We took a family camping trip to Mt. Saint Helens this past weekend, and this was the first camping trip of the summer that Christian was able to come on (YAY for being done with school!) This was also a special trip because all of Christian's immediate family was able to come...his parents, both brothers, their wives and all the kiddos!
Before we left for this trip, the boys and I watched a few documentaries on Mt. Saint Helens, vocanoes and caves...and then we created our very own volcano!
It was fun to spend some time learning before we went to the mountain! The boys had a much better understanding of volcanoes, lava and caves...and I think that made it more fun that way!
 |
| After driving on a gravel road up the mountain (up to the snow!) we turned around and came back down to enjoy this beautiful view of Mt. Saint Helens! |
 |
| Judah found a dandelion at the base of Mt. Saint Helens. It's neat to see how wildlife is growing once again after the devastation of the volcano! |
 |
The boys were pretty excited to see the mountain as they had in the documentary...without its' top!
Lava Canyon...all the rocks Josiah could ever hope for! |
We also spent some time at the Trail of Two Forests (Petrified forest), where lava had flowed down the mountain and transformed the forest.
 |
| Judah exploring the lava rock |
 |
This is a hole where a tree trunk used to be; lava burned the tree up and left a hole where the trunk was.
|
 |
Taking a break in the petrified forest!
|
Judah had quite the adventure of his own while we explored broken lava ground. As we were climbing up broken pieces of lava rock, he suddenly disappeared! He had fallen straight down into a little lava cave. It was quite terrifying for me as I had no idea how far down it went! But praise God, he had landed on his feet, unharmed!! I'm still not sure how that happened! He had screamed and cried, but it turned out that he was so upset because his shoe had fallen off when he fell! I am SO thankful that this can be a humorous memory and a reminder of God's protection of my sweet baby!
 |
| The hole Judah fell into in the ground! |
 |
| Josiah with his cousin Casey and his Papa, exploring lava rocks and little caves |
We also got to explore Ape Caves. While we were hiking through the cave, Josiah reminded me how the scientists in the documentary (that we watched before going on our trip) had collected cave water in the hopes of creating new medicines from the special bacteria found in the water. It made me happy to see him applying things he'd learned to our trip (that was my evil plan!!)
 |
Entrance to Ape Caves
|
 |
Josiah playing with his flashlight in the caves
|
 |
| Judah and Christian in the cave |
There was beautiful scenery everywhere we went!
 |
At our campsite
This was such an excellent way to celebrate Chrstian's birthday and our 6th anniversary! We had a blast (haha) exploring Mt. Saint Helens!
On our anniversary!
|
