Keeping Up With the Allens

It’s been a big year for our girl! She is officially SIX! This has been a year of resilience, FUN, time with mama, learning so many new things and really coming out of her shell.

Hannah’s six year stats:

• Weight: 45 pounds
• Height: 45 inches
• Clothing size: 6/7
• Shoe size: toddler size 11… not for long!
• Favorite foods: watermelon, ice cream, blackberries, strawberries, basically anything sweet, Dad’s fettuccini Alfredo
• Least favorite foods: beef, chicken, most vegetables, anything I serve for dinner
• Favorite things/activities: playing with her dolls, playing with her brother, playing with her friends, bouncing on the trampoline, doing math problems, ballet, reading books, playing outside, running, riding her bike, painting, baking, fun sunglasses!
• Least favorite things/activities: waiting, stopping doing something fun, not getting what she wants

Hannah started her sixth year in the middle of the summer last year. She turned into quite the little fishy and that has yet to change! She can do a mean cannonball, has a wildly graceful crawl stroke and loves to flip underwater and dive for toys. She’s still working on endurance and is making great strides in swimming lessons this summer.

Just before the end of summer last year Hannah broke her leg. She showed tremendous resilience as she dealt with the pain, the adjustment and the complete life pivot that provided. It was really tough and she persevered!

With a late summer birthday we opted to wait a year to put Hannah in Kindergarten. She had such a fun “gap” school year in an outdoor nature-based school. This was her third year of outdoor school and dang this girl is tough! Not only did she start the school year with a broken leg, but she weathered the rain, wind, snow, sun and everything in between.

School for Hannah was filled with mud, an education in nature, cultivating really deep friendships, learning leadership skills, more mud, endurance and resilience, all mixed in with math and reading skills in a very non-traditional way.

This winter, despite it being a low snow year, Hannah crushed it on skis, both Nordic and alpine. She participated in our local Nordic ski team for the first time and was such a champ! After spending six hours outside at school, she transitioned right into a two-hour ski practice. Her foundation in both Nordic and alpine skiing is so solid. She has a clear preference for alpine skiing, though by late-January she seems to be over them both.

Ballet is another love of Hannah’s. This year she was able to participate in two performances – The Nutcracker at Christmastime and her studio’s spring performance. As a five-year old, she participated fully and knew just what to do – she was so brave, confident and poised on stage. She absolutely loves ballet and, even in July, still loves to listen to The Nutcracker music.

One very special part of this last year has been the hour of time that Hannah and I have between when we bring Ben to school and when Hannah can be dropped off. Because we live 30 minutes from their respective schools, it doesn’t make sense for us to go back home in between, so we made use of our time by having a coffee date most mornings at our local cafe. Hannah had more hot chocolates this school year than I ever imagined giving my kids in a lifetime, and we played so many fun card games and had incredibly special time together. I’ll treasure that time forever.

Hannah is quite a kid. She has an innate nurturing ability and from a very early age has loved to care for her toys, typically turning them into families. She’s the first to offer to help, particularly in the kitchen or with building projects. Lately Hannah has fallen absolutely in love with math and is working so hard to begin the process of learning to read. It is such a fun and special age.

Hannah is a pretty special kiddo and we’re quite crazy about her! It’s going to be another big year for her and we’re so excited to see what SIX brings.

Hannah is five

Hannah is four

Hannah is three

Hannah is two

Hannah is one

Hannah is born!

Summer is officially here and school is finally over for the year!

Hannah graduated from preschool this spring. She will be going off to kindergarten in the fall, joining Ben at his school.

We attended the sweetest graduation ceremony and picnic for Hannah’s school and the graduating kiddos. It was so special.

Ben finished up first grade and was SO sad to say goodbye to his teacher. It’s incredible how much he learned this school year.

We’re only a week into summer break and already I am relishing in this special time with my kiddos. It’s been a really lovely start to summer in our house.

