Lassen Volcanic National Park

We climbed Mt. Lassen today as a family.

All 7 of us.

It was long & steep & awesome.

And now all of my kids can say “I climbed a volcano.”

How cool is that?

It all started several months ago when we drove by Mt. Shasta.

The Little Man decided he wanted to climb that mountain!

And every time we drove past while we were moving he kept asking when I was going to take him to climb that mountain?

Well.

I explained to him that Shasta was probably a little beyond our capabilities.

He assured me otherwise.

Uh huh.

But, I told him, I did know of a mountain that we could climb: Mt. Lassen.

I climbed it way back about 17 years ago.

I remembered it as being long & steep but not hard.

So I thought that would be perfect for us.

So today we did it. We climbed a mountain.

A volcano to be exact.

The southern most peak in the Cascade Range.

It took us 3 hours to go up & 2 to come down.

The Biscuit made the trip in his backpack - all but the very beginning & very end where he walked.

But The Little Man hiked.

He hiked that entire mountain up & down on his own 2 legs.

All but about a half mile section where he got a piggy-back ride from his biggest brother.

He determined to climb a mountain & by golly he did it.

Pretty impressive for a 4 year old.

People on the trail were quick to give him an encouraging word as he made his way.

One group of women hikers from Germany were particularly impressed with his good attitude.

It was a good day.

The only bummer was later at the gift shop.

I had promised my kids that if they all made it to the peak I would buy them a t-shirt that said “I climbed a volcano”.

I still have mine from when I first did it (in fact I wore it today :)).

But when we finished up our day & headed to the gift shop they didn’t have any!

I even asked the cashier & she said they no longer carry them. Even though, according to her, whenever they did they always sold like hotcakes.

Which kinda seems to me to be something you would want to carry?

Maybe that’s just me…

So after moping around about that they all picked out different shirts that they liked & a couple buttons that said “I climbed the volcano”.

Care to guess how much 6 t-shirts cost at a National Park?

Uh huh. Yeppers.

It was pretty outrageous.

We don’t do that sort of thing very often but this was a special day & sometimes, if you can, it’s good to splurge.

For a long time we never could afford to but now-a-days, every so often, we do. And it’s fun.

So we are pretty universally tired, sore & sunburned.

But we can proudly say “We climbed a volcano.”

Can you? :)

Blessings.

Ponderings

I can’t sleep.

It’s now 4:26 & I have been up for hours.

I prayed & then prayed some more & tried to go back to sleep.

Didn’t work.

I got up & read for awhile & tried to go back to sleep.

No go.

I really would love to talk with somebody but there is nobody so, here I am.

Blogging with no blog as we still have no internet.

I think I am mostly homesick.

I had an unpleasant encounter with people I thought better of.

Had a major disappointment in the housing department as well.

I think that has for sure added to my unsettled feeling.

I just keep playing the same thoughts over & over in my mind & can’t seem to get passed them.

Not sure what to do about it.

I would love to be able to do something productive right now or even just mindlessly watch TV but being as we are in a 1 room apartment & the other 6 occupants (5 people & the dog) are sleeping~ that is a no go as well.

And, yeah, that situation is definitely part of my problem.

I so desperately want to be a “bloom where you are planted” kind of person.

But I feel like I am withering on the vine.

I want my own place.

I crave my own space.

I want to be able to plant flowers & to sit in my yard. I want to be able to send my children out to play on their toys in their own space.

It is just so hard to have no ‘place’.

To not be able to change anything or make any decisions.

I so admire people who can just adapt.

I am trying.

But, failing miserably so it seems.

My son told me tonight that I just don’t seem happy anymore.

I’ve been trying so hard but failing all the while.

I want to be happy here.

I want it not to matter that we have no home of our own.

We are all together & healthy so what else is there?

That is what my head says…

but my heart says: I want a home, I want my own room, I want to plant flowers & put in a fall garden, I want a kitchen , I want to be able to bake for my family again, to make bread & cookies & anything I want anytime I want, I want my fridge & my bathroom inside my house, I want a yard, I want grass, I want to be able to let my chickens roam free, I want my boys to have their sandbox & their swings, I want to be able to have people over, I want internet, I want my things out of storage & available to me, I want, I want, I want.

The heart is deceitful above all things & desperately wicked. Who can know it? Jer 17:9

Blessings.