Mt. Rainier . . . FINALLY!!

Every time Mt. Rainier sticks her head out from the clouds I am powerfully reminded of how badly I've been wanting to go there. Today was that day! We chose a cloudy, rainy day, but if we were to wait for the next non-rainy day on a weekend that day may never come. So we packed up and headed to Mt. Rainier National Park.

Mt. Rainier never fully came out from behind her clouds, but the drive was still pretty spectacular. There were a couple of pull outs along the way, including this one looking west towards home that a stranger was kind enough to offer to take our photo (Catherine decided to stay in the car for this stop, one of many).

You can just see the bridge that we drove over on the way up to the photo spot (taken from about the same place as the above photo). The snow at the top there is the very bottom of the Nisqually glacier, and the river bed the bridge crosses is the very beginning of the river that I cross to and from work every day.

We eventually made it to Paradise. Paradise, once again, received a bunch more snow than normal this year. The snow the kids are standing on is well over 10 feet deep. This should be a wildflower-paradise (kind of how it got its name) at this time of year. I heard that last year there was so much snow that the wildflower bloom hit about the same time that the trees/shrubs were turning color. If true, the same will probably happen again this year. I will be back...

I felt like a walk when we got back, so I took the kids to the playground. They have been avoiding the mini-climbing wall for some time, so I encouraged them to give it a try. They were both pretty scared, but they both did it. I was so proud that they pushed on. They both had such a good time that they were willing to pause in mid-climb for a photo.

Ian was definitely more comfortable of the two, but Leah did great too.

It'll be late July/early August when I'm able to get back to Rainier (Cub Scouts, two backpacking trips to the Olympics and one to Mt. St. Helens planned for July), but I'll definitely be headed back!

Have a great day everybody.

Marc

Fun with Ian

To say that Ian can be difficult to photograph is often a wild understatement. Lucky for me he was cooperating very well last night just before bedtime.

I couldn't pick my one favorite, so you get my four favorites from that photo shoot. Catherine helped with the collage, so a big thanks to her as well. Enjoy!

Marc

Take me out to the ballgame

Catherine managed to find a nice baseball game to go to while Mom and Chuck are in town, at the Tacoma Rainiers. The weather started out cloudy and ended up sunny, and it was a good game even though the Rainiers lost.

Ian and Leah did really well, with only a mild loss of interest as the game wound through all nine innings. Leah had a nice time taking the hat off Chuck's head and wearing it.

Ian enjoyed sitting next to Mom, and I'm sure chatting her ears off.

After the game the kids were allowed to run the bases. That was really the whole reason the kids stayed relatively engaged for the whole game, and I think they enjoyed their time running the bases.

Have a wonderful day everybody, we did!

Marc

Another day at the Park

The Olympic National Park, that is.

My folks are out for a visit to sunny Washington, and we opted to go visit the Hoh Rainforest, as well as the beaches at Kalaloch. We had decent weather, if a bit chilly.

The kids did pretty good for a big day in the car, but they also had plenty of time to run around the beach at Kalaloch pointing out sea stars and anemones while avoiding the surf, and then again at Hoh where once again it wasn't raining. June is a great time to visit though, plenty of green out and about with not a bunch of rain.

Have a great day everybody!

Marc

Leah Ballerina

It's been a busy day today! We did some house cleaning earlier which is always a load of fun...

Then Ian had his Rain Gutter Regatta at our Cub Scout Picnic. He didn't win, but he didn't necessarily lose either. He lost his first match-up, won the next, then lost his final match up. He had a nice time, which was the whole point. Sorry, no photos. I was running the regatta and Catherine was cooking for the picnic, so our hands were full.

We had to leave the picnic early since Leah had her ballet recital today. It was an hour and a half to two hours, and Leah's group did two numbers in about 5-7 minutes. I think she was the cutest kid there, but I'm biased.

On the way home we stopped at a nearby park so I could snap some photos with Leah in here ballet costume.

Have a wonderful day everybody!

Marc