The Tribe, Field Trip, Poetry, Photos from School, Etc. (The Rest of May)

I think I posted photos and/or video of "The Tribe" before - the sort of fort-in-the-brush below our house headed up by the Cikanek boys and contributed to by Wrenzy and Tiny and Leighton and Landon (the grandkids of our other neighbors). It's very fun what they did down there.

I chaperoned a "Plant, Eat, Grow" field trip with Tiny's class. Tiny agreed to pose in the bee head if I did.

Also, photos of Tiny's class at school. Purple day:

End-of-school party, I'm guessing:

Courtney Johnson texted Melissa Phillips (Maya's mom) and me photos of some writings by Kaia. The Kaia/Maya/Tiny love is the absolute best. 

One of my triumphs is getting the girls in the kitchen young. I love seeing them prepare their own food.

First swim of the season in Cikaneks' pool. 

Poetry by Bear:

Whole school photo at JCS:

Wrenzy with Coach Alex and her team:

Gray's Peak Overnighter - Big Bear (May 2024)

The night of Friday, May 24, 2024, we drove up to Big Bear after Jim finished work. We hit a grocery store, which provided a sugar-filled breakfast Saturday morning.  

We went on a little walk on a trail at the base of Snow Summit. Giant fallen trees make for fun jumping and climbing. 

The Littles started jumping from a spot below the summit. 

Then Berry moved to the top, but Tiny couldn't get up the courage. 

After church on Sunday afternoon, we hiked up to the top of the Gray's Peak Trail. It was incredibly hot on the way up. As hot as I could handle, really, although Jim claims it wasn't so bad.  

Jim checked for the vanilla smell in this woodpeckered-to-death tree.

Ever helped us set up tents while the Littles played on the rocks. 

This looks like Ever/Wren love, but it may be Ever trying to make amends after Wren got upset about something. Hard to say.  

Jim said he was better at the floss than I, so we had an on-camera dance-off. 

Although the hike up was terribly hot, golden hour was glorious. 

Ever prepared this selfie for me to find on my phone later. Sweetest. 

I wish I could remember the details of that night (I'm writing this in February 2026), but all I really remember is that it was absolutely magical and I wished I could hold onto it forever. It was a perfect moment in time with these most amazing girls. I was very moved, out there under the night sky, looking down at the lights by the lake, with the girls being so fun together. 

I videoed blackness just to capture a snippet of their new song, which repeated, "And a rude, rude, toot, toot rudey" (inspired by someone's rudeness, I believe). Mostly, this snippet captures Berry yelling at people for doing the harmony wrong, but - still fun.

Jim used his phone to tell us about the stars, and Tiny LOST HER MIND when we told her that the moon was below us, visible to the other side of the world. We tried to explain it over and over again, but she just kept exclaiming that the moon was supposed to be above us at night, and how could it be below us?! 

Campsite at night, with lights below.

The next morning, we packed up and headed back down the hill. 

Filtered some water on the way. 

Ever had started to feel unwell late Sunday; on Monday, she was really not good. She crashed when we got back to the cabin.