I came out of the woods running. We moved from the Quinault forest where I grew up to “town” the nearest major municipality on the day before I started seventh grade. Then almost by accident we discovered I was fast- at least for the kids in the area. I think my Dad was more thrilled than I was; he more understood the import. For me it was primarily dry-heaving hard work. It started with the school record in the mile. I saw that number on the gym wall and easily bested it. Then my dad saw my 400 m race time and my 400 m splits when I ran the 1600 and saw that they weren’t that different from the 800 m record. So I nabbed the school record as a seventh grader in the mile and then went after the district record in the 800 m. I got that.

I went on to run three years of varsity cross country in high school, finishing up as Captain of the Women’s Team, and competing at the state meet. Then my hormones got the best of my running as I started to fill out I started getting injured and slower. Instead of changing my game, I left competitive running in favor or academics, college, hiking backpacking, traveling and yoga.

I dipped my toe in the road racing in college in 1998. I ran the Vancouver Half Marathon in the Spring Of 1998 in under 2 hours (1:57:38). Encouraged by how easily that intimidatingly long distance had raced out of me, I signed up for a full marathon later that fall in Portland. All summer I hiked and ran in the mountains of Colorado thinking I was doing great training at “altitude”. A month passed at sea level and I finished my Portland Marathon in 6:02, having walked and cried a full three miles near the end. That was my “one and done” Marathon experience. I can check that one off my bucket list and move back to yoga. And yoga I have stayed consistent with for the intervening two decades, even becoming a certified yoga instructor and teaching my weekly class. Along the way I have dabbled in running here and there, often for running dates with Michael (a high school 800 m runner) or simply because at the core I love running. I would get back into running for a while until joint pains flare up, turning me back to yoga and walking.

So it was a serious undertaking when I said yes to a friend’s invitation earlier this year in February to run the Lululemon Sea Wheeze half marathon in Vancouver on August 17, 2019. I would have to really train. I knew the pain and suffering of going into a long race insufficiently trained, and I was also feeling my age where jogs were more like shuffles. So with Michael’s encouragement and training guidance, along with the subsequent introduction of new Brooks Ghost running shoes Michael’s Garmon running watch and later the LuluLemon training guide, I have slowly but surely increased my fitness.

I settled into a routine that really works well for me. I go in to work early at 6 am then I have a few hours after work of “au pair on duty time” in which to go running. I bicycle to Greenlake, lock up my bicycle and then run laps around the lake. Interspersed in the training schedule are also hill work-outs, interval sprints, yoga and meditation.

For the month that Lake was with NanaBaba, finding time for running became a little easier and I was also able to run weekends and evenings with Michael. We even enjoyed a few cross-training mountain climbing adventures!

By the time Saturday August 17th came I was ready! And what a race! I went out strong and just kept it up. Amazing race. I ended up surprising myself and I beat my previous half marathon PR from Vancouver, BC 1998 (when I was 20 years old) by 1 minute 1 second with a new record of 1:56:37! Here I am feeling Triumphant! 🙂

We celebrated with my favorite ramen in the world, on the west end of Vancouver Marutama Ra-men and then the LuluLemon yoga party. Michael and Lake were the best cheer squad!

After hearing about the crazy stories about Rematch for a few years now, we never expected to be in the middle of that experience. Rematch is the process by which an au pair is rehomed and/or a family relinquishes their current au pair contract and searches for a new au pair or leaves the program. The au pairs and the families in limbo are in Rematch.

We had matched with Julia Schenkel back in January 2019, so it was our longest lead time and we awaited her arrival with much anticipation. After a few days of settling in we swept her up for nine days of family vacation at Newman Lake. We joined Lake to finish out his month of Summer holidays with NanaBaba. We swam, paddle boarded, went canoeing and ate like royalty of Nana’s cooking and baking and Baba’s grilling. I took long sound naps and logged 50 miles of running. We relaxed and laughed with family.

We even celebrated Julia’s birthday a week early with cake and fireworks!

