Life of a Gal Named Liv

Greetings from the redwoods! We are celebrating the holidays amongst the wise old trees of northern California, and we are beyond grateful to be here. Our month-long road trip has been a full body refreshment. We have spent many evenings reflecting on our gratitude, days amongst the tall trees, mornings with the smell of the ocean in our nostrils, and enjoying every moment with our sweet Basil.

We saw some salmon spawning- a truly magical moment- with our good friend Eliza, who met us for the weekend. Sunshine surprised us on Christmas Day, and we even went evening tidepooling!

We spent just a few days in Olympic due to the record breaking wind & rains! Evacuated from campground? Yes that happened! Some long beach walks, one neat rainforest loop, and some funky trees were spotted! Too short, need to come back when it’s not a torrential downpour!

Saw a beaver and a beautiful valley of sage. Oh, how I love the smell of sage in the winter. Dogs almost got into some poison oak berries… dodged that bullet! Basil boops is bundled up and enjoying his “nature baby” status.

Took the day off work & spent it writing poetry beside the river with my sweet boy. We let the sun kiss our cheeks, as did some soft rain droplets! I saw a river otter and observed it for quite some time.

Phin finally got a full day off work, so we geared up and went for a big hike in Ecola! It was so fun re-visiting this area I had been just a few years ago on the O.C.T. ! I hiked us through deep mud, and much further than anticipated trying to find one of my favorite viewpoints- didn’t even find it! Next time!

Spent about a week here, through multiple INSANE wind storms. We had about 6 inch deep standing water outside our camper one morning. Embraced the “cozy” and spent afternoons reading books to Basil, doing some nature meditations, and drinking hot cocoa!

Our trip was a whirlwind and we have decided to refresh & reset at home after some life changing news came our way. The day after we got home, at Basil’s 4 month appointment, we were urgently rushed to the children’s hospital in Spokane. They thought he may have a brain tumor, or cancer. Never thought I’d say this, but thank god he is actually just blind. He cleared all of his medical exams (MRI, CT, pediatric ophthalmologist) and we are currently in a holding pattern until he is 10 months old to do more tests. At that point they should have an understanding of what he can actually see (remember, blindness is a spectrum!), if glasses would help at all, and if his vision has improved or is constant.

Our sweet baby is aye okay. It’s been a lot to process, but we are all doing well and are looking forward to the adventurous experience that life is! Naturally, I’m trying to figure out how to teach myself Braille & DIY-ing all the visual therapies that I can for him. Due to all the medical appointments & needed interventions, we decided it was best that I quit my job at the University to focus fully on Basil’s care needs. We aren’t sure what life will hold or where we will have to move to for Basil to have the highest possible quality of life, but we are along for the ride! I have been looking at some pretty cool adaptive adventure sport programs in Colorado- talk about a whole new world! Life throws curve balls that’s for sure. We aren’t letting this stop us from giving him the most adventurous, glorious, fun childhood that we can. It’s just another thing to figure out! 🙂

We are taking off for our next adventure in just a couple weeks. Excited to be out immersed in nature again, but for now…. We are enjoying hot showers and a full sized kitchen! oh, and the dogs are feeling very luxurious as indoor dogs again!

Much love,

The Lampmans