Mt. St. Helens was visible! Well- all thats left of it.

This is why we live here in miserable weather for 10 months. For the few beautiful days like this one.

I can't say enough times, I love national parks. We are nerdy and have the national park passports, so every NP visitor centers we visit, we stamp our book. It dates and keeps track of our adventures. I love it. Here at the visitors center at Johnston ridge, like many other visitor centers, they have a junior ranger program, where Park Rangers explain the uniquness of the area in terms and hands on demonstrations for the kids level of understanding. This ranger was fun. There was an older gentleman who joined in the end and didn't realize that it was a child's program and began to immediately answer the questions the ranger was asking the kids. AWKWARD. I was embarrassed for him and had to walk away.

It is hard to imagine what St. Helens looked like before the devastation. I couldn't help but think about how Mt Rainier will change when it erupts. Sad.

One of the many times Ryan stops and explains things to the kids. I'm glad he is so smart.

We went on many trails, toward the end Mia was DONE walking. She sat down in the middle of a trail and refused to go on. After that she took a tumble out of Ryan's arms, he felt terrible. It is a good thing kids are resilient. Yes she does have a little bit of drool. Why is that funny when they are little?

This dial marks all the peaks surrounding the Johnston Ridge and we could see them all. Rare.

Mia's hair looks like she belongs in who-ville. She does. She live in a fantastical world. Her hair do was left over from the day before pony tail. I didn't bother fixing it because she was just so cute. Im hoping she'll forgive me later.

Life is really hard as the youngest, and yes Johnston family, I do take her out to lunch regularly, now that she has learned not to climb over the benches.

The boys over the last year have really been interested in Volcanoes. After seeing the devastation and the film footage of the aftermath they were very concerned that it was going to erupt again while we were there and that our house is going to wash away when Mt Rainier goes. I remember feeling that while visiting St. helens as a kid. It was fun to be transported to my childhood when I could feel what they felt. Sometimes we as adults forget the trust our children put in us and how vulnerable they can feel, How they REALLY rely on us for feeling safe.

Marsh not interested in taking a picture where it was hot. I think it was maybe 80 degrees this day. It was more than he could handle.


We had such a mess in the car after this trip. The usual mess from snacks and getting in and out of the car and things to entertain kids on the long drive down, markers, stuffed animals (why did they have to come? I don't know) Books, AND the boys smuggled in a bowl of blackberries they picked at home. At some point they got dropped and as they were coming in and out they were walking all over them, grounding them into the carpet. There goes the resale value! The "no snacks in the car" policy was in full force again after that. I think it lasted a day.

Amazing how St. Helens vegetation is coming back and the processes that started the regrowth. I learned that the thousands of trees weyerhauser planted in the blast zone was hand shoveled and planted to get through the ash to the nutrient rich soil. Sounds like a lot of work.

The Thompson's go to DC

I had a chance to go on a trip to The Other Washington in August. We had a 3 week heads up that we were going. Hubby was going to work, I went to play, Granny graciously took the babes. In the short time to plan my activities, I asked those that had gone before, for advice, what not to miss.

DC is land of the "free" experiences. I say "free" because we pay taxes. On my list were Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, WWII, veterans war, Korean war Monuments, the American History museum, the flight and aviation museum, Museum of Natural History, The Archives, the capital building, the white house, the Georgetown neighborhood, and Mt Vernon. I really didn't think I would even get to see a fraction of it because I didn't know the scale of the city nor how long it would take to get through everything, especially because I wouldn't have to stop for potty breaks for 4 other people and diaper changes for another. I kept on getting told you know you could go to relax, you know go swimming and sleep in. It really wasn't an option. I only had 3 and a half days. I did see everything I wanted to and more.

Bonus: I got to ride in a cab for the first time. Welcome to adulthood Sarah.


