Mt. Rainier Wildlife

Here are some wildlife photos. It was incredible to be close to all of the animals. Can you tell how scared Addy and Cameron are of the bear?

WE LOVE WHERE WE LIVE.

Mt Rainier Camping

I guess there has definitely been a pattern to our weekends this summer- CAMPING! Last weekend we went to a campground we'd never been to by Mt. Rainier called Ohanapecosh with another family. The site was right next to a river and there were huge trees everywhere. This trip had more hiking than usual which was really fun. There was a hike nearby called "The Grove of the Patriarchs" that had some of the biggest trees I've ever seen. We also hiked to Panoramic Point which was right next to Mt. Rainier, but unfortunately because of the clouds we didn't even see it. It was also unbelievably chilly up there- makes sense there was still snow!
We saw tons of wildlife too. On one of the hikes there were little ground squirrels that looked like chipmunks and were so aggressive they would climb right up to you to get food. You can imagine how scared I was the entire time. We saw marmots, a deer and chipmunks. The sites all had bear lockers for your food, but luckily we didn't see any of those. The kids played hard all three days, Cameron actually got sick one night and fell asleep at 6 pm, but he slept all night and was a good as new the next day. This summer really made me fall in love with our camping trips. The kids absolutely love them and are so happy while we are there and are always sad when it ends. It was a wonderful summer of camping.

More Camping!

We went on another camping trip last weekend.  This time with 3 other families to a beautiful campsite on the sound. It was one of the prettiest sites I've ever been to. The kids and Brian jumped into the water (brrr!), played in the sand, caught crabs (13 in the pot! 4 keepers) and rode their bikes everywhere. This park was huge and had tons of old gun batteries and trails. I think I was the closest I've ever been to an eagle (except the fishing story!) and we saw 2 fawns and a deer. It was an awesome group of our friends and the kids had a blast.
Cameron learned an important lesson (daddy will ALWAYS find out) and knows what not to do when camping. I slept on my new cot for the first time and feel better about the idea of future camping trips now.

Eagles, Fish and Turtles

We've had some great times on the canoe this year. On our first trip out of the season, we saw a bunch of turtles sunbathing and we saw a family of ducks including little ducklings. One weekend, we had the most amazing experience while out on the canoe. We brought the fishing pole and the kids took turns fishing. Cameron caught a small mouth bass pretty quickly, and we released it. A little later he caught another one, this time it was a trout. When Brian released it, the fish just laid on the top of the water like it was dead (it wasn't).  Within seconds, an eagle swooped down to grab the fish but just missed it. This was within 15 feet of our canoe. Seconds later, a 2nd eagle swooped down and this time got the fish and flew back up to a nest in a nearby tree. We could see the eagle and the fish in the nest and then we saw 2 crows dive bombing at the eagle to try to get the fish. I felt like we were on national geographic. I wish I had thought to video it (I was holding my phone) but of course I was scared out of my mind that the eagle was going to come at us so I froze.
We kept trying to explain to the kids how unbelievable it was to see this happen. I'm not sure that they realize it, but I do think they will always remember this. I know I will.

Camping Trip

We had our first camping of the summer in the middle of July. We went with an old coworker of mine that we've camped with a few times and another family. It was super fun and a great way to start our summer of camping. It was a campground we'd never been to and it was really pretty and had trails down to a river where we went fishing. Of course we ate too much (isn't that what camping is for?) and the kids had a great time with their  "wolfpack." I enjoyed it because there weren't any raccoons!

Volleyball

Addy signed up for a volleyball league this summer with practices on Tuesdays and games on Saturdays. It's another volunteer-only league and they were desperate for coaches, so I decided to help. It has been really fun watching Addy improve. She is one of the best servers and is really good at the spiking drills. The games are 4 on 4 and last week the girls had their first win which was exciting.

Adelyn the Artist

We regularly talk about how impressive Addy is with her reading and her school work, but she has been equally impressive when it comes to her art work. A few months ago she was awarded with the "Outstanding Artist" award for her book cover art on the book Matilda. It was quite an honor because it included art from other local elementary schools (4 or 5) and Addy got the highest recognition. She also did a piece called "The Shimmery Shamrock" that was selected to be on display during the city's art festival that attracts thousands of people. We went to check out her work and were so impressed.
Addy works very hard on her art and puts in a lot of time and has great attention to detail. I am really impressed with both her creativity and her ability to make the finished product look exactly as she imagined it would. She gets frustrated during the process but sticks with it until it is just how she wants it. We are so proud of her!