Name That Toe

I'm breaking radio silence to inform you all that Lavender has named her toes. From biggest to smallest, there are:

Pumpkin Pie
Violet Pie
Pumpkin Pastie
Rosette, and
Cherry Tree.

That's it. Carry on.

January

Here's a look at the first of what 2015 has had in store for us!*

Lavender celebrating New Year's Day with some time outside in the sun with Goya.

Here Lavender has opened up a coffee stand in her playhouse. She serves the most delicious invisible cocoa in town!

Geneva Lynn decided to teach the family about water pollution. She created a paper "spokesmermaid" and set up a booth where she and her mermaid could educate us about the importance of clean water. Ari mostly wanted to dump the water out and Geneva was remarkably patient with him.

Lavender and Ari, spending a quiet afternoon painting together.

Captain Lali, aboard the boat where we were hosted by our friends Linda and Conrad and joined by Nana. Geneva spent her day at the Seattle Aquarium with the Graffs.

Ari called all boats "butts." We saw some pretty big butts.

Upstairs in the... cockpit? I don't speak boat :(

Downstairs in the warm indoorsy part.

It was chilly and peaceful and lovely.

High five!

*Not pictured: the two weeks where I was really sick, and the concurrent week where the kids were also sick. I didn't photograph that. No way.

Geneva's Mystery Story

This afternoon Geneva narrated a spooky story to me while I typed it up for her on the computer. It's sweet, weird, surprisingly dark, and very worth sharing. Enjoy!

The Staff

Once there was an old, old puppet theater. It had been around since cave people, and there was concealed magic in it because it was so old. Inside its walls was magic, and no one but the puppet master himself could control the magic. He made lots of mysteries happen.

The Zoglman family were planning to travel for nine years, but they got trapped for one year. So that made it into ten years. They had abandoned their home, but when they left they didn't put up a sign, so in the ten years stuff happened to it. The house itself got magic inside it, just like the theater.

They heard on the news, while they were driving to go see the world, that someone had died in a puppet show place. But they heard next on the news that before the puppet master's eyes the person turned into a ghost, flickered, and disappeared. They thought “we're brave. We can solve a mystery. Maybe we are the ones who can solve the mystery of the ghost.” They went to the puppet theater.

When they arrived Geneva saw a skeleton with a rope around its neck hanging from an iron cage.

“Hey mom, I saw this weird thing!” said Geneva.

“What is it, Sweetie?” said Mom.

“I saw a skeleton hanging with a rope around its neck in an iron cage.”

Mom said “Let's find out the mystery to this.” Now the Zoglmans had two mysteries to solve: the skeleton hanging with a rope around its neck, and the flickering ghost.

They went inside. The first thing they saw was a dog. The dog was looking like it was going to bite Geneva. His eyes were squinted and his nose was wrinkled and his mouth was open. Geneva reached out to slap the dog down and her hand sank in. It was a puppet.

“We should show this to someone,” said Geneva, so they brought along the dog and they found a sign. It said “Puppet Master's House” and it was pointing understage. They followed the sign. Geneva rapped at the bricks.

The Puppet Master said “Wooooooooooo” so that it would trick them into thinking he was a ghost.

Geneva said “We know you're not a ghost.”

So the Puppet Master said “Muahahahahaha” to scare them and make them go away.

“We know you're not a giant,” said Geneva.

“I was trying to scare you away so that you won't find out my secrets,” said the Puppet Master.

“We didn't know you had secrets.”

There was a particular red sword with blood on it, and Lavender said “Hey, this must be the sword that killed that person who turned into a ghost! We can use it to get through the wall. We can cut a door in the wall.” After they cut the hole in the wall they jumped through it, except for Ari who had to be carried by Jamaica. They found a moat. It was turquoise.

“It must contain some magic,” Daddy said. “Don't swim in it.” They found a canoe to get across, but it only carried three people. Daddy, Lavender, and Geneva got into the canoe. They rowed across.

