October part 1 (Lassen Volcanic National Park)

October brought more distance learning for Matthew (kindergarten) and continued homeschooling for Adaline (2nd grade). By now we had thoroughly proven my hypothesis that virtual learning wasn't going to work for Matthew. Instead of watching the live zoom with his class, I started watching the videos/reading the assignments myself and then going through the activity with him. It was better, but he still had certain types of assignments that he simply refused to do, and what power do I really have to force him? So we did what we could, let a lot of things slide, and didn't worry about it too much. This was also right around the time he started reading the first Harry Potter book on his own, so academics have never really been my concern with him-it's all about those social skills.

My "directed drawing" one day. I was so proud of it!

He is kind enough to frequently read to his siblings. I got so lucky.

General Conference cinnamon rolls per Adaline's request. I tried to avoid this tradition, but it happened anyway. 

Matthew has become quite the cook. He makes scrambled eggs, sandwiches, mac&cheese, and quesadillas on his own (he's a big fan of cheese).

The older the kids get, the more fun family game nights become.

The rough housing went a little too far one night. This poor kid ended up with a fat lip and two gray teeth after being knocked into Matthew's knee/accidentally biting him

When our parks finally started opening up and we got to have a playdate "for the first time in forever!" Then the playgrounds opened and things got even more fun! It was good to get some fresh air (the smoke from the fires was clearing) and see the kids so excited to play together.

Having mostly homeschooled my kids up to this point, I felt a lot of pressure to really utilize Matthew's fall break by doing something fun. Andrew had the great idea to go camping at Lassen Volcanic National Park. We ended up convincing some friends to come with us and camped Wednesday through Saturday. We had such a blast. It was so fun to feel like we were taking a break from the pandemic/distance learning/wildfire smoke/regular life and absolutely breathtaking to be in the mountains. No cell service, no baths, just a whole lot of nature and a few awesome friends. It was perfect. We did a few hikes, explored some lakes, ventured through a lava tube, and ate delicious food (seriously-pulled pork, tacos, breakfast burritos,...yum). We only had one small mishap where Alex and our friends' 3 year old wandered off together just as it was getting dark. We found them quickly enough, but man, the panic was definitely starting to set in. Overall, it was an amazing  trip and we all came home talking about how we couldn't wait to do it again.

An endless number of logs to climb on and giant pinecones to collect

While walking around the lake, we saw a family of otters catch some fish and climb on a log to eat their dinner. It was awesome-I think the pictures are on Andrew's phone though

Four sleeping kiddos. They did so well on this trip! We have gone camping about once a year with them-so they've all been a couple times, but this was by far their best work. It was super nice not to have any little babies to worry about for basically the first time. I will say, it was freezing at night! Literally, the lows hovered right about the mid-thirties and we had to do some trouble shooting to keep everyone warm enough after the first night.

They did great on this hike and are becoming super fun hiking companions. It's awesome to condition your kids to like the same things you do. 

Poor Alex kept falling on this hike and would then declare, "I'm almost OK."

The mountains are my happy place. I get so excited while simultaneously feeling total peace when I'm there. I can't even explain how good it feels to take a deep breath of mountain air. I seriously fixes everything. I am absolutely going to live in (or at least very close to) mountains one day.

We really wanted to kayak around the lake while we were there (especially Adaline) but through some poor communication and broken (or inaccurate) promises of local employees, we didn't get the chance. Matthew saved the morning by requesting to visit the lava tubes instead. It was far cooler(ha!) than I was anticipating and I had no idea these "caves" existed. 

Flowing lava made this!

After walking through the tube, we got to hike across the top to get back to where we started. I would have never guessed what was just below the ground.

Our second big hike took us down to the hot pots and passed some spectacular views along the way.

It felt a lot like we were back at Yellowstone

We wanted to milk every last bit out of our trip, so after we packed up, we had the kids lead us on an exploration around the lake. Their route involved a lot of creative ways to cross the creek.

Super sad about having to leave her hiking stick at the park.

That feels like enough pictures for one blog post, so I'll finish off the rest of October in the next!