In the summer of 2023, I was living a simple life. I had just gone on summer break. I had quiet quit Instagram. And I was living in the present moment, taking in nature and the sounds of my son playing nearby at a quaint AirBnB in Columbia, South Carolina.

I prided myself on not being like the rest of my family. My family who was consumed by the internet and the approval and disapproval of Barstool fans. 

At the time, I had a dad whose hobby in retirement was trolling people on Twitter. Very healthy.

I had a brother who went through protocols like Francis went through the Thesaurus and ran through bits and jokes in his head before executing them on his podcasts. Not odd is him at all?

I had a mom….

I vowed never to become like that. I was better than all of them. I ran a modest email list that delivered monthly parenting tips and filled up my Unicorn Space. 

With this spare time on our Congaree/Savannah trip, I decided to log in and fire off a parenting tip about traveling with kids. Tehe. Life was good.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, 
But hundreds of new subscribers bringing good cheer.

I was ecstatic! What had brought them all here? Had they resonated with my sign language tips? Had my suggestions for tantrums finally gone viral? Were my blogs on teaching about feelings starting to pop off? 

I decided to dig deeper. And that’s when I started to notice during my deep dive that the subscribers joining my email list were mostly guy names. And they also had emails like dickass and ilovedonkeys and googoogaga. Uh oh. 

I stalked off in a huff and retrieved my phone from the depths of the cozy cabin. And there on my phone was the text that changed everything. 

My dad had screenshotted a Reddit post showing that some sleuth had found an article I wrote about Kyle nearly four years ago. When trying to read the article on my website, my obnoxious JOIN MY EMAIL LIST pop-ups prompted them to sign up. 

Oh dear, oh dear. This wasn’t good. I panicked. I was an aspiring blogger with high goals to be accomplished in the academic writing field. I had plans to be well-known in the parenting space. Besides, I was also a highly respected teacher with many degrees under my belt. I couldn’t have Barstool fans staining my achievements on my resume. I took the pen seriously, and I would not have silly, little antics that I merely scrawled when I was bored tainting my good name.  

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Just kidding, motherfers! I’m no better than the rest of my conniving family. This was excellent. Like everyone else in my household, I plotted a way to spin this to my advantage. 

I read every Reddit comment about my blog and nearly overdosed on dopamine from all the praise. I was addicted. Hook, line, and sink her. Ironically, that’s what was about to happen to me. The internet has a way of raising you up and then sinking you. I was no exception to the rule. 

My brother suggested that I write more about our family because people found it entertaining. I reluctantly concurred. On one hand, I have seen how people have treated Sas, Owen, Kate, and Mook. At first, they are beloved, and then they are detested. 

On the other hand, I had nothing better to do that summer and with our upcoming adoption payment coming up (click on the link for an update on that), I figured out I could squeeze a few dollars out of these guys. 

After all, I have seen how they have so easily and foolishly handed over cash to just buy Untell This Bitch shirts, kiss coins, and to support Nick after he lost Surviving Barstool. I figured they could spare a few change for me.  

I was right. I was pleasantly shocked and grateful for the tips that rolled in after I published two more blogs about my family. 

Doug Wanoy's Coaching Tree 10-Step Protocol

​Has KBNoSwag Always Been a Perfect Boy?

Why wouldn’t I keep this going? 

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But much like Kyle, I was a greedy, greedy girl. I had so many ideas, and I couldn’t get them published fast enough. Also much like Kyle, my blogging process largely follows a similar route to his jokes process: 

• An idea sprouts.
  
• It immediately gets recorded in my Notes App. 
  
• The idea starts to grow. 
  
• Nothing gets written down or typed until most of the blog gets written in my head. 
  
• Only when the blog is figuratively overflowing in my mind, do I start writing it on my computer. 
  
• I write and write until it is all fully out. 
  
• Then, I reread it until I’m satisfied. 
  

I was publishing a new blog every week, and much like I predicted, the tables started to turn. You, turds, began to turn on me. I took it fairly well and only threw one Kyle-like tantrum. I logged off the internet and returned to my simple life, preparing to start the new school year, pleased with the humble amount I had raised from blogging that summer. 

Then, a miracle happened. 

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My last blog before signing off was about KbNoSwag’s Cocaine Incident: My Mom’s Origin Story. How she being the ultimate momager to Kyle was able to help him spin that little blip into something positive for his career. 

Well, she couldn’t only just help her precious little son. She had to help her precious little daughter as well. 

In a fortuitous turn of events, a peripetia if you will, my sneaky mom died! You clever, little minx, Mommy dearest (ewww I hated writing that line but I had to for literary effect). 

You all came back. You felt sorry for me. You donated more than enough for our adoption. You teared up at my newest blog, The Coma Indicident: My Mom’s End Story, which the timing of was almost too perfect. It paired exquisitely with the Cocaine blog. Chef’s kiss. If I wasn’t so sad at my mom’s passing, I would have been giddy with delight at the literary juxtaposition the two blogs had with one another. An origin story and an end story back-to-back. What are the odds? It’s almost as if my mom really did strike up a deal with God to die at just the right time. 

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In my newfound humility, I now largely stick to one blog a month for you all. I hope you enjoy them. In all seriousness, this past year has been hard, and, as we approach the one-year anniversary of my mom’s death, I am grateful for all of you for sticking around. 

Writing these blogs has been a good distraction. They have helped me process my grief. They have helped me feel as if I’m honoring my mother. They have provided levity to a tough situation. They have made me realize that I’m not alone in my struggle. I have saved every kind word you have written to me or my family in the aftermath of her death. I periodically revisit them when I need a dopamine hit or, in actuality, I need something to smile about when I’m really sad. I know my mom would be pleased. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  

In the coming month, I have finished a day-by-day calendar of all my brother’s and dad’s best Tweets, my mom’s best texts she sent in our group chat, and some of my cringey FB statuses from the years 2008-2014. Stay tuned for that! 