Day 1 Museum Overkill plans Killed

I had reserved a time slot at 10:00 to go to the Rotunda in the Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of RIghts- The Magna Carta was on vacation. I slept in and woke up at 9:30! With the time change and flying cross country I was really tired. But I rushed a quick shower and ran out the door by 9:45. (I forgot this is possible) We were a good distance away so I knew I had to hop on what they call Metro- the subway there. I quickly asked the bellhop where the closest station was and booked it to where I needed to go. Having never done this before I had to figure out the whole system in zero times. Just figuring out how to pay, which one of the million payment options to choose from was overwhelming. I got to where I needed to go, even making a major transfer. That place was crazy i can't imagine NYC subway, and I'm glad it wasn't a busy time. My superior navigating skills got me there without any hitches, on time even.

The documents were cool even though they are so faded you can't even read them. I was surprised at how ornate all the writing was. Handwriting is NOT what it used to be, not that that is bad though.

So after the Archives I headed down to the American History museum and I have to say my favorite spot was the Presidents Wives section. It highlighted the important role each first lady has played, each unique to her personality. It also displayed gowns from inaugural balls and memorabilia. I thought it was cool. I don't know what they are going to do when they get a first dude. What will they even call him?

It was in this building on the third floor that I experienced the 6.8 earthquake centering in Virginia. I had never felt an earthquake. No one knew it was an earthquake until minutes after. Everyone automatically thought a bomb went off in the city since terrorist attacks were their frame of mind. We were fine though, and I was surprised how well those historic buildings did, all except the Washington memorial, which they are still assessing damage.

Since everything indoors was closed I hit the outdoor monuments

Washington Monument had helicopters flying around it assessing damage.

This is one of my favorite war memorials. Korean War Memorial.

Jefferson Memorial- It was amazing. The pool between the Jefferson and Washington memorials is being reconstructed. (thats why I didn't take a picture)


Martin Luther King Jr Memorial

This is the brand new Martin Luther King Jr Memorial. I liked it. It was a stone cut out of a mountain with a larger than life full body sculpture of him with some of his most famous quotes etched in the stone. It was going to be dedicated the day after we left but with a hurricane on its way they postponed the dedication for a later date. The placement of this one is great. There are terrific views all around it.

With the turn in events we ditched our evening plans for the museums and headed to the Georgetown neighborhood. I heard it was a cute little town to walk around with shops and old historic homes. We enjoyed it very much there and saw the oldest house in the district and saw where George Washington negotiated the sale of land where DC now stands. We also went to a little cupcake shop that has one of those shows on TLC or whatever. They were OK, I have had better cupcakes. Hubby seemed to enjoy them more than me. I would highly recommend walking around Georgetown just to see the old historic homes that just put you in another time.


Day 2 Mount Vernon / Night time bike tour of Monuments -MY FAVORITE THING WE DID


OK this excursion was what was tricky for me. I wanted to go to Mt Vernon to visit George Washington's home. Having no transportation, I had to rely on the Metro and the buses. It took an hour to get down there because I was too cheap for a cab. I am really glad I went to the effort to go. It painted a more intimate picture of George Washington and I feel like I really got to know him. By the way his teeth WERE NOT MADE OF WOOD. I saw them, Actually i saw one pair of them, he had several throughout his life. He was a lover of new inventions, Im sure he would be blown away to see iPhone and iPods. I loved this trip out. It gave me such an understanding of this amazing man.



My sweet hubby didn't have as easy of time trying to maneuver himself to where I was later in the day when he got off work. He didn't have the benefit I had of getting my bearings. He had to hit the pavement running. This pic was after one of the " Im lost conversations we had." I found it was way easier just giving one option for directions. It less confusing that way.

I finally met up with him and we did another museum and hit dinner. I don't remember the name of the place. It was kind of upper scale and yummy and the flan was to die for. Im craving it right now just thinking of it. It was noisy and the couple next to us were really snooty and kept staring at us. We ordered two desserts, because we wanted to try different things. The lady kind of rolled her eyes and then they came out and she was annoyed at her husband for not getting her the flan. We paid our bill with cash and she about dropped on the floor. It like she had never seen paper money before. The tables were obviously very close, and this is all probably a memory exaggeration but it was funny at the time.




Jefferson Memorial- Hubby's favorite.