Our summer groove will be quite different this year from those in the past. Ben has joined our local swim team, which provides us a bit of structure and gets us out the door by 6:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. Neither of the kids are doing summer camp or school this year, except for one week of soccer camp. Hannah will start swimming lessons shortly. It’s been a nice mix of flexibility and routine.

We have a fair amount of travel planned {first camping trip is already over!} and some very special little boys coming for a visit next month, along with a SIXTH birthday to celebrate in July.

Alex transformed a weedy, unused portion of our property into a beautiful gathering space for us to relax and enjoy time together by a fire. The grass is coming in beautifully and we’ve been loving the new seating area.

My goal this summer is to strike a good balance of fun and relaxation, while also mixing in some education. I love utilizing the summer to focus on helping the kids learn life skills, practice their math and reading, and allow them some extra autonomy.

We’ve already done SO much and it has only been a week – we have so much to look forward to for the rest of the season! Happy summer!

They say it goes fast and gosh, they are right. Ben’s eighth year has been an absolute delight. Age seven for Ben will go down as one of my all-time favorite years so far. This age felt particularly wonderful because it felt like so much clicked for him as he transitioned from a little kid to a big kid this year.

Ben’s stats:

• Weight: 50 pounds
• Height: about 50.5 inches
• Clothing size: in between kids small (6/7) and medium (8/9)
• Shoe size: kids 1
• Number of teeth lost: 3!
• Favorite foods: pasta with green sauce {spinach + roasted garlic!}, tortellini with mushroom sauce, egg in a hole, Dad’s fettuccini Alfredo, pizza from school lunch, Dad’s pizza, mac & cheese from The Old Mill
• Favorite activities: playing outside, climbing, running, watching car videos, riding his bike, doing art projects, skiing, dancing, spending time with friends/family, jumping on the trampoline, reading

This year it felt like all the pieces started really coming together for Ben. Academically, Ben absolutely flourished this year. He built a very solid foundation in kindergarten and it was scaffolded upon beautifully in first grade this year. Mid-way through the year we walked into his room to find him reading a chapter book in his little chair. The absolute best! His math skills are impressively sharp, too.

He started last summer in swimming lessons and flew through the levels as he built strength and swimming skills. I’m so excited to watch him as he joins the swim team this summer.

Soccer season last fall was an absolute joy in the sense that Ben was *finally* into the game! He was the highest scoring player on his team. His spring soccer season just wrapped up and, similarly, he was focused and engaged in the game and had a wonderful time.

Biking is one of Ben’s favorite hobbies. He not only has a natural knack for it, he’s practiced and taken several camps throughout the years. At this point, I can no longer keep up with him in speed or ability on the mountain bike trails. He and Alex have been going out and riding together a bit lately and they are great riding buddies. At home, Alex built Ben and Hannah a mini pump track in our forest, and Ben can often be found riding it or up and down the driveway. Of course, he still *loves* riding the pump track.

Ski season last winter was, unsurprisingly, a particularly spectacular one for Ben. His Nordic skills are really improving – his skate skiing technique improved leaps and bounds from the year before. And gosh, downhill skiing with Ben is a sheer delight. He is such a good skier.

One of the most profound observations I made of Ben this year is his emotion regulation and emotional awareness. Ben became a lot more even keeled in his emotions this year and the most common emotion was, of all things, calm. Sure, Ben is still the same active kid he has quite literally always been, but his demeanor is more often than not calm.

Throughout this last year it felt like so many things we’d been working on with Ben for years have finally clicked. He has an incredible emotional intelligence and ability to regulate his emotions most of the time. It is so impressive. I have a clear memory from late this winter where he didn’t have the vocabulary to describe how he was feeling (he had just accidentally knocked over Hannah’s marble run that he knew she worked *so* hard to build) so he asked if we could spend some more time learning about emotions.

The love Ben has for his sister is incredibly heart warming. Ben is an excellent big brother. He is so thoughtful, helpful, patient, protective and caring. His patience with Hannah is wildly impressive. This is where that calm demeanor comes in and saves the day. Their friendship is so deep and filled with love.

question/inquiry into life

It’s been clear more recently that Ben is giving a lot of thought into his future. He talks a lot about some of his intentions for where he will live, and I know he’s trying to imagine what his home will look like. Thankfully it’ll be close by and he and Hannah will be next door neighbors. Naturally, he knows exactly which cars he and his partner {whom he’s already selected} will drive.

