Mt. Rainier Weekend

On Friday afternoon we decided to go do a day hike on Saturday. By Friday night we decided we should try to camp and get a couple of day hikes crossed off our list. By Saturday mid-morning we were packed and ready to go. 

It was such a great weekend getaway (of sorts). Our first hike was an introductory walk in the woods to ease us back into the season. We did the Grove of the Patriarchs, just inside Mt. Rainier National Forest. It's pretty much flat and 1.5 miles round trip. I didn't even put on my hiking shoes. It was pretty though and although very popular and busy, it was the perfect little warm up for the weekend. 

This hike gave Emerson ample opportunity to use all of her adjectives for big.
This tree was 'huge'.

Testing Blake's patience Waiting in the slowest moving line ever.

It was recommended to go one person at a time, which some people took seriously and others did not...
I took the river crossing since I had sandals on. It was very refreshing. 

Love this. 

This tree was 'colossal!'

Thiiis big!

Her face here just cracked me up :)

Cooling our feet off and getting our sandals wet while daddy waits in the bridge line.

Crossing the bridge

After the Grove of the Patriarchs we drove up to the Paradise Visitor's Center and did the Alta Vista - Panorama Point hike. It was undeniably gorgeous. The expanses of wild flowers with the glacier crusted mountain peak as you tread up, up, up. It was also hot and this mostly paved but still pretty steep hike kicked my rear. We knew we wanted to go past Alta Vista (which provided gorgeous enough views) but weren't sure how far we'd make it and assumed we wouldn't go all the way to the end of the trail since we got a later start in the day.

It was really busy and we lost track of the different languages we heard as we hiked with people from all over the world. I had no idea Mt. Rainier was such a tourist spot! It was fun to see the variety of attire worn by people across the age span and it helped motivate me that if that grandma just did this in slacks, I could too. Hot, steep and exhausting, but utterly worth it once we got to a spot toward the top and sat down for a snack with one heck of a view. Emerson stayed in the pack the whole time and was ready to stretch her legs. She loved seeing the chipmunks, marmots and deer; and of course there were big and tiny rocks up there. 

From the parking lot

Getting closer. 

Flowers for days.

She loved hiking.. it's no wonder ;)

Near Alta Vista (I think)

After Alta Vista, headed toward Glacier Vista

The light was just so pretty!

Our first marmot sighting (first of many). Did you know they eat the flowers!?  Emerson thought that was pretty funny.

We made it!
This was where we called it, we could see Mt. Adams from here and this was a nice, safe spot to let her roam for a bit. 

After we had our snack and accidentally fed a chipmunk with a few dropped grapes, we headed back down, every step reminding us how old our knees are getting. Blake hates going down but down is so much easier for me!

We had heard that all the camping spots in the park were full and we weren't too surprised since it was a nice weekend. So we left the park and planned on stopping at several of the Forest Service camp grounds down Hwy 12 until we found one, thinking we could always park at a trail head we knew of and sleep in the car if needed. As luck would have it, we found that there were plenty of spots at the closest campground, La Wis Wis. 

We finally found an open spot that wasn't across from a crowded group spot and settled in for the night. I made dinner while Blake made a fire and got the tent set up. Emerson enjoyed being on the ground and sitting in her 'own little chair' that a friend of our cousins' gave her after our camping trip last Labor Day. 

The next morning. It was humid and her hair gets crazy like this in humidity. 

As we packed up she busied herself by washing these dishes over and over and over...

After a warm night 'sleeping' on top of our sleeping bags we woke up with our Emerson alarm clock and enjoyed a relaxed morning by the fire. We were packed and on the road by 10, off to cross the third hike off our list: Pinnacle Saddle. 

This sweet little trail is 3.5 miles roundtrip and gives you a generous elevation gain of 1150 ft It wasn't as hot this morning and although I had to take my time, as usual, I did make it to the top. A good portion of the trail is rocky and without shade, but it provided breathtaking views that made the trail as gorgeous as the finishing point. 

Once we got to the top, we could see Mt. Adams on one side and Mt. Rainier on the other. It was a little hazy, so Mt. Adams was a little hard to photograph. Blake (feeling lighter than air after taking the kid carrier pack off) jogged up one of the peaks nearby and said he could just see Mount St. Helens. He also said it got pretty steep and wasn't a good trail after that on either peak, so we didn't try to summit either peak (the saddle had a sign that said end of maintained trail, and they meant it. I also read later that the summit trails are really for experienced climbers, not pregnant women and men carrying toddlers). We had a quick snack, took some pictures and high-tailed it down from there. The views might have been breathtaking but the bugs were out in full force. Giant biting flies and tons of mosquitos. 

The only trail head photo we took. The other trails didn't really have 'This is where it begins' kind of signs.