We decided to take a night time bike tour which is the BEST WAY TO SEE THE MONUMENTS. They are lit up and very majestic and they are so spread out they are difficult to see in one day if you are walking and want to do a lot of walking. This was so much fun. We found a bike share program where you pick up the bike in one place of the city and return it in another. It was very fun riding with my hubby and get to chat along the way. Our favorites were Jefferson, WWII monument, Korean war monument and Jefferson. We were disappointed in the White house. We saw it when they were working on it I suppose. There were a lot of work cars out and construction out and they didn't even have the grounds lights on so it just looked like a tired old house. We saw it later and it looked better. Riding bikes around the city was my favorite part of the trip.

Day 3 Capitol, Library of Congress, Museum of Natural History

I went to the Capitol and took the tour it was really cool. The security detail was intense. There were cops with really big guns walking around. Inside, Paintings and statues pay tribute to those that have preceded us. I went to the room where John Adams I think was a tricky little guy in the congress. he sat in one particular spot of the room where sound reverberates of the ceiling and floor and he could very clearly hear the whisperings from the opposing party across the room. It was very funny. He kept this secret for many many years. I went to the original Judiciary Court. Legend has it that the original Judge set the clock 5 minutes fast, so that no judge had the excuse of being late. The clock is still run 5 minutes late.

It POURED this day but it didn't slow down this Washingtonian. Mostly everything was inside anyway. I hit a bonus trip to the library of Congress, which I really enjoyed. I didn't see however the Jefferson library due to the earthquake, they were still assessing damage. I really would like to go back to the Library. Its funny its a very historic institution in its own right and they were very proud of the fact that national treasure was filmed there.

The Natural History Museum was my Favorite Museum. I wished i went here first, because I was a little museum burnt out. I loved the diamond Exhibit. We saw a little mouse run across one of the exhibits. We thought it was part of the exhibit. We talked to the worker there. He didn't seem too alarmed. He mentioned its a common occurrence, what with the cafeteria down stairs. We didn't eat there.

Day 4 Holocaust museum & travel home. Caution *spoiler* details on Holocaust Museum

My hubby didn't have any meetings so he was free to tour with me, and our flight didn't leave until 5. We wandered around town and he wanted to go to the Holocaust museum. I kind of avoided it because I thought it would just be really depressing. I am SO glad he insisted. It was very well done, the graphic stuff was covered by tall concrete walls only adults can peer over the edge to see. We walked through a train car that hauled people to concentration camps. The smell was uncanny....Still.

Another exhibit that was very powerful was one room with nothing in it but collected shoes from victims killed. Thousands and thousands of the same shoes taken just before they were gassed. Each of those shoes represented to me a life innocently taken. Plus someone sorting them, matching them only to be reused by another soul. It was very powerful. I learned of the gas chambers where hundreds of men women and children had to be stripped down, shaved, and sent to their death, not knowing beyond the door, the "shower" wasn't a shower it was their death.

There was also a tribute to those that assisted those fleeing. Some hid children, some delivered food under fences for concentration camps, some smuggled them out, many put their own lives in jeopardy for their neighbors.

It really was the perfect ending to the trip, it really balanced it for me. I really held these men who were paid tribute in the museums and monuments up on a pedestal. They were individual people that stood up for their country, had the courage to blaze the way. They were extraordinary people, that our country needed at that time.... and here was an example of where our country failed miserably. We were given the opportunity but we didn't stand up until the end. The phrase "too little, to late comes to mind" So many people did not do the courageous thing. They just ignored the need. As one example, even when the United States saw the need they didn't give exile to those fleeing persecution. Our exile policies changed after this experience.


What I really got out of the trip is to stand up for what you believe and be an influence for good in your own life. I saw God's hand at work in these peoples lives. I really saw that good things come of hard work, labour, industry, creativity, honesty. It made me long for political integrity today. I enjoyed my trip. This was not a trip to take small kids on. The moms and dads that were carting around tired children looked miserable. I got worn out myself and I can't imagine what it would do to little feet, tiny bellies, and small bladders. Someday I will take my kids when they are teenagers, because I feel like it needs to be part of their education.

Freedom is not free and will not last unless people stand up and fight for it.

