Okay, hike of the year right here. I thought Kelly Butte would stay in the lead, but Snow & Bench Lakes knocked it out of the park.
This was the first time we had hiked this trail since I was 35 weeks pregnant with Nora. Of course I had to take a comparison shot with her four years on the outside! I’ll never get tired of photos like these. Life with kids is a total trip.
We’ve reached a really good stage of hiking with the girls, and we’re enjoying the hell out of it while it lasts – Nora packs her own backpack with her lunch, her water, a map, and her best bear, and hikes like a pro.
Lily is surprisingly content in the carrier, as long as she gets to escape and trail run like a madwoman from time to time.
(…and work on that microbiome!)
The last time we were here, we didn’t take the little spur trail down to Bench Lake because Fetus Nora had dropped and the trail didn’t look welcoming for my rickety pelvis, but we were so glad we chose to go down there this time. The girls loved splashing in the lake, us adults loved the drop-dead gorgeous reflection of Mount Rainier…
…and then suddenly a garter snake came swimming along!
A snake in a lake is not something I would normally want to see, EVER, but since it was a harmless garter snake, I filed it under the Very Cool Things tab in my brain.
That tab also houses our lunch break – Nora climbed the steep trail up to the turquoise, glimmering Snow Lake, then sat down, unpacked her lunch and her little sit pad, and enjoyed the view like a fully fledged human! When did she get so big??
I haven’t even mentioned the fall colors yet! They were off the charts. Everything about this day just rocked – the kind of high that keeps me going through the low I’m in right now.
I feel like I’ve been dwelling too much on the negative lately, so when I scrapbooked this trip, it felt good to highlight the really positive parts of life right now (prompted by the Seasons Story Kit).
I wanted the fall colors in the photos to really pop (I was writing about both the literal season of autumn and the season of life we are currently in), so I used the digital files in the kit to recolor the ‘so good’ circle and the Anne of Green Gables quote card a nice shade of teal that worked well with the red and orange hues, as well as the color of the lake. The rest of the products are from the physical kit, plus a little bit of this sheet of vellum that I am obsessed with and have used on at least ten layouts so far.
I ended up cutting the big photo of Nora into a swoop, which felt like a very 2006 move, but also left a good nesting space for the circles.
Oh, and I also used an extra acrylic word for the title, from an old Story Kit called Old + New – I tend to hoard those acrylic words, so I’m always happy when I use them. And this was a twofer!
I find it really hard to limit the amount of photos (and words, apparently) I include to document a day like this one, so I ended up with a 9×12 layout, a 9×12 pocket page, and a 6×12 insert. Of course I forgot to include the baby bump/4-year old Nora comparison, so I might have to sneak another insert in there too.
Interestingly, the three enlarged photos – Nora with the map, the yoga pic, and me hugging Nora – were all cell phone photos. I’m getting closer and closer to leaving my big SLR at home…I really only bring it in case we see bears or marmots (or snakes swimming in lakes!) and I have to zoom.
Speaking of cell phones, JK’s cell phone put together an auto video from the hike and it’s super cute. Scrapbooking is great for thoughts & photos, but it can’t capture wobbly toddler legs quite like video does!
Snow and Bench Lakes, September 2018 from JK & Ingunn on Vimeo.