The view from the trail, after it opens up and starts to get rocky. 

I was so impressed with the maintenance on this trail. This rock wall had to have
taken several volunteers a very long time!
(This was actually taken going back down)

Looking up the trail, it stretched on for a good distance.

The view from the top, looking out at Mt. Adams

Looking back through the saddle at Mt. Rainier

Trying to hold still while we get eaten by the bugs.

You can just see Mt. Adams to the left of the frame.

She was so cute standing there eating her snack by her chosen rock, I asked her to look
up and smile. She dropped her snack and ran over to where daddy was standing to say 'Cheese!'
Apparently, she remembered the drill after we first got up there. 

On the way down. I didn't want her to nap yet so I asked her if she was sleeping,
She didn't move and just said, "No night-night. Peek-a-boo"
Sure. the longest peek we've ever seen and no boo.

We got our feet wet in Reflection Lake, had a little lunch and filtered some water for the ride home. We thought it was a nice way to end to a great, albeit tiring, weekend. 

Unfortunately, on the way home we came up on an accident just after it happened. A young-ish man had driven his truck off the road (we assume he fell asleep, since there were no skid marks and no appearance of any attempts to slow down) and wrapped the front end around a tree. We saw dust and debris all over the road. I looked over the side to see if a rock slide had just happened and saw the truck. We stopped immediately but it was a really steep slope and we weren't sure if the truck would fall further if we leaned on it (which we'd have to if we went down there). We could hear the man but he wouldn't answer us (shock we assume) and we searched for signs of a second passenger that might have been thrown, Soon we saw him pushing himself out of the driver seat and trying to get through the back window. Just as we were thinking the truck was stable (since he had jostled it and it wasn't slipping), a group of bikers stopped and jumped into the truck to help him. We were pretty useless, me pregnant and Blake without anyone else to help him, so it was a relief with the bikers stopped and thankfully they sprang into action (also thankfully the truck was stable enough for them to get in it). No one had cell service so someone had to drive to the ranger station and we waited for what seemed like an eternity for the ranger to come and radio for help. The guy was hurt pretty badly and it was kind of a traumatic end to a great weekend. We left after that, knowing we weren't needed, and I think we appreciated our sweet family time just a little more after the reminder that life is pretty unpredictable. We haven't found a report on the accident, so no idea how the man is doing. 

Two

Two years now I've been blessed to be this busy girl's momma. It seems like just yesterday that she slept all day and could fit in one arm. That's not the case these days!

Our sweet girl is learning and growing constantly. At two years old, here are some highlights:

• Emerson weighs 26 lbs and is 32.5 inches tall.
• She says her name: "Enson," which is an improvement over her first attempts: "Enyan"
• She LOVES to read. She finally has the attention span to sit and listen to longer books and we're finally getting through some of our soft cover books that have been on our shelf for awhile. I'm not sure why it took so long, but I'm enjoying the beginning of rereading some longer, non-board book, great childhood classics. 
• Her favorite books are Goodnight Gorilla and any version of Wheels on the Bus. I think they're her favorites because she's got them memorized and can 'read' them by herself. She goes through phases of loving different books for weeks at a time, but these are the constant favorites. 
• "My help" Emerson is my shadow. Whenever I start to do something she quickly drops what she's doing and is by my side telling me, "mommy, my help!" And she does actually help... most of the time!
• She loves to paint, draw and color. We spend several mornings a week painting with her watercolor pages, coloring or drawing. She gives up a little quickly and needs encouragement to use all the colors or to fill in more of the page but she's always asking for more. 
• She recognizes/labels the letters E, D, N, O and M. Her favorite is E (of course) and a big E is the first thing she asks me to write when we have blank paper. She tries to write it but until just recently couldn't make horizontal lines. Now she's pretty proud of herself when she makes a 'big E' all by herself. 
• She's really into size adjectives with 'big', 'jumbo' and 'giant' followed by 'tiny' and 'teeny weenie' being her favorite way to describe things. When she wants a song to be louder she says big, when she finds a big grape it's 'JUMBO'! and when she finds a tiny object she gets her voice really high pitched and says, 'tiny ____!'. 
• Her favorite song is and always has been: "Amen" aka the Sunday school version of If You're Happy and You Know it. She recently discovered that she also loves Who Built the Ark by Raffi. Our car trips go like this, "Mommy, more big Noah? More big Amen? Tiny Amen? Please?" 
• She can count from 1 to 10 with a little prompting but has had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 down for awhile. She likes to skip 6 or 7 and loves to say 8, 9, 10. 
• She has her basic colors down, blue and green were her favorites for awhile but she also seems to favor pink and brown (!?). Her full list is: red, orange, yellow, blue, green, purple, brown, pink, black and white. 
• When she reads a book to herself, she usually starts out, "one day". 
• Emerson wakes us up, like clockwork, at 7:00 am, sharp. Sometimes a little earlier but almost never later.
• She is starting to use pronouns correctly in some contexts. In general, she used to say 'my book' or 'my potty' but now she's into 'Enson book' 'Enson potty'. I, you, my/mine are all coming along but the third-person default seems to be her go-to when she isn't sure.

