We are back in Seattle and there are plenty of settling in chores to do… cleaning, laundry, and chores. Who am I kidding, mostly I fret about all the cleaning chores that do need doing while I’m playing with, changing or feeding Lake.  We decided to take a pause in the middle of it all and recharge with yoga. 

We phoned first to make sure it would be okay (I’m learning) and then walked over to Aditi Yoga & Bodywork for the Friday noon class. Jenny Rhodes, the delightful instructor, was kind to include Lake as a special guest for her vinyasa class today. Look at the littlest yogi!

Chore day was blessed with the good fortune of my helper angels. Firstly Jenny, who sweetly held Lake for the substantial part of the flow class, to very good effect, leaving me just the mat portion of the class to breastfeed Lake while participating. Secondly Nana who made the laundry happen while intermittently popping in for Lake care and building him a new bed for his room!

Passing by Lake Crescent in the morning on our way out to the Sol Duc. This is one gorgeous river valley. We went for one last hiking trip during Lake’s sojourn of the north Olympic Peninsula. I couldn’t get enough really. And Lake loved it, too. His first prize blueberry eyes wide with wonderment, taking it all in. The gentle sounds of the river, the zillion shades of green, the towering giant conifers, the rush of the waterfall, and the stillness. 

We hiked six miles from the Sol Duc Resort to the Sol Duc Falls and back. Guess what the trail is called? Lover’s Lane. Here I am happy on Lover’s Lane with the little man of my life. 

Taking in the views from the falls with Nana. 

And to cap off our Olympic holidays with Nana and the Tuesday Trotters we had an amazing alpenglow amphitheater this evening. We rode the ferry back to Seattle under the rising plump moon and sunsets on mountains in every direction that just wouldn’t quit. Thank you for the amazing week of rich sensory experiences Nana! It was special to share our love of the Olympics together with Lake. He was duly impressed. 

Following the removal of both dams on the Elwha River (2011-2014) the river, watershed, estuary and delta are in the process of being freed and restored. This comes after 100 years of being a dammed watershed, and decades of dedicated and relentless work to remove the dams. I myself had worked on the project for six months during the summer season of 2001, mapping non-native populations of plant species along the Elwha River banks and lake shores. It was really special to be able to walk out on the newly reborn Elwha delta today with tribal member Robert Elofson as our guide this morning. 

In the afternoon Rob took us to visit the canyon of the old Lower Elwha Dam. The remaining work on site currently includes removing some dangerous remaining rebar projections. Afterwards we went down into the old lake bed of what was Lake Aldwell. There was evidence of 19th century logged old growth trees, as well as the new native vegetation restoration efforts. It’s going well: the salmon are returning and the populations are swelling; the link between marine nutrients flowing up into the mountains and the sediment of the mountains returning the favor is being restored. 

The river is free!

Lake’s first national park: Olympic National Park. How fitting since both Mummy and Daddy herald from the Olympic Peninsula. He did an amazing job traveling across on the Bremerton ferry and then up to Hurricane Ridge. We felt the chilly late Summer mountain wind, the bright intense sunlight, smelled the fresh pine air and saw the requisite deer. We offered Lake the full Hurricane Ridge experience. We are here with Nana’s ladies’ hiking group, so tonight Lake had 35 ladies doting on him during the group’s dinner. 

More adventures on the agenda for the next few days!

Again and again the treats kept coming on this yoga retreat. The weather was gorgeous, the vegan food delicious, the water was peaceful, Lake was charming, and the yoga was plentiful. It was the perfect setting for a perfect weekend. 

This retreat served up just what we needed: yoga on tap. In between yogas and sips of nature we soaked up the elements and honored the divine feminine. A joyful celebration!

Lake and I are glad to have spent it with you welcoming yogis! After an incredibly rejuvenating weekend, I’m home now with my sweet family. These two lovely men inspire and guide me toward my powerful divine feminine self every day. 

Lake and I are on yoga retreat at Lake Shoecraft for the weekend. I had never heard of this lake either. But Lake is always up for a lake adventure!  It’s lovely and not too far north of Seattle. We left town just as traffic was really piling up, so unfortunately the drive time got drawn out. Our road trip went really well, though so it was a happy occasion! And I had plenty of time to fit my kegels in. 

We are here. It’s beautiful. We are unplugging now. Vegan, goddess yoga we have arrived. 

It can be hard to feel sexy as new parents. Yesterday I was in my physical therapist’s office crying about not having had sex since our last appointment. Nothing to report on for improvements in pelvic floor rehabilitation. Even though it had only been a week, a week can feel like forever. It’s hard to get motivated to do pelvic floor rehabilitation when your PT is the only one down there. How do siblings ever even have a chance? Then add on a plantar fasciitis flare. Things can start to feel pretty dire. 

Enter the boot. Wearing a night splint is part of my plantar fasciitis treatment. Our bodies heal a lot at night and I want my foot to be in dorsiflexion during this time for optimal healing in a more lengthened position. This way I’m not reinjuring the fascia every morning immediately when I step down because the fascia has repaired too short. So it helps a ton. I am grateful towards my mother-in-law for having “this old thing” on hand from healing a fractured fibula or some such lower extremity bone part. However, “this old thing” splint is actually an inflation boot cast which is huge and plasticky and comes up to my knee. This really helps my foot pain if I wear it at night to sleep. But it really doesn’t help my sexy factor. 

This morning my husband renamed it the “sex boot”. Worn over the knee-high “sex sock”. He’s so kind. We had a big laugh. I came back to bed after Lake’s breakfast this morning still wearing one knee-high sock from the night before. After sleeping his typical nine hour night straight through, Lake woke ravenous as usual, breakfasted, then miraculously went right back to sleep for an early nap. My husband was still in bed so I rejoined him. Wearing the sock. 

One wonderful thing about making love as parents is a lot of the artifice falls away. What’s left then? Something fresh and real. Not waiting for the ideal moment. Stinky Sticky Love. Sometimes a sex sock. And it’s absolutely perfect. 

Like my husband, I’m a zealous remover of appliqués and tags. The seam ripper is my best friend. It gets a lot of work. More so since Lake joined the family. It seems clothes for new people are unduly heavy in the adornment category. I’m forever removing tags and patches and logos and cutsie things. For example, I found these Robeez leather shoes at a Wallingford consignment shop for a few bucks. They are nice as far as a flowered shoe goes, but they don’t suit Lake. He’s got a certain style. So the deconstructing ensues. Now they look simply like shoes. I guess that makes me a DIYer in reverse. 

Lake approves. 

My husband coined this verb lindsin which is what Lake and I do on Tuesdays in the late afternoon/early evening. To be lindsin is to be hanging out with Lindsay and likely laughing a great deal. To be lindsin around is to maybe walk Greenlake or Gasworks and then get revived at TNT or Tigerly Ox. Or today our lindsin had us strolling the zoo and then got us big (well, technically medium size) bowls of pho afterwards. 

Lindsay is my college roommate from freshman dorms. She was there with me through blue hair and ethnobotany. We listened to Sarah McLachlin and dressed up alike to go get dinner at the dorm dining hall. Now she’s Auntie Lindsay and we’re all coordinating with Baby Lake. 

We’ve been walking Tursdays together since before I was pregnant, and we walked weekly all winter through my pregnancy with Lake. The weather got darker and rainier and I got slower and slower. Then the weather got brighter and springier, and I still got slower and slower. Then a few weeks after Lake was born we resumed our Lindsin around. We didn’t go far at first. Lindsay is so great, happy to go whatever pace. Rain or shine, Tuesday we continue to get our lindsin on and we are the better for it. 

[Artwork courtesy of the app Prisma]