack

Jack took ME out! he wanted to say thank you for everything that I do for him. He is a pretty cool guy. Thanks Jack!

Leavenworth

Evelyn's Trip in her own words:

Hey, this is Evelyn. Josh and I went on a trip to Leavenworth this last weekend. We slept at the trailhead of Colchuck Lake, and then got up in the morning to hike the five miles to the lake. It was gorgeous, as usual, but about halfway up, Josh saw a bear ahead of us, with red in its mouth, looking right at him. We backed away slowly, and it paralleled the trail following us. It eventually passed by us and was on its way, but it was definitely pretty scary. Part of it was really cool though. The lake was so much prettier than I remember, and we had lunch before coming down again. After the hike we went to Leavenworth to walk around some shops, and then we had a Bavarian Pretzel in an outside restaurant that looked on to Main Street. It was a very fun trip, and hard to summarize into just one paragraph, and we had a ton of fun, and I really loved getting to show him one of the coolest areas I have been in!

Have a good week!