It's so hard to believe it's been two full years of growth, snuggles and fun with this sweet girl. She amazes me each day with the things she's picking up and learning. I'm excited to see what the next year holds, even if I'm sad to see the 'baby' slowly slipping out of her face as the 'little girl' look starts coming in. 

My dear, sweet, spunky, inquisitive Emerson. How I love you!

"Happy!"

She may be great at saying 'CHEESE' whenever a camera is out, but that doesn't mean getting her to sit in the same chair is very easy after a few minutes! After every session now I think that it just might be our last! We'll see. It sure was easier when she wasn't very mobile!

Family Vacation

After foregoing a vacation for the last two years (having a baby in 2013 was enough and it just didn't happen in 2014), it was exciting to have a vacation planned for this year. Although not extremely adventurous, Kauai proved to be the perfect location for our first family vacation.

We were fortunate enough to be able to travel with our good friends, the Sauras. We went back and fourth about whether traveling with kids was going to be worth it. Were we going to feel relaxed? Were we going to feel tied to the condo with naps and bedtimes? Was it just going to be a bunch of money and work to do regular life in another location? In the end, we agreed that it was worth it. Sure, it was a different kind of vacation than we've done in the past but it was still a week away from our house with our whole family and even if it was similar to everyday life, it was still in a gorgeous setting with fantastic weather and lots of quality time with our friends! It was worth it.

This was my first time to Hawaii and Blake's first time to Kauai. Given that it was spring break, I was surprised that it didn't feel like, you know, 'spring break'. It didn't seem like the island was that much busier than it usually is (I'm guessing).

Kauai was a pretty laid back island, not much for night life and no busy streets, but it was perfect for two families with little ones. We did a lot of beaching and some shopping and plenty of eating.

Our first (long) day was April 7th. We flew out of Seattle at 8:45 and six hours later we were in Lahue, Kauai around noon. The kids did great on the flight. Lincoln is a seasoned air traveler but this was Emerson and Stella's first flights. Emerson was great, she read, colored, napped and just started getting restless as we began our descent (Stella did great too).

After we got in and got our rental cars we had some time to kill before we could check into our condo so we did some grocery shopping. First Costco near the airport. After shopping and dinner we were pretty wiped and ready to settle into our condo. I did run around to some of the other grocery stores near our condo and got the lay of the land though once we had checked in.

Excited about a week together.

Wednesday morning we were up pretty early as the time change was working its magic. What a sight to be greeted with though.

Rockstar with her box. This box was our best 'purchase' from Costco. It provided both toddlers
with hours of entertainment throughout the week. 

We spent the morning at the condo, swimming and lounging. After naps we spent the afternoon at a culinary market in the Kukuiula Shopping Village.

On Thursday morning we went to a beach called 'Baby Beach', off the beaten path but very appropriately titled. It was protected from the rough surf and had a little tide pool of sorts.

Emerson: 'What? What camera?'

Jason was the best at finding (and catching) live creatures to show us all. 

They're so cute together... or as cute as two toddlers can be whilst constantly declaring which
toys are 'mine' and telling the other 'no, no, no' (mostly Emerson).

I think this was a crab.

Loving it!

In the big water with daddy

She just couldn't get enough of the water!

Love the backdrop. Baby Beach was hidden in a little private neighborhood, surrounded by houses.
I can't even imagine living here! *sigh* We sure enjoyed it for the morning though. 

A little momma's in action shot, since we tend to get lost behind the camera. 

Big camera selfie with my girl

Stella preferred to snooze in the shade most of the time, but she did get
to enjoy the water and sand for a little bit.

Under this tree was our parking spot while we where here and it had the cutest little swing!

After naps we cleaned up and went to a brewery in Lahue that hosts food trucks on Thursday nights. The beer was good and the fish tacos were fantastic. No pictures to prove it so you'll have to trust me.

Friday we trekked up north to Hanalei and spent the majority of the morning and early afternoon on the beach. What a difference scene the northern part of the island was. It was a little busier but not annoyingly so. It's more of what I expected Hawaii to be like. Locals, tourists, surfers, shops etc. I also found my favorite smoothie place there and a great health food store. We did some shopping and had a decent sit-down dinner as a family and meandered our way back home just in time for bed.

She did most of her water play with daddy this time. I was trying to keep my shoulders
covered to keep a slight sunburn from getting worse.