A few years ago Ben formed a deep adoration of cars. He has an encyclopedic awareness of most modern vehicles and is incredibly passionate about learning more about cars. We have some friends with some really fun cars, like the brand new Sequoia, the Rivian S and the gull wing Tesla and they have all been so incredibly gracious in allowing Ben to explore their cars. Amazingly, when Ben hops in it’s he who is giving the tour and generally points out a feature that the car owner didn’t even realize was there. Ben actually just informed me that I do, in fact, have a CD player in my car {not sure he even knows what a CD is, but he knows I can play one!}.

His interest in cars is very focused on modern cars, and he has a particular affinity for off-roading vehicles, as well as luxury vehicles. He is very often disappointed to learn that his parents will not be purchasing a luxury vehicle, despite his persistent pleas and recommendations. Alex is in the market for a new car later this year, so it’s been very fun for Ben and Alex to chat about it.

Ben is a very creative kiddo. He loves art, design, constructing magnetic tile/block/lego houses, putting together beautiful wildflower arrangements, and rearranging his room. He’s recently become interested in home designs, both from a style perspective as well as an architectural.

Ben is an absolute joy as a human. He is kind, so sweet, loving and just a delight to be around. It has been one of my greatest pleasures watching him turn into the incredible big kid that he is. I’m so excited to see what Ben is like as an 8-year old!

{it was particularly fun looking back on “ben is seven” to remind myself of how much he’s really grown up this year!}

Ben is seven

Ben is six

Ben is five

Ben is four

Ben is three

Ben is two

Ben is one

Ben is born!

We’re in the midst of a really beautiful spring in the mountains! The lupine is blooming beautifully right now, and we’ve been fortunate to enjoy a spectacular wildflower show over the last couple of months. We dug out from the low snowpack early this year, though it has been a pretty chilly and windy spring. I’m very curious what summer has in store for us.

Spring is always a busy season for us. We have projects galore around our property – cleaning up after our typically harsh and long winters takes weeks. And the weeding! It’s endless. I like to do a big spring clean on the inside of the house, which also takes several weeks to get through.

This spring we’re doing a small landscaping project, which we’re in the middle of right now. We’re building a fire pit and seating area and adding irrigation and ultimately grass to a section in between our house and garage. I’m very excited to see what it looks like when it’s complete.

Our garden is always a source of joy for me, and this spring is no different. Not a whole lot is happening there yet. It’s still too cold to put my warm weather crops in the ground, so I’m waiting one more week and then they’re going in!

I spent a few hours weeding and spreading new compost, then recently planted my cold weather crops. This year I’m trying a few new things {dahlias, more herbs, more companion planting, new trellising} and focusing on what we love to eat {strawberries! tomatoes! green beans!} and grow {pumpkins!}. My friend Hannah is an avid gardener and she invited me to come “shopping” in her greenhouse – she sent me home with more dahlia tubers, all sorts of herbs, tomatoes and a few things I’ve never grown before – eggplant, broccoli and peppers.

In our community we have an incredible benefit of irrigation water that comes in separately from our well. Throughout our region there are multiple irrigation ditches that connect to people’s properties. These come directly from mountain snow runoff. This helps enable people to keep their properties properly watered, which in turn reduces wildfire risk. It felt like it took forever for the irrigation water to get turned on, but alas, it’s on now!

Ben’s soccer season has already come and gone. This one felt particularly manageable and special. His coach was so wonderful, and Ben became good friends with another player, who is the son of his coach. It’s always fun to watch my kids do something they love.

Hannah just wrapped up her second year of ballet with her spring recital. She absolutely loves ballet and it has been a joy to watch her flourish doing something she loves. Her recital, of course, was adorable.

