Mountain Life: Spring/Summer Update

I’ve gotten quite behind on posting lately and am trying to catch up! Here’s another photo dump of what we’ve been up to since moving to the mountains.

We moved out here early May and we’re absolutely still getting settled. It feels like there is random stuff everywhere. Merging two houses into one is quite a task. Alex took on the brunt of the physical tasks, while also managing the start of building our garage + guesthouse project and working full-time. Needless to say, he was exhausted.

Our house in Seattle is officially sold and closed in early July. We’re so grateful for a quick turnaround so we can focus on this next chapter in the mountains. Alex and I went back before the closing to clear the last bits of our personal belongings out and say hi/bye to a few friends and neighbors.

Alex’s parents were here for quite a while just after we moved. We had such a lovely time with them and the kids made oodles of memories with their Grammy and Papa.

Alex’s sister joined us for Memorial Day weekend to celebrate Ben’s birthday, too! It feels extra special to be able to see family again.

We did all the things with family. Beach days, hikes, bike rides galore. So. Much. Fun.

Alex, the kids and I took a trip to Suncadia, a mountain resort south of us, for a week in early June. The kids loved swimming in the amazing pool!

Alex and I managed to sneak out for a couple days to an adults-only hotel in Leavenworth for a little mini-vacay, too! It was so nice to switch gears and change our focus and do some things we haven’t been able to do for a while with the kids. We had our first indoor dining experiences, got to enjoy the hotel’s seven steam rooms/saunas and take all the long walks we wanted.

Mountain biking has become quite a hobby of Alex’s this summer. It’s been a wonderful way for him to explore and stay active, and also spend time with some new friends.

I’ve been a little incapacitated this summer, unfortunately. I haven’t been able to run for several weeks and am doing some physical therapy right now to strengthen and rehabilitate my atrophying mombod. Hoping to be able to start running very short distances in the next few weeks. In the meantime, I’ve been *loving* biking with Hannah in the little bike seat.

We broke ground on our garage + guesthouse project back in early June. It’s been sloooow going. When it’s complete, we’ll have an oversized 3-bay garage with a 1,200 square foot apartment above it. We’re SO excited.

It was SO HOT for a solid 10 days. We were extremely grateful for the kids to have swimming lessons during the heat wave. We managed to keep cool with lots of ice pops, slushies, a few ice cream cones and our air conditioning.

Lately, our days have been filled with a trip into town for swimming lessons most days. We’re surrounded by water here in the mountains, with some major rivers passing through, so building up my kiddos swimming strength is a top priority.

We’re also enjoying getting ice cream, mini golfing, riding bikes, going to the local farmers markets, spending the morning at the beach and riding bikes to the bookmobile. You can read about our big road trip to Jackson Hole here, too!

It’s been such a wonderful summer so far. We are SO, SO happy living in the mountains. The community here is so lovely and life feels so calm and peaceful. We absolutely love it.