Seriously, she loved it. Especially the waves.

Watching a surfer.

Family big camera selfie

This ended up being the best smoothie I had all week, and this sweet girl drank most of it!

Saturday was a fun day of sight seeing. We had planned on going on a quick little hike to see Wailua Falls, but it turned out there was no hiking and it was really just a roadside view point. Pretty nonetheless. After that we went to the Kilohana Plantation and took a train tour of it, fed some animals and the guys did some rum tasting.

Feeding the pigs

I was surprised she was willing to let it eat out of her hand. 

They had quite the assortment of animals.

Wild chickens. They were EVERYWHERE! They aren't really annoying and it's kind of fun but
really amazing just how many there are.

Killing time during the rum tasting.

And then everything was a flower worth smelling

I had to stop and take a few pictures of this road. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it. About a quarter mile stretch is lined with trees, making a tree tunnel. Fantastic.

Sunday we braved the popular Poipu Beach and found it wasn't too crowded, we even found a spot in the shade. It was a great beach, complete with snorkeling, turtles and as we were arriving a seal that kept us out of the water for a bit (apparently, they can get aggressive). Incidentally, despite our frequent sunscreen efforts, all of us adults got fairly sun burnt during our time on the beach. At least it was the last half of our trip and we had indoor plans for the next day or two. Ouch!

This large guy or girl was sunning when we got there and then drew a crowd as s/he decided to head back out.

Watching the turtle find its way out to sea

This is her preference for playing in the sand, from the towel. 

Love her!

They really do like each other, they're just two and almost two and very much still learning the ins-and-outs of sharing.
(see video below)

This cracked me up, all eyes on Stella, well deserved though. She is the sweetest!

Our second turtle arrived just before we left.

Taking it all in.

My budding photographer. 

While Emerson was napping we snuck away for a little day date. Happy Hour at Brennecke's, right up from Poipu Beach

We had dinner at the famous Bubba Burgers. Grass-fed Kauai raised beef patties!
This one was in the same shopping area as the culinary market.

Sweet Miss Stella all glammed up for dinner

A little stroll down the coast in front of our hotel at dusk.

A difficult feeling to capture but it was just so fun to see her absolutely loving  life and
loving being the center of our attention. At this moment she was on top of the world.
I just loved watching her blissfully leading us on, hand in hand. 

Monday was our last full day in Kauai. We were still pretty sun shy though so we did some meandering through shops most of the morning and had the farmer's market experience of a lifetime at noon. Then for dinner we treated ourselves to a nice dinner out with an incredible view, right during sunset.

She was in heaven with all the chickens

Blake found some crumbs for her to feed them. I can't believe she let them eat out of her hand!

Finally her own smoothie (and I could actually enjoy all of mine!) while we waited for the market to open.

The crowd 15 minutes before the market opened. It was the craziest market we've ever been to!
We just happened to be early but as it turns out, it's a good thing we were.

You'll see from the video that it's a very organized farmer's market. The crowd grows, we're allowed in, buying begins and then there's a mass exodus. I guess things sell out really fast. We had to leave the next day so we weren't trying to score major produce but it was really fun to pick up some Hawaiian fruits (mountain apple and cream apple) and got an amazing pineapple.

The light was so lovely and she was so cute sitting there.

When I asked to have a crayon. This face and her answer: "No mine own".

Such a gorgeous view.

Basically the whole restaurant got up and went out to take pictures during sunset.

Emerson's take on the evening.

Tuesday we had a red eye flight out at 10:45 pm, so we really had the whole day there, but had to check out of our condo at 10:00 am. Thankfully Whitney had the good idea to save our driving day for this day so we could be comfortably killing time in our cars instead of on a beach or at the mall.The canyon was a gorgeous drive and incredible views from the top. I just wish we could have done a bit more hiking around there during the week but that would have been hard with the littles. Before we headed up the canyon we stopped at the Spouting Horn blowhole and at a little beach referred to as Glass Beach. Apparently they dumped a lot of glass in the ocean several decades ago and it all washes up on this beach, nicely smoothed and pretty. After the canyon we made a few more stops and had dinner before turning in our cars and heading to the airport.

A lot of brown glass but the occasional blue, green, red or purple.

And then we head up into the Waimea Canyon and I took a LOT of pictures. You've been warned.

Eventually this rain caught up with us

Sweetie Stella and her sweet mama

At the Puu Hinahina Lookout

We hiked down this trail a little ways. It was just so enticing,
every bend just begged you to come see what was around it.

Filtered through my sunglasses ;)

and through Blake's

The best way to hike ;)

A little run down the hill before we start the trip back down.

Several hours later, waaay past all our Hawaiian bedtimes, we boarded the plane. Sad to see our vacay end but man was it fun!