Before the snow melted Alex and I began to transition from skiing to running. We both have gotten quite into trail running over the last few years. Though it doesn’t happen often, the best is when we can go for a big run together. Neither of us is training for anything in particular this summer, though we have a few moderate distance runs we’d like to get out on this summer or fall.

Now that it’s Memorial Day weekend I’m hoping it’ll warm up a little bit and stay consistently warmer. We’ve had a few warmer days, but overall it’s been a cooler spring. We have two kiddo birthdays, a preschool graduation, the swim team season and the start of summer on the horizon! So much to look forward to. Happy spring!

Despite my hopes to spend spring break this year somewhere on a beach, we spent it at home and in a tent. And it was wonderful. Our camping trip was probably my favorite that we’ve done so far – it was so lovely!

Our good friends invited us to join them on their camping trip to Ancient Lakes, which is about an hour and a half east of our house. Despite it being so close, this area is a geographic wonder and it feels like we’re on another planet.

The weather forecast looked a bit ominous with heavy rain and a low of 35 degrees was predicted. Yikes! We decided to give it a go and see what happened.

Amazingly, it didn’t rain on us at all, but dang it was cold! We packed appropriately and managed to stay warm.

We ventured out to hike and ride bikes to enjoy the surroundings.

Ben and Hannah absolutely love camping – they’re becoming pros! Brooks got to come with, too!

We had the best time with our friends – it was really just so lovely spending the time with them and watching the kids live their best lives.

Just after Alex returned home from his big backcountry hut trip back in March I ventured out on my own ski trip. I headed to Whistler to celebrate my friend Bri’s 40th birthday. I’ve known Bri now for about two years and she’s one of those extra special humans who when you meet her you just know you’re going to love her and that everyone else feels the same way about her.

To be honest, I really wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into with this trip. The theme for the weekend was 80s/90s/early 00s female pop icons – I’m not usually much for themes or dressing up. Additionally, I knew and loved Bri and another friend, Hannah, but other than that, I had only met a few other girls and the rest were from out of town. Bri is an amazing human and friend, though, so I knew it would be a great trip.

And a great trip it was! We packed a LOT into a long weekend and had an incredible bell-to-bell downhill day on Friday. It was HOT for a ski day and we skied both Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains {quick note: Whistler/Blackcomb is the largest ski resort in North America} and managed to stop for a fancy lunch.

Throughout our twenties, Alex and I made several trips up to Whistler every year. I have so many fond memories of our time there. It was extra special being back on the mountain there. I kept thinking how excited I am to bring our kids to Whistler now that they’re older.

Our final full day started off with Nordic skiing. We dressed up in our 90s gear and hit the trails. It was so fun!

The afternoon was spent at the spa. There’s a well-known Scandinavian spa in Whistler that features hot pools, cold plunges, saunas and steam rooms. Oh, and it’s silent!

We all dressed up in our 80s/90s/00s costumes for our final evening of the weekend in Whistler. Bri organized a caterer to drop off the most incredible dinner for us all, and we found a cake baker to put together an epic 90s-themed cake for the birthday girl.

The weekend was filled with laughs, fun, amazing connection, new friends and so much more. Everyone got along impressively well, which is saying a lot for ten women, most of whom didn’t know more than one or two other people. Since the trip, our friendships and connections have continued and deepened. We’re all so lucky to have Bri as a friend!

Alex has spent the winter preparing for a remote backcountry hut trip. It turned out to be a trip of a lifetime for him. I’ll share his incredible photos and provide a little context behind the trip.

He and eight friends drove up to a small ski town in interior British Columbia, skied at a resort for a day, then got helicoptered out and dropped off at a remote cabin in the middle of the mountains for the week.

They spent the week backcountry skiing, disconnecting from technology, learning and relaxing. Backcountry skiing, or “ski touring,” is a way to access big mountain terrain without a chair lift. To do this, you need to be able to ski up the mountain. Generally, you’d ski in a zig-zag pattern across the mountain to make it a bit easier on your legs for the ascent.

