July 2026 Newsletter
Hello!
The first proper summer month is over! It's been wonderful and warm for us Washingtonians. There's been summer camps and trips to national parks, and some things that haven't gone according to plan, but what's life without some surprises. I think that's what makes it fun! There have been so many wildfires in the Pacific Northwest right now because of dry vegetation and lightning strikes from thunderstorms. This has influenced plans because I was supposed to go on a 9 day backpack in the North Cascades, but because of the high AQI caused by nearby fires that has sadly been cancelled. Instead of this trip, I got to go on a two day backpack in the Olympic National Forest which was beautiful and gave me some more chill days at home to spend some time with my family!
We got to visit Glacier National park and toodle around Montana for two weeks. This was such a fun experience and we even saw a moose and some bighorn sheep!
At Glacier National Park we went on many hikes to many different waterfalls! They were gorgeous and blue due to glacial powder (crushed up rocks). Mom has been waiting to take us to a national park until Miriam and Hannah were old enough, and this is the year where we could easily go on relatively flat 4-mile hikes without much groaning.
After we were done visiting the park, we spent four lovely days with Aunt Boo and Uncle Jim at their Montana homes. There were many hours spent on the water; including rafting and floating on various flotation devices. I even got Paisley to jump aboard with me on the paddleboard. On the last night we even got a taste of the local culture and went to a rodeo in town! Those bull riders scare me every single time. We want to say a huge thank you to Aunt Boo and Uncle Jim for hosting us! We had such a wonderful time.
I know this was a picture-heavy newsletter, and I apologize for the lesser amount of writing due to fun-filled adventures, but I hope you still enjoyed and had an amazing month!
Happy July!
Sierra, Miriam, and Hannah