Olympic National Park

I LOVE NATIONAL PARKS, and we have been wanting to spend time in the Olympics for quite some time. I spent some time here growing up with our young women group due to an amazing couple that loved camping and would take us anytime we wanted to go. So I have wanted to take the kids to some of the places I remembered. Ryan hadn't seen a lot of it so it was great for him to explore uncharted territory. We didn't have any time for camping this summer and we decided to go for it for Ryans birthday weekend. I found out that September is actually one of the best times to go to the Olympics, they typically get less rain during this month, and much of the snow has melted off. Now it is a rainforest so we did get rain, but it was in the middle of the night on our last night, so we didn't care if our gear got wet. It was nice during the day which is what we cared about. We counted it up and figured the kids hiked around 12 miles, and really they could have done more, it was mom and dad carrying Mia that tuckered out.

We did the trip counterclockwise and hit the highlights. (this post is in backward order because Im too lazy to go back and edit it in the order of the trip- deal with it :0)

We ended our trip with the Hoh Rainforest, and 50% of our kids were sleeping so we didn't spend much time here, Plus we were pooped.


The best tide pools in Washington are Hole in the Wall north of Rialto Beach. Its a mile and a half up the beach hike and You have to be sure to do it at low tide. We got the tide tables and the time we were there the tide wasn't going to be a very low tide since it wasn't a full moon, but we saw a ton. The rip tides were very powerful and there were the tiniest little pebbles on the beach. It was a lot more tiring hiking on the beach since the rocks are not stable so it takes twice as much energy to do it and with Mia in the pack it was really challenging. This was our last hike and the kids did not believe us that walking to the big old rock in the water would be worth it, but they didn't want to leave when we finally got there.


We found a tide pool where we felt comfortable letting Mia explore. Some were not very safe for our little dare devil. She learned all kinds of new words on this trip.

Really, the pictures do no do it justice, the weather was fantastic. it was bright and sunny for the most part then toward the end a mist came in for about 20 minutes and left again.

The kids loved climbing on the drift wood and skipping rocks in the water. Its amazing how powerful those waves are to pull in these huge washed up logs.

I have wanted to go to Sol Duc Falls for so long and was worried they would be all dried up by the time we got around to going!
We set up camp at the Sol Duc campground and found another stellar campsite that had levels. One level was a cooking area with the picnic table and the fire pit. Separated by trees there was a small pad for Big boys tent and up higher was the large area for the family tent then behind that were more logs to climb over. We were able to be choosy since there were many sites were available. We then headed out on the trail from the campground to the falls. It was about a 2.8 mile hike there, so it was going to be just over 5.5 miles round trip. There is a parking lot .8 miles from the falls but we wanted to go on a little longer hike. Mia was in the pack and she is no dainty thing so Ryan was carrying her. It allowed us to make a really good pace. (Last Hiking trip we took to St Helens she stopped in the middle of a really short trail and just stopped- not because she was tired, just because she could) The trail is great, there are lots of bridges and streams and change of scenery to keep the kids going. There is really no elevation gain to speak of. We got to the falls and Mia went crazy she was oohing and aaahhing pictures could never capture her excitement, Nor could it capture the beauty. It is a must see.

We found the best campsites I've ever seen. This one was in the Heart of the Hills campsite near Port Angeles just before Hurricane Ridge. This site was amazing. It was very spacious with downed trees behind us so the kids could climb all over them. There was only one campsite next to us and we had to search for their tent to even see it. In front of us was thick woods. They had picnic tables that were so easy to wipe clean. We had a pad for the large family tent and our big boy wanted to sleep on his own in the little tent and there was room to do that.


We were told the snow just barely melted off Hurricane Ridge and the kids were so happy to find one little patch of "snow" (more like dirty Ice) hanging on. It was enough to poke with a stick and make their hands cold. It was pretty funny how excited they were about it.

Apparently we caught it on a fairly good visibility day. Normally they said it is swirling with mist all the time up there, but we were able to see for a moment Mt Olympus and on the other side Victoria.