Skiers attach “skins” to the bottom of their skis to provide traction for the uphill. This also requires special bindings that detach the heel, but the toe stays clipped in {similar to Nordic bindings}. Most people prefer ski touring boots, which have a lot more ankle flexion than standard downhill boots. When the skiers reach the top, they remove the skins from the base of their skis, clip their heels into their skis and then ski down.

With backcountry skiing, it’s also important to note that there is *no* avalanche mitigation from ski patrol. It’s imperative that skiers who venture into the backcountry are prepared with rescue gear, such as a beacon, probe and shovel, and that they are well-equipped with terrain management and avalanche knowledge to avoid triggering an avalanche {and the skills to rescue a ski partner, should an avalanche occur}. There are books and classes a person can take to learn these critical skills.

Anyway, back to the trip! Alex’s group’s trip aligned with the end of a major storm cycle that dumped a LOT of light, fluffy powder all across the region. The guys had the most epic, incredible ski conditions of their lives.

Their cabin looked and sounded amazing. It was huge, had a full kitchen, running water and heat, along with a gear drying room, though the bathroom was an outhouse {with a heated toilet seat!}. The guys took turns cooking dinner for each other and relaxing without the use of their devices {no cell service or wifi}.

They spent eight days skiing powder, exploring new expansive terrain, learning about the mountains and having fun together. I hope you enjoy his photos!

I’ve been wondering a lot lately if we’re in the midst of the golden years of parenting. Is there such a thing? My kids are 5.5 and 7.5 and it feels like we’re in such a good spot right now.

They absolutely adore each other and play together every waking moment. It’s hard to imagine a better relationship between the two of them. They’re each other’s biggest fan and bestest friend. As a parent, it’s one of the most endearing, rewarding and heartwarming things to witness.

Life feels especially fun these days, and it feels like as a family, we’re a team, and we’re on the same team. Sure, there are challenges and always will be with parenting. Right now feels like a particularly special time that I’d like to hold on to.

Surprisingly, especially with the news headlines these days, many of my friends who have older kids tell me that they love having teenagers, so I do have hope that the good times will just keep rolling.

This past fall I read an absolutely delightful book called “The Art of Making Memories.” I sought this book out after reading a few other titles by the same author (Meik Wiking) and have been working over the nine months or so to evaluate my priorities, including being more intentional with my time and what core memories I hope my children carry forward from their childhood. {I wonder if they’ll remember the matching jammies and boots they choose so they can be “matchies”!?}

My kids are at the perfect age for so many wonderful life experiences. They are capable and independent, they’re becoming a whole lot more rational and all signs are pointing to them being able to remember this time in their lives when they grow up.

So, here’s to making all the memories!

We were all a bit nervous about what this winter would look like, given it was forecast to be an el nino year. We were very lucky in December and received two really lovely snowstorms to give us a jumpstart at building up a snowpack. By Christmas; however, all the snow in town had melted, and at our house we had 4-6″ still on the ground. It was getting pretty sad!!

Hannah’s first day of school in January was wildly muddy. {Reminder: Reima makes the absolute best kiddo outerwear! She was dry underneath this all of this mud!}

Thankfully January came and brought an incredible amount of snow and cold temperatures and gave us a really dense snowpack.

We’ve been skiing quite a bit this winter, both alpine and Nordic.

Both kids joined our local Nordic team this year and are loving it. Hannah continues to blow everyone’s expectations – her group is filled with kids who are or were her classmates and are used to being outside moving around all day everyday, so their stamina is incredible.

Alex and I are both coaching the nordic team this year. It’s my first time ever as a coach and I’m loving it. It’s incredible to be able to be a part of the community and the program.

We’ve had several really fun alpine days, both up at the big resort near us and at our local ski hill. We all just love skiing so much!

Alex’s parents have been staying with us since just before Christmas. They’ve gotten incredibly involved and are helping support the ski trails and the ski team in a number of ways. It’s been really special watching them enjoy their winter in the mountains. They’ve been Nordic skiing, alpine skiing and snow shoeing and are making friends here. It’s been wonderful having them!

