Apple Cider TIme!

 James' Grandpa lives way out in north Pasco area.  This is where all the different varieties of farms reside.  Luckily for us, grandpa lives next to a cherry and Golden Delicious apple orchard.  After the Apples are harvested, we go in and glean them to make apple cider. This is an all day event.  I think this year we did well over 40 jugs of cider. I volunteered to be in the kitchen with the help of Ian's mom to make the food for all the hard workers.  Lunch was butternut squash soup with coconut-ginger, and summer sausage potato soup with kale. Rissa made 6 loaves of delicious home made bread. There were no left overs, and we both got rave reviews. I then put together 3 large apple crisps with whip cream, and hot apple cider to top it off.  It was a fabulous day.  One I look forward to every year.

 I love it when they get the kids involved!

And here's our HAPPY BUNCH!

Halloween 2012

 So this year I got the kids dressed a little scary. Went to the good will and found some cute Halloween costumes.  I got brave too, and decided I could paint their faces.  The good part is, they all loved it.  This photo was taken just before we left to a cub scout meeting. Tim won the silver gourd award for his costume. He was pretty thrilled.

 Tim an I worked on this pumpkin.  I like the serious road rash this scary pumpkin has. Tim is adding his special touch.

 I decided to make a drag queen pumpkin. I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of it all lite up. Those eye lashes and lips were awesome!

 I think Ian's sail boat pumpkin is really cool. And James did a great job on his giant Aztec pumpkin carving.

What is not shown here is the caramel apples and home made caramel popcorn.  They were so good, I guess I didn't get a chance to take pictures in between stuffing my face.

On Halloween we got to share this event with the neighbors who through a large get together at their home.  We had a fabulous potluck. Afterwards husbands took the kids trick-r-treating while the wives stayed and partied it up. When the kids returned, they set up all their candy and swapped amongst each other.  They say that's their favorite part. ...it was all my favorite

Paradise, Mt Rainier

We saved the best for last. There is a reason they call this part of the park Paradise. It is a well known hike where thousands come to take in its beauty. We are all looking a little rough as we hadn't taken a shower in 4 days, but who is looking at us? There is so much to see, I found myself often saying, "This is so amazing."  Mt Rainier from this tail is so huge, massive, majestic. If you only make it once to Rainier, this is the trail I recommend.

From one of the look outs, you can see Adams and Mt Saint Helen's.  It is such an awesome experience.  We did a little over 4 miles this day, and there were no complaints. 

Gotta take the time to play in the snow.

Love the waterfall off to the left of the picture on the mountain.  The glaciers were huge and mesmerizing.


The fields of flowers made it feel like you were in a story book. Like these 3 puffy cream colored flowers below.  We all called them mini Truffala trees from the Dr. Seuss book The Lorax.  Oh to be a honey bee in these fields. Pure heaven.

 See those cute little kids on the trail.  Yep, those are mine, =)

The trail ended with this beautiful waterfall.  Perfect way to end such a glorious experience.  I was thinking to myself how lucky I was to have experienced this with the ones I love the most. And even though I was sore, dirty, and tired, I wouldn't have changed a thing. Looking forward to doing it all over again. Maybe in five years or so. Rowan will be 5 and I will have teenagers. Time sure does fly when your having fun. I'm definitely enjoying these precious moments.

Grove of the Patriarchs and Silver falls Mt. Rainier

This day we decided to give our kids a little break, hehee. We hiked two different trails for a total of 4.3 miles. Definitely a must see at Rainer. The Grove of the Patriarchs is a island of really big trees that the park has worked hard to preserve. All along the trail were places to stop and explore. We all enjoyed it.

This was one of the big trees that fell in the 70's and you can climb into the trunk from the root end making this awesome photo prop. The kids thought it was super cool. I thought the photo turned out awesome.

The park did an awesome job of making a wood bridge/path through the trees.

 I looked at Rowan who was squealing with glee and saw a little inch worm crawling across his head. Super cute. He also is sporting some mosquito bites. I have to say, the bugs were not that bad. In the 4 nights we were there we only put bug spray on once. This was one of those times we should have done it back at the trail head. Poor little guy. He survived though.

Weston the mighty explorer

Silver Falls. There are a series of little falls to see before you reach the big one. Just beautiful.

Hike to Jug Lake and Sunrise

 Our first hiking trip definitely told me a couple of things about me and my kids. One, I am out of shape, and two, my kids are excellent hikers. We hiked 5 miles that day. It was a good trail, but about midway it got super steep and rocky.  Had a couple of complaints from the Alli and Wes, but Tim lead the pack with eagerness. So proud of all of them. Even Rowan wanted out of the pack to do his share of hiking.