Geneva said “Stroke! Stroke!” to Daddy, and Lavender said “Fast! Fast!” when the water got deeper. They got to the other shore and found a door. It had a painting on it of a staff with a green ball on top. They felt a little scared. They opened the door. Inside it was dim, and there was only one window. There was a staff like the one on the door. It was propped up. They took it off of its stand and with the sword they cut it. As the staff gave a loud loud crack as it hit the floor, there were swirling pink rings coming from right where the green bulb had been. The room shook as the rings went away. Geneva, Lavender, and Daddy headed for the door but it had changed. There was a new picture on it now. It was Daddy, Lavender, and Geneva lifting the sword and the staff cracking. They went to cross the moat but there was a bridge crossing over it. Mommy came across the bridge and they all went to The Puppet Master. They asked him one simple question.

“Did you kill that person?” Lavender said.

“Yes, I did. You guys found out my secrets. The girl was your age, Geneva. I killed her because she had no defenses and she was trying to find out my secrets. I wouldn't have any powers without my staff.”

“Why was the skeleton hanging there? And the ghost”?

“I put them there because I thought it would make the theater scary, so everyone would not discover my staff.”

“Why were you a mean man? Are you still mean?” said Lavender.
“I was, but now I see that not killing is better than killing. I think that I'm with you. I feel like being on your team.”

“I'll just let you be the way the you are, but you have to not kill any more people. You don't get to come with my family,” said Mommy. Geneva yawned. Mom said “It's time for bed.” They went home to their house that they hadn't seen in ten years. It felt great.  

Love You As You Are

Geneva has a Grand Idea that I would like to share with you. She calls it the Love You As You Are Club. Feel free to pass it on!

Overheard This Week...

When I grow up, I'm going to... steal... kangaroos. --Lavender

Ha! You have three kids climbing on you. [Pause] That's the trouble with three kids. --Geneva

Hey Lali, do you want to play "Dobby"?

Yeah!

Okay. I'll go get the lamp.

For those of you who aren't up on your Harry Potter, Dobby is a character who uses a lamp to bludgeon himself on the head.

First-Ever Complete Zoglman Family Vacation

For the first time in a very long time-- certainly since we've been a family of five-- we Zoglmans went on vacation. It wasn't anything exotic; we drove to and camped at two of the active volcanos in our beautiful state, and finished our trip by visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Portland. It was, as one might imagine when one pictures a car crammed with a week's worth of camping gear and five people, exhausting at times. But oh, was it worth it! So rarely do we take advantage of the beauty that is practically in our backyard. And, so rarely do we spend family time that is ours and only ours, with no other comings or goings, no intrusions, and no obligations to anyone but ourselves. There were moments when I thought we might kill each other. But mostly it was, in every possible sense of the word, beautiful. That may be why, less than 24 hours after our return, I find myself here, overflowing with pictures and words. I can't say "wish you were here," but I can't wait to share our memories with you.

Stopping at Ohanapecosh and visiting the nature trail

  

Settling into our first campsite at White River

Avery, proving that with a lot of friction and a little bit of prying, you can open a can without a can opener.

Just playing

Sunrise, Mt. Rainier

Lunch overlooking Emmons Glacier

At the Visitor's Center

Identifying native plants

"Boop" on Little Tahoma

Not pictured: my panic attack during the drive back down

Back at camp

Exploring the campground

Poohsticks

Old Ranger's Cabin

Rockin' a milk mustache and ready to break camp

White River valley, with evidence of the recent floods

Our handsome chauffeur for the trip

On the trail to Grove of the Patriarchs

Ancient cedars

Snacktime

Daddy showing the girls a classic example of a nurse log

Chipmunk peek-a-boo

Look what we did!

A new campsite near Mt. St. Helens, and watermelon for dinner

The look on Lavender's face when she found a six-inch banana slug

Storytime by lantern light

Morning in our camp

Camping breakfast: cinnamon rolls and cardamom apples in butter

Sibling love

Kindling concert

The nearby playground, which was actually upstaged by a massive dirt hill

Spinning, climbing, and swinging

Mt. St. Helens Visitor's Center at Silver Lake

At the Johnston Ridge Observatory, looking down at the landscape created by the eruption

Wildflowers in the Blast Zone

At Bubbah Jordan and Auntie Andreen's apartment in Portland, after an afternooon of swimming and bowling, and a night in a hotel

Barbecue time

No, he didn't drink any

Bubbah heals all wounds

Morning with Auntie

At OMSI

The animatronic dinosaurs were a little too realistic for comfort

Dinosaurs rule!

... and then a long car ride back home.