My dad came for a week-long visit mid-January. His trip coincided with the coldest weather most Washingtonians have ever experienced {which was nothing for him, coming from Minnesota!}. But, that meant it was too cold for us to get out and do a whole lot. Still, we made it out for a couple of ski days and had a really lovely time being cozy at home.

It took several weeks for our backyard skating rink to freeze this year. There was a whole lot of drama involved getting it ready to ice skate, but alas, we persevered and the dads put in a lot of time with a shovel, hose and buckets, and got it ready! During the cold snap we were finally able to ice skate and we hosted the sweetest ice skating party with a few of our close family friends.

Hannah has been having the absolute best time at school this month. She’s spending the day out in the snow {yes, all day!} sledding, finding animal tracks, building all the things in the snow, noticing the differences in the natural world in winter, playing with her friends and learning to be a leader for the little ones. She’s also fueled by a tremendous amount of hot cocoa.

We have a big warmup in the forecast for the next week, so we’re all a bit bummed out that rain is on the way. But! So is my favorite month! I love February. Happy mid-winter!

Happy New Year! 2023 has been another one of my absolute favorite years so far. It’s been filled with so many memories, so much joy, time together as a family, a bit of travel, lots of firsts and so many adventures.

2023 started out in the middle of ski season! We skied A LOT last winter – Ben had about 60 ski days and I achieved my goal of skiing 100 days.

Ben participated on the local Nordic ski team for the second year and absolutely loved it. He competed in a few races, too.

Hannah started ballet last January and has fallen absolutely in love with it! She performed in a spring recital and just recently was a gingerbread in The Nutcracker.

Ben was overjoyed to finally lose his first tooth last winter!

At some point in the early spring work *finally* wrapped up on building our garage and guesthouse. It was well worth the wait! The space is gorgeous, so filled with light and it’s so calming being there. We are so delighted with how it turned out.

Spring arrived, and with it, mountain biking season and running season. We were eager to embrace both sports.

Ben got back into soccer last spring, as well.

It felt like an extra special spring for wildflowers – we had some epic flower-finding adventures.

We celebrated Ben’s seventh birthday with a party at the local pump track.

Ben graduated from Kindergarten this spring!

Our big family trip of the summer was a road trip down the Oregon coast to Redwoods National Park in California.

Most of our summer was spent at the pool. The kids flourished in the water. Their swimming skills took off with leaps and bounds.

Our family garden was a tremendous source of joy this summer and fall. The strawberries and tomatoes were in abundance and we all took pride in cultivating and harvesting from our very own garden.

We celebrated Hannah’s fifth birthday with a party at the local pool.

Alex and I spent the whole summer training to run The Enchantments, which is 20-miles + 5500 feet of elevation gain. Alex joined the “old man running group” – a group of mostly old men who like to run up mountains together on Sunday mornings. I, on the other hand, took a very different approach to training. Nevertheless, we achieved our goal of running The Enchantments and did so on the hottest day of the summer! It was incredible and absolutely grueling.

At the very end of the summer, Hannah broke her leg. She started school at her outdoor school in a cast, hardly able to walk. By the time her cast came off, she was trail running in it.

Fall in the mountains was incredible this year – the colors were absolutely spectacular and seemed to last for weeks.

Ben bumped up in to the traveling soccer age bracket this fall. He got very into it and really enjoyed the sport.

I read a lot of books this year. A few of my favorites include: “Lessons in Chemistry,” “The House of Eve,” “Lykke” {a Danish book about the secrets of the world’s happiest people} and the life-changing book “Slow: Simple Living in a Frantic World.”

Our transition to winter was slower than we had hoped, but we were grateful for two big snowstorms to get us on our way to ski season.

The holidays were filled with joy, cookies, waking up early to find Elfie, delight, crafts, lots of hot cocoa, family time, stories by the fire, skiing and relaxing.

From our family to yours, we wish you a Happy New Year – one filled with joy, adventure and good health. And snow!