Returning from McLandia

In more than 10 years of blogging I’ve never taken 15 days off from writing. But that’s what I’ve just done, a little self-directed exile and forced break.

So where have I been? McLandia.

Seriously, this kid.

OK, so it’s not “my stove” but I do a lot of the cooking while we camp… I LOVE IT. I also have a slight addiction to boiling water.

When the rains came we picked up these super fashionable plastic ponchos for just $7 in the camp store!

Do you see it?

The rains came hard one morning, so hard that our tents bottom turning into a waterbed and I had to go build a dam to stop the water from coming in.

I love that the rangers have fun with their information board!

How can you not stop to take pictures of this? It’s like my desktop background except in real life.

Jackson snapped this goofy pic of Paul on the Yosemite Valley shuttle, and I love it. Paul is the best big brother ever.

After the rains came I got to make a little covering for our cooking area. This became our “warm spot” for the rest of the trip.

This spot won over my heart… so gorgeous.

How cool is it to find your daughter painting along the river… the final product was AMAZING!

Loved this little spot watching the sunset with Kristen. Our private national park.

Paul burning his uniform jacket from school. He was stoked.

I found this little footbridge along the Pacific Crest Trail while trying my best to get un-lost on my first fishing adventure of the week.

Hard not to be inspired by views like this.

One of the things I love about Yosemite is how excited Kristen gets about it… here she’s stepping up her iPhoneography game.

Beautiful little spot after a short hike fro the trailhead.

A broken pool at our first hotel didn’t stop the fun, we just went to the local trampoline park and had a blast.

JT loves the hammock, actually all the kids love their hammocks

Loved this little camp site. Upper Pines was PACKED but not as loud as I was expecting.

I just love this river… it’s one of my favorite spots on our planet.

McLandia is the mythical creation of Paul (11). It’s a place where imagination, play, discovery, and creation meld together. It’s our own personal imaginary fiefdom existing within our hearts that expresses what it means to be a McLane.

Over the past few weeks or so we’ve seen mom and Megan go on a girls only trip to St Thomas, celebrating Megan’s graduation from 8th grade and continuing on a tradition of the McLane girls spending solo time together while exploring a new place. We’ve ended a 7 year run at Darnall Charter School as Paul finished 6th grade– including ceremonially burning Paul’s school jacket– I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him so giddy. We thought about doing something on the Fourth of July… but like every year we just went to bed early and didn’t see any fireworks. We’ve camped in Yosemite, eaten way too many s’mores and drank way too many cans of soda, we survived a torrential downpour where our tent floor turned into a waterbed, watched a bear steal someones food, watched sunrises and sunsets at Half Dome and the Minarets, talked mega-crap while competing at Bananagrams and Uno, hiked to waterfalls, camped and resorted, and a whole lot more.

And so, today, we return from our annual pilgrimage to Imaginary McLandia to our lives in Real McLandia.

We step away, to rest and play and rejuvenate and reconnect with who we are. And now we head back home to live out who we are over the next several months.

The kids have weeks and weeks of summer vacation left to go. But mom and dad got what they needed during their short time off– a trip to McLandia where we have space to dream again.