There is a reason they call it Hurricane Ridge

Our first stop was at the Dungeness Spit just on the north side of Sequim. This was a new discovery for us. It is the longest natural spit in the United states. It is maybe a mile from the trail head to the water. It goes out for 10 miles at the end is a light house. There was no way we were going to go out that far, but it was cool to see the strait of Juan De Fuca on one side with the crashing wild waves, and a calm smooth side where they say harbor pup seals have been sighted. We weren't lucky enough for that but we hit sunset right on. It is a definite must do again.

The whole summer I felt like I was missing something, it was spending time with my family in the great outdoors. The mountains and hiking and exploring really rejuvenates my soul. I was so happy to be able to go and were glad we weren't intimidated by the less than stellar weather forecasts. We were so glad we went and made family memories to last a lifetime! Summer can now officially be over.

Tolmie lookout

Major catch up:

A few weeks ago we set out for a hike; here are highlights of Mowich, and Eunice lakes, then hefty climb up to Tolmie Lookout on the Northwest corner of Mount Rainier. Elevation gain about 1100 feet: mosquitos were ravenous.





It was an absolutely gorgeous day... all but one smudge of clouds hugging the grand finale view of the mountain as it does. It just so happened that when we peaked, the clouds were playing a peek a boo game with the mountain and we lost. oh well. We got a great shot of the lakes below, the valley to the north, and the hill we had just climbed up.

Ape Caves

We went with our friends, the Mahoney's, to the south side of Mt. St. Helens to a place called Ape caves. It was so much fun. I loved getting out and doing something different. It was a rainy weekend, but when we were out hiking around the rain stopped for a bit, and turned out to be a gorgeous day.

The ape caves are totally dark encolsed chute formed by lava a long time ago. We hiked through a nice forest trail, had lunch, and then descended into total darkness. I was worried about how the kids would do, but once given flashlights they were ready to go. The boys enjoyed it incredibly and we had try our best to keep up with them. In one part of the cave they got pretty far ahead to where we couldn't see their lights and someone walking the opposite way said "There's something you don't see everyday, two boys walking around in a cave." They were in heaven, able to be total boys.

It was a much more difficult endeavor than I had anticipated. Many portions of the hike are climbing over big huge boulders. Another difficult spot was decending down two straight walls of lava rock. One was 4 feet and the other 8. I was so glad we had friends to go with as I think it would have been near impossible to get down on our own. At one point we turned off all our flashlights and experienced total darkness. It was very disorienting and had I not stood still, I would have lost track of which way I was pointing. It was such a great day and something out of the ordinary to do.

Summer Fun at Mt. Rainier

Or Mountain Reindeer as it is known at our house. We told our kids Saturday morning we were going to go hiking in a mountain and seriously I think Marshall was so excited he could have peed his pants.





















So this week I really tried to focus on fun stuff for the kids since I can just feel the end of July creeping on me and I have been away for so much of our summer. So we did tons of fun stuff this week. My favorites were Emma's birthday swim party at the YMCA with her girl friends. (on Wed, yes 2 weeks late, but that's how its been) and a trip up to Mt Rainier. We went to Sunrise and went on the Sourdough trail that looped into the wonderland trail back to the Visitor's Center. It was a 3.7 mile hike that was awesome. We saw a little bit of everything and there was so much to look at to keep the kids interested at every turn. It did take us 5 hours for that amount, but we took our time and let the kids explore.

We saw great views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, a glacier lake, meadows with wildflowers, creeks, trees, we watched clouds swirl around the mountain, and a raging river. It was so much fun really. The kids' highlights were their first glissading experience. there was a snow bank we were hiking down and Ryan couldn't resist going off the one with a pretty much straight shot down. The kids thought it looked like so much fun so we found them a spot that was less trecherous that Ryan could stand at the bottom to catch them. They were so proud of themselves. It was cute. They had their own packs with plenty of water and snacks they could eat in their own time. I think the snacks really help the morale of the troops.

On the way down we found a spot where you could cross over the White river. Seriously this was freaky helping our kids cross this precarious little bridge. We really had a great time spending all our attention on each other and this really great place we can enjoy. Plus as a bonus, for some reason it was get into the park free weekend. I don't know why and we didn't know ahead of time, but it was pretty cool.



The kids wanted to take pictures of me and Ryan.