Running Away

The governor of Idaho had asked that we avoid all unnecessary travel to limit the spread of this virus. At week six, we had all had it. We were all getting ground down. After careful consideration, we asked Michael's aunt if we could use her cabin in Crouch, Idaho. We planned carefully, so we would not need to stop anywhere besides the cabin after leaving Boise. It was just what was needed.

The kids enjoyed burning all their school work from the current year. We roasted marshmallows over the ashes of their education. I feel like that might be a fitting metaphor for the last two months. Only thing left to do is (borrowing a phrase from my eldest brother) roast marshmallows over the whole smoldering mess.

Michael and I went on a hike and discovered a national forest started just half a mile from the cabin. We had no idea. We took the kids for a drive up into the woods and discovered this waterfall a short hike from the main road. Everyone quickly fell in love.

The kids also decided to hike out onto the boulders in the middle of the river. I tried not to cringe too hard. Everyone made it back safely.

Libby found swarms of white and violet butterflies, and set about catching one. She quickly caught one and showed it off.

Her siblings followed her example and caught their own. They are tiny. It's the little white spot on the girls' hands.

Sam wasn't sure how he felt about catching a butterfly. He eventually came around. No butterflies were hurt in the making of this blog post.

We had to stop on the way out to see if Ethan or Grace could climb up higher on this downed tree. After the third branch snapped off in Ethan's hand, I put an end to this game. The angle was much more steep than this picture shows, and I didn't fancy the notion of hiking out with an injured child.

We planned on staying for one night, but the girls begged and begged. We ended up staying two nights, eating a lot of junk food, went for some hikes, burned some wood, read some books, and came home ready for whatever comes next.