 Once we got to Jug lake, I striped the kids down to their undies and threw their sweaty little bodies in the lake. There was a small handful of horseback riders that had brought up swimming pool air mattresses to float around on. It was kinda odd to see, but super cool.

No swim diaper here.

 The next day we drove into Rainier park and hiked around Sunrise . Part of the hike was on the famous Wonderland Trail. It was truly beautiful. Again, the kids hiked about 5 miles with Tim leading the pack. We loved the area. Wild flowers galore, streams, lakes, waterfalls, and...

 a herd of mountain goats grazing.

We had a blast with the patches of snow we ran into. Nothing like a snowball fight in August!

This is just one of the many beautiful vallies you'll run across on the trail. The fields of wild flowers smelled amazing.

Soda Springs Campground

 Family camping. It can be both challenging and fun when you have four children all under the age of 10. The word clean takes on a whole different meaning as you become "one" with the dirt.

James and I knew that camping was on the list of things to do this summer, so we both decided on a four night stay by Mt. Rainier.  What we didn't plan was how popular it was going to be in August.  There where so many people there.  They where packed into campsites fifteen feet  away from their neighbor in a 200+ capacity campground. I love car camping, but that is just ridiculous and not relaxing.  I do not like hearing the conversations of my neighboring campers around me. So, we went a couple miles out of Rainier National Park and found a wonderful campsite with no neighbors at all. It had a shallow river right by it, picnic table, out houses, and someone even left a bouquet of flower on the table for us to enjoy. It was perfect and free!

 Rowan on his first camping trip with the whole family.

 James is such a good cook. We ate well on this trip. This is the kids eating whole wheat pancakes hot off the grill with huge fresh blueberries inside.  I packed some of my plum jam I made this summer to add as a topping with tree ripened peaches. Can't get better then that!

 Everyday the kids were catching frogs. There were tons of them, and the kids loved to play with them.

 James made a rock dam in the river to create this little swimming hole. It wasn't warm, but the river was shallow enough to make it tolerable. Nothing like swimming in your underwear.

 Grubby little boy. Happy too!

This is why they call it Soda Springs.  I guess its naturally carbonated water that flows from the ground. We could hear it bubbling all night, which was kinda cool. There was a couple hikers that passed by one day and told us that in the 1930's there use to be a shack up the road that used to bottle and sell it. The kids and I tasted it and it tasted like iron spritzer to me. If you look at the picture above with Wes on the rock, you can see the orange stain this water makes on the side of the bank. Fun and fascinating to see. I recommend this campsite to all the families out there who plan on visiting Rainier, but don't want to pay to stay at a campsite. Nothing beats free and private!

Alli's 5th Birthday

This was a fun birthday.  Our neighbor also has a little girl whose birthday is 4 days after Alli's. So, her mom an I decided this year to combine the two together.  Since the weather had been nice, and we expected nothing less on the party day, we plannned an outdoor get together.  Our back yard is big and green with kiddie pool, slip-n-slide, sprinklers, and tree house. But, about an hour before the party began, it decided to rain.  So much for those plans. However, we all had a blast making it work inside. For starters, we played a couple rounds of musical chairs.

 I think the balloon stomp was a hit! To hear all the  laughter and squeels combined with balloons popping is exciting! We definetly worked up our appetites for cake and ice cream.

 Our cakes turnned out quite nice. Claires mom is a fantastic cook and decorator. Her cake is on the right.  Mine was pretty stressfull sice I ran out of frosting and had to make more. Then it was too soft to work with, so I skipped making the flowers and butterflys, and went with candy beads. It worked though, =)...not sure what Claire was upset about, but she quickly recovered.

 Weather cleared up enough for us to take a dip in the water.

Stinker Alli blew a bubble right in Claires face...she thought it was pretty funny, Claire didnt seem to think so though.

Big brother, little brother.  I've been feeding James well, =) Nate can feel the diffence I have made in James' life.

 The "big" kids decided to pick on James by squirting him with the water guns. James got'em back.

...I love the mysterious finger

And this is me and my neighbor Jen.  Smiling to the close of an awesome birthday!

Rowans 1st Birthday

 

Being born on Cinco de Mayo has its advantages.  There will be plenty of mexican food, pinatas, and tons of people to celebrate. Rowan had lots of all these things.  ...loving the Villa twins in their pink flowers by the way

He knew right what to do when it came to cake time...loves to share with mama

Rowan brings such joy to my life. There was a time, when I was pregnant, that I wanted Rowan to be a girl. I already had two boys from James, and Alli needed a sister, right? But, now, I couldn't imagine my life without him.  My bond with him is like none other. He forever changed my life, and for that, I am greatful. Being a mommy is the greatest calling, and the best part of my life. I am so happy to have three boys. I wouldn't change a thing.