Then all too soon, it was time to say goodbye and thank you to NanaBaba for the loving hospitality.

We headed back to Seattle and as soon as we settled it became slowly but surely clear that Julia was ready to go home to Germany. It was an unexpected development and therefore difficult to accept that she was earnest in her decision to retire the au pair lifestyle, and as soon as possible at that! She thought she could manage two stay for two weeks maximum to tide us over in finding alternative child care. I went into a panic while simultaneously springing to action. We had no time to waste. The agency reopened our account and our Rematch was officially begun. Immediately we began reaching out to au pairs from all nationalities who were also in Rematch for various reasons, the advantage being they were already here in the States, through orientation, onboarded and ready to go. I went through a grieving process about potentially losing our as a German national, right when Lake is about to start German Language School Kindergarten next month. Desperate situations call for desperate measures. We interviewed a Swedish and a Oaxacan au pair. Then by the grace of the universe a German au pair living in Las Vegas names Vivien popped onto the Rematch scene. Her family was opting out of the program. We interviewed her three times and each time the interview was like magic. But each time she wasn’t ready to say yes to matching. Then there was another opportunity that opened up in Las Vegas, another family in Las Vegas in Rematch. I panicked thinking she would prefer to stay in the town where she had already set down roots and made friends. But after interviewing with them while I sweated and prayed, Vivien determined that it wasn’t the right situation for her. She would indeed come to our family in Seattle. Hallelujah! We welcomed her yesterday with a small party, and she said she instantly felt right at home. We’re delighted to host Vivien and happy that Julia, to her great relief, can return home to Germany on Thursday. With a bunch of sweat and hustle we managed to turn lemons to lemonade in just under a week.

All’s well that ends well. Welcome Vivien, we’re so glad you’re here. It’s going to be a great year!

Dear Reader,

If you’ve been missing my newsy reports and updates on Lake’s sweet toddler antics, that’s because he’s been at Camp NanaBaba since the beginning of the month. We’ve been missing his sweet self, too! So, here’s a gift from last month. We were visiting his friends Maicy Jane and Hazel in Portland, and what luck… we went out to the carnival! It was Lake’s first time at the carnival, and it was amazing! He was riding the rides, playing the arcade, and Maicy and he even won at a game booth. She sweetly deferred to him to choose a prize… a sequined dolphin! He absolutely had a blast with his friends, and his mind was blown, just a little! Enjoy the bright eyed photos! We’ll be reuniting with Lake at Newman Lake on Saturday, just a few days away. Then more cuteness awaits!

With love,

Lake and Tolle

It reminded me of Last Chance to See, a charmingly tragic adventure book by Douglas Adams whereby he searches out some of the last populations of endangered animals in their native habitat. I was on a top secret mission with my botanist friend and former Olympic National Park biological sciences technician coworker, Katie. Our optimistic goal was to confirm a population of rare plants last sighted in 1992 near where a proposed trail was being investigated. And we were optimistic. Needless to say, the trail was never built so the location remains deeply inaccessible. Two other expeditions had failed to reach the described location. The GPS mapping systems have improved considerably since then, meaning they weren’t so great back then when the satellites’ locations were being scrambled by the US government and one needed to look up the daily correction. So we had, at most, moderate confidence in the exact location, although all we had to go off of was indeed the exact pinpoint on a topographical map with coordinates.

One suspension bridge, one gigantic Douglas Fir tree, one river crossing where we debated wading across in water up to our waist but decided on crawling across logs like bears, and one endless quarter mile and very steep slope of bushwacking through Devils Club later, we found the gps spot… but not the plants. Twelve hours of plant hunting expedition for naught save friendship and memories … whew!

When we arrived at our pinpoint destination after much force of will dealing with the environs, the detailed slope aspect and micro topography were incongruous to the location. We were originally prepared to scout around, however the terrain was so difficult (3 hours to travel 1/4 mile) that we were unable to make more than a couple exploratory detours off our compass setting.

The associated species were compatible with the plant we were searching for, however in the end, while we did make it to the location of the last sighting, we were unable to confirm (or deny) that the population still exists.

