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.

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.

I Gotta love where I live

Although this summer didn't ever really appear, this is a really great place to live.

When the sun is "OUT" a summer evening at Safco Field is the place to be.


Okay I have not been to Ocean Shores when it was sunny, that i can recall, but its always fun to see how many layers you need to survive this ultimate outdoor experience in the Pacific Northwest.


I do love Mt. Rainier. It is always so amazing. We had many opportunities to make it there this season. I am a little sad, this it the first time my kids don't call it Mountain Reindeer. A sign they are growning up.




Cousins! We had a cousin camp this year and it was so much fun. It was great that they got to play together. I think all the parents were a little tired after it all but it was well worth it.

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.

Camping

Hanging out after dinner. We had fajitas, which were the best I've ever had. Maybe it was the great outdoors, or the fact that I was STARVING. This is Ensign ranch, a church recreation property in eastern Washington. The weather was forcast to be better that side of the mountains and there were many things available for the kids to have fun. The actual site was roomy without neighbors at your tent's door, with a huge meadow close by so the kids were able to just run free.


Marshall found Emma's butt more comfortable to sleep on than his pillow.


We nicknamed him Blackfoot for obvious reasons and I don't think this picture does it justice.


The kids really enjoyed this slip and slide thing. Its basically a hill covered in plastic with sprinklers at the top. They had a great time sliding and getting wet. Its free too!






This is parent led horse riding. Basically you just go out in the field and walk the horse. I was totally freaking out. I have never done anything like that with such a big animal, and lets just say it wasn't cooperating. The lady said to me okay well with this one just stay away from the other horses and you should be okay.



Marshall is having a great time until 20 minutes later........



.......He looks like this. He had some random allergic reaction to something out there. He was pitiful. Oh wait there is more.



Of course what camping trip is complete without........





A FLAT TIRE. The sucker was torn to shreds, I'm so glad it didn't happen on the freeway while I was driving.



Luckily we had some good-doers nearby willing to help our plight. All told we had a great time in the great outdoors. My favorite was our nighttime walk with the kids. It was pitch black and the moon was almost full. We talked about being able to walk in the dark without flashlights, but what fun is that when you can blast them in other people's eyes?