My goal now is to become a certified sleep and anxiety coach and as part of that I developed a mini STRESS FREE SLEEP email course. 

​I highly suggest checking it out if you struggle with sleep and panic. 

Buy me a coffee if you liked this blog. 
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And if you're a parent, check out my parenting guide Now What? Mindful Parenting Checklists for Life’s Hard Moments. ​

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 After my letdown visit to Indiana Dunes National Park, I was thrilled to head to one of the mighty Out West parks. 

Crater Lake National Park. 

A running joke in our family is my dad coming up to a vista and spreading out his arms saying, "BEHOLD" as he viewed the splendor and the glorious sights below. 

Crater Lake is literally the epitome of doing that. 

"The Deep Blue Lake" is really a sight to behold when you first happen upon it and, as the deepest lake (1,949 feet) in the United States, I really suggest soaking this lake in on your next visit to Oregon, both literally and figuratively. 

I like history, but I'm really not the type that learns the history of the national parks when I visit them. Just give me all the sights, hiking, and activities, and I'm good. 

However, Crater Lake has an interesting story. 

Mount Mazama, a 12,000 ft. volcano, erupted 7,700 year ago destroying much in the way of its path and forming Crater Lake. Technically the lake itself is a caldera, a lake that fills a large volcanic depression, but the signs and advertisement were already printed for Crater Lake, and, well, money talks. Plus Crater Lake sounds better than Caldera Lake. 

The lake has no visible inlets or outlets, essentially no rivers run into it or out of it. 

For centuries, the Klamath and Modoc people, the Yahooskin Band of Northern Paiute Indians, and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians have maintained deep ties to what is now Crater Lake National Park. Their ancestors witnessed the collapse of Mount Mazama.

In the 1850's, pioneers began exploring the west and looking for gold. These explorers stumbled about Crater Lake and deemed it the bluest water they had ever seen.

In 1870, a young man from Kansas named William Gladstone Steel unwrapped his lunch, carefully contained in a newspaper. As he ate, he read an article about an unusual lake in Oregon. The story sparked Steel’s imagination and he vowed to see the lake for himself someday. Two years later, Steel’s family moved to Portland, Oregon; but another thirteen years passed before Steel finally gazed upon the beauty of Crater Lake. He was so moved that he decided that it should forever be a public park. His seventeen year quest to see Crater Lake established as a national park had begun.

Now, Crater Lake receives 500,000 visitors each year. 

We stayed at Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Oregon. Crater Lake is an almost two hour drive from the resort. We rented a car for the day and made the trek. 

I first suggested stopping at Rim Village where you can eat, use the restroom, and check out the gear and shop. If you have the time and are looking for a more leisurely visit, do the 33-mile scenic Rim Drive which takes you around the lake and offers many panoramic and lake views. 

We only did part of the drive and decided to do a hike instead, The Watchman Peak Trail. This 1.7 mile out-and-back trail leads you up a moderately challenging, steep path that leads you to one of the best views of the lake and Wizard Island, a volcano within a volcano. 

I wouldn't necessarily consider this a kid-friendly hike, but if we weren't pressed for time, I think my son would have made it up and back. He lingered back with my dad, and the two of them made snowmen with the unmelted snow which many people stopped to take pictures with. 

We were on a schedule because we had signed up to take the Standard Boat Tour. To do any of the boat tours require you to hike 1.1 miles down a steep incline called Cleetwood Cove Trail. Just remember what goes down must go back up!

We made it with plenty of time! Some people were nearly running down, and we were afraid they would trip and fall just to make it in time. 

MY HONEST REVIEW OF THE BOAT TOUR: 3.5/5 stars 

Yes, I'm glad we did it. Like any guided tours from national park be prepared for corny and kitschy jokes that kids will like but leave the adults groaning (or laughing like I did at how stupid they were). But we did learn a lot and got up close and personal with sights like Wizard Island, the Devil's Backbone, The Old Man at the Sea, Pumice Castle, Phantom Ship, and more. From this vantage point of the lake, you can really see just how magnificently blue and majestic the lake is. Plus, we even got to fill up our water bottles with lake water. It's that pure!

The downfall was that it was two hours and with the up and down hike, this took up a majority of our time at the park which was really okay with us. I could spend a lot of time looking at the lake from above, but I liked doing something different than just taking in different views of the same thing from the Rim Drive. However, I think they could shorten the tour to an hour. 

I also agree with my brother that the tour was a little more academic and scientific than I would care for. It was a hot day and when we idled, we couldn't catch a breeze. Cruising across the water was refreshing and relaxing. I would have liked more of that. 

Afterwards, dip your toes in the freezing water, and if you're daring actually get in!

The hike up is challenging! Beware. We saw many people struggling. However, reaching the top felt like an accomplishment, and I was proud of my 5-year-old for making it up. 

By this point, we were tired, dirty, and hungry and decided to call it a day. We felt like we had seen all that we wanted to see and left satisfied and satiated. 

So far this park ranks 6 out of the 16 parks I have been to. Check out the parks here. 

READ MORE ABOUT MY TRAVELS TO NATIONAL PARKS HERE

My goal now is to become a certified sleep and anxiety coach and as part of that I developed a mini STRESS FREE SLEEP email course. 

​I highly suggest checking it out if you struggle with sleep and panic. 

Buy me a coffee if you liked this blog. 
​
And if you're a parent, check out my parenting guide Now What? Mindful Parenting Checklists for Life’s Hard Moments. ​