Hike Beach...We Call It

Because I'm feeling a chill in our air, I'm flashing back to another day in the Caribbean! On our third day in St Maartin, the parents of our small toddlers decided to give the babies a catch up day with some napping and resting in the condo.

Giving the rest of us the perfect opportunity to hike into our favorite beach on the island.


Hiking through the interior of a sweltering, steamy jungle...

with all kinds of crazy plants wanting to poke you...

this jungle hike is not meant for toddlers.  Although a machete would be useful!

After sweating out of every pore and tip-toeing through dozens of land crabs...

We break free of the jungle to this!

An entire day on this secluded beach...

all...

by ourselves!

The snorkelers took no time at all

in prepping for another excursion.

I stayed on the beach...playing with the camera

finding treasures from the sea that had washed ashore.

They found some of the coolest things in the sea that day,

including a school with literally thousands of fish

darting back and forth around our fearless snorkelers.

A baracudda,

which Dean claims was just about as big as Dione.

Call me crazy...

but I don't really want to see a barracuda over five feet long.

That must be the reason why I stay on dry land.

Maybe you should call me smart...not crazy!

These toes belong in the sand not flippers.

My fifteen year old man child is deep in thought...probably wondering what's for dinner. Have I mentioned how much I love his freckles.

A day on this beach feels a little like being on Gilligan's island

without the usual cast of Ginger, Mary Ann

and the rest.

We set up a make shift camp for the day under the shade canopy of the trees.

Dean and I love this place!

Perfect place for a nap.


Perfect place to remember

who is missing from the beach, but always in our hearts!

Although none of us want to...

it's time to pack up and make our way back through the jungle.

Love the reflection in his sunglasses.

Can we come back tomorrow? I'm sure the babies could make the hike!

Two

Can you believe it...Miss Olivia Jocelyn is two!

It seems just yesterday that I composed this post of her birth with tearful eyes and hope springing in my heart!

My adorable blonde baby girl grandchild is two! And there isn't a second that ticks by that I don't pinch myself, for I am so blessed to be her grandmother...her Nana!

Two years have flashed by in a wink...two years of watching her Daddy fall head over heals in love with his little girl.

They ride bikes, hike, go to movies,

and spend a million priceless moments of her childhood together.

During those two years she became a big sister to this guy...surprising all of us!

They are more than just brother and sister...O & H are best friends. They are the yin and yang of toddlers...one complementing the other and connecting each other to the world.

Olivia and Henry do everything together...

from sharing a room and toys to even having their own "twin" language.


This is Lilly, Olivia and Henry's adorable new cousin.

In a show of brilliance, Miss Olivia is already speaking in sentences. The gibberish language I was so fond of is rapidly fading away.

Believe it or not, if big sis Olivia receives something...

she immediately asks if you have one for Henry too. That always tugs at my Nana beating heart just a little bit.


Olivia has so many people that love and adore her.

and enhance her life with joy and beauty.

But being a Nana is the best thing in the whole entire world...

I think it's even better than being a Mama...but don't tell my kids that!

The very moment those gorgeous bluish-green eyes light up and sparkle when Olivia sees her Nana; running with outstretched arms and jumping into my embrace...well it's simply heaven.

Every single day I am filled with gratitude for the miracle that brought little Olivia into my life,

that gifted motherhood on my beautiful daughter. Cassandra is such a wonderful Mama...patient, loving, and filling her children's days with knowledge and compassion and humor!

And this is Olivia's cousin Logan, he asked if I would take a photo of his spiderman face.

It's been an incredible two years filled with Olivia...and I look forward with delight and anticipation for years three and four and five and...

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Timpanogos...almost

Mt Timpanogos majestically stands at 11,749 feet, the second highest in Utah's Wasatch Mountain range.

I have not been to the actual tip-top of the summit...only to Emerald Lake two years ago. Which lies at the base of the glacier field plunging down from the peak. 2012 was my year to summit Mount Timpanogos!

With an unwillingness to wake up at 5:00 am and drive the required two hours to Mt Timp, we decided to sleep in until 6:00 and be on the trail by 9:00.

After some parking snafus...or rather lack of parking, since the American Fork Canyon "powers that be" decided to dig up the popular hiking trail parking lot during the last busy month of the hiking season...we finally hit the trail a little after 10:00. Not a good start...I knew our summit plans were in jeopardy.

We love hiking with the Lehnardt family, a bunch of cute boys and one angelic girl child (not with us this day). After several failed scheduling attempts, this hike had been on the calendar since last summer.

You can see why we love hiking with this bunch...always an adventure! Erik, imitating a passing "shirtless" hiker is probably going to be mad at me for this photo. But hey...he knows I'm a blogger and always packing the camera!

The hike to the summit of Mount Timpanogos is almost 15 miles round trip with an elevation gain of about 4300 feet.

It is what we call "a butt kicker!" Thanks for posing Izzy!

A few miles in...the group began to separate which makes Izzy very antsy. Whining, she paces back and forth between the two groups.

This is the only group photo I have...actually taken at the end of the hike with my iPhone.

With the amount of daylight hours numbered we made the decision to separate and sent the older teenage boys ahead to the summit. Erik, Michelle, Dean, Lisa and Gabe would meet the hikers at Emerald Lake...which is still a tough hike...at 13 miles and 3000 feet of elevation gain! Admittedly...for a second I considered joining the teenage boys.

On most hiking trails you have to rough it..with no facilities ANYWHERE! Passing this sign the last time I was on this hike, I wondered what kind of a "toilet" they would have all the way up here? Nature called...and well Michelle and I listened and investigated...hesitantly!

This is what we found located around the bend of the grassy hillside.

Talk about roughing it...Michelle and I chose to answer nature's call in the trees...thank you very much!

The last big push up through this rock field gets a little dicey! We even leash Izzy up for fear of the pooch slipping off the cliff.

 Can you even pick out the trail though that spot?


And finally, Emerald Lake...beautiful glistening glacial waters. Utah is in the midst of a serious drought this summer, and the usual snowfield has melted down to almost nothing.

Anxiously watching the storm blow in, we search the mountainside and finally spot the boys sliding down through the snowy glacial field...the teenagers were on their way toward us. I think both sets of parents were thrilled to see them all descending from the ominous peak.

Energetic and eager, the teenagers gathered around us with wet shorts and snow-chilled hands. Cold windy conditions on top and the sketchy path that brought them back to us were all they could talk about.

And for me...I listened intently as the boys recounted their hike to the top, happy that they spent quality "boy bonding" time together. I didn't even think twice about not reaching the summit.

Safely down at the bottom again, surrounded by my boys I ponder what a lovely time I had hiking today with my friend Gabe, oh and his family too!