We made it out safely and had a great time (in that kind of way where you’re battered and bruised and thankful to be alive) but neither of us are anxious to go back again for further hunting, such was the beastliness of this off-trail wilderness cliffside.

A perfect day, I’m glad I spent it with you plant hunting Katie!

With Lake Odin vacationing it up at NanaBaba’s, Michael and I had an opportunity to do a little camping and hiking ourselves. Michael is a master at picking good, relatively unknown, hiking and camping gems. After a few hours of research he had a three part contingency plan formulated.

He lead us up the Skykomish into on a day hike into the Wild Sky Wilderness following Johnson Ridge out to Joan Lake for a 9 mile trek with jaw dropping views on either side.

We dropped down into Joan Lake for lunchtime and were treated to a live marmot show. These were some of the biggest marmots either of us had ever seen. Otherwise it was pretty quiet, just a few birds and only a few other hiking parties were encountered.

We were well situated for the day hike launch having camped at Beckler River Campground, where we scored a sweet spot right on the river bank for $18.

It did rain more than we were expecting however that did not dampen our spirits. It was great to spend the weekend out in the mountains, sharing the fresh air with the wildflowers and my sweetheart!

Lake is living it up at NanaBaba’s, free from his parents. Such an independent boy! They had a great Fourth of July celebrating at Point Petite and dressed up for visiting. There were so many families out in the bay.

Happy Independence!

Luisa took Lake to the airport on the Link train as her last official au pair duty. “It was really perfect,” she said. “When we got to the airport Lake saw Nana and he took off running toward her.” They made a great connection!

“The non-rev gods smiled on us,” uncle pilot Peter Jakin said of their lucky flight over to Spokane where it turned out that Lake got to sit right next to his uncle! Lake loves flying he told us. He much prefers it to driving to Spokane. What a kid!

Newman Lake beckons and as wise Baba says, “It’s one of life’s big pleasures, [having Lake here].”

Luisa brought Lake from 1 and 1/2 to 3 years old. They spent 45 hours a week together for the past 18 months. Quite a lot of growth in that timeframe. Baby to toddler to “big boy”. Today he said to us. “I’m thinking of taking an ambitious walk”. What does that mean, I asked for clarification. “Walk to get ice cream.” Wow. What a guy!

We wish you all the best on your future adventures and endeavors, Luisa! From Hawaii to Washington D.C. to Charleston to Denver to sky diving in San Diego, you’ll enjoy your travel month for sure. We look forward to hearing all about it and giving you a proper send off in August. Thank you for taking such great patient care of Lake, and organizing so many play dates, trips to the zoo, kayaking, tulips and baking muffins… making every day a perfect day. I’m glad Lake spent them with you!

Did you know? Free permits are available from the City if Seattle to block off your street to through traffic. As long as you’re not blocking an arterial, the city is very likely to approve your free permit which is good for weekly Play Street for six months! We were inspired by our neighbors on 17th and went ahead and applied for the permit allowing us to close our street for up to 12 hours per week. It was a soft opening on Saturday… a few neighbors stopped by to say hello. Lake and his friend Damien enjoyed cruising up and down the street on their balance bikes, even going in circles. Mr. Cat may have been the biggest fan, though. Nice having a reprieve from cars for a bit. The cats were owning the street. We’ll look forward to more Play Street ball playing bicycle riding neighborhood adventures to come!

We drove home from Portland last weekend $500 lighter and the Egg was loaded to the gills with plants. Auntie Jessica helped us pick out some solid additions while Lake played “train” with the carts and “saxophone” with the classic retro flamingo yard ornaments. After checking out we were a veritable nursery on wheels. Luckily for us it’s been a sprinkly rainy week since they’re not all planted yet. Bit by bit in the evenings Lake and Michael and I are getting them placed and in the ground. Roses and peonies and colorful shrubs abound! It’s fun and so pretty to give the garden a floral infusion. Perfect days for a garden lift… I’m glad I’m sharing it with you.