Snass Creek Loop

This was a tough hike! It was only 5miles, but for more than 2miles we hiked a steady, unforgiving incline to nothing all that spectacular. I mean… if you’re going to spend hours hiking straight uphill with 25+lbs. of dense weight on your back, it better end in some sort of amazing view or waterfall right? Seriously! Oh well… we still had a great time enjoying the beautiful northwest greenery and the peaceful (sometimes whiny) solitude with our family.

The beginning of the Summit Spring trailhead somewhere NE of Battleground beyond Sunset Falls campground.

When not on Aaron’s back, Malia loves hiking and exploring.

Family snapshot!

After the incline, we forged our way (downhill thankfully) along an old logging road. In the pic below I am standing in the middle of the “trail.”

Good thing we wore pants! There were several overgrown areas that made it difficult to tell where to go. We’d stop for a break or to take care of a kid and look back up and go “crap, which direction were we headed?” We finally broke out of the mangled jungle forest and met up with a new trail.

Even though this hike was missing that amazing view point or waterfall, the scenery was beautiful and impressive.

Snake!

Allie is such a good baby and has made it so easy to enjoy the outdoors.

Lunch break!

We were so worn out by this point. I think the uphill KILLED us in the beginning. That, and we brought a lot of extra water since we ran out on our last hike which added weight to the packs. We were so ready to head back home!

And… I finally got a good picture of our funny teethed baby! She got all four of those teeth at the same time. She looks so funny not having both of her upper front teeth. I mean, what kid grows #F & #G, but not #E? Weird… but still so cute!

The true meaning of Father’s Day…

…an opportunity to enjoy the simple pleasures of your family, a chance to admire your accomplishments, a day to savor precious moments like children laughing in harmony with each other…

All Aaron asked for on his special day was that we be on-time to church. Ha! You might be laughing to yourself, but this is something we struggle with every week! I set the alarm for 6:30am with the hopes that 2 1/2 hours was enough time to get ready, surprise everyone with breakfast (I am not a big morning breakfast eater, nor do I like to wake up early to MAKE breakfast) and make it to church by 9am. Everything was running smoothly until I tried to wake Malia so that she could surprise her dad with a card. Little grumpy girl needed too much TLC and as a result I spent too long upstairs, forgot about the hash browns, pancakes, eggs and bacon that were all on the stove, and burnt everything! Aaron was kind enough to pick through the black stuff. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts right? We successfully made it to church on time, had a relaxing afternoon (which even included a nap!) and a pleasant evening as a family at the park.

Happy Father’s Day Aaron!

Planter’s Day Parade

This was our 4th year participating in the Woodland parade for Lewis River Dental. Probably the wettest one… but still fun! We have to make sure to keep the business going right? Candy for ALL! Ha, ha… don’t worry, we pass out toothbrushes too.

We ended up sitting around waiting FOREVER for the parade to begin, but Malia was so good! Thankfully Aaron was home to keep Allie… it would have been miserable in the wetness try and occupy both kiddos.

The theme was “planting good deeds” or something like that. So we all had to wear these lovely headbands… yeah.

It was a fun mommy daughter date. Malia was so funny about throwing the candy… She kept hoarding some for herself off to the side, and was even trying to hold candy for later IN her hands, while throwing it out at the same time. It looked difficult! But, she walked away with a pocketful of candy and was one happy girl!

Pool time!

It’s no surprise Allie loves the pool since she LOVES her bath time! Malia wore this bathing suit until she was 2 years old. (It was just last year that she got a new one.) Hmmm… Allie is how old? Not even ONE yet! Either Malia was super tiny, or Allie is super large! She’s already doing so many things earlier than Malia did: crawling, teething, she’s had more falls than Malia has had to date (you know… second child sort of stuff where you trust your baby more than you should), she eats EVERYTHING basically where Malia was eating real human adult food till she turned one… that sort of stuff.

I love, love, LOVE that they are so different. It’s so funny that they are even different colors!

We pool hopped across the street to the “warm” side of the neighborhood. The kiddos love Amy’s pool.

And they LOVE splashing in it!

Malia, do you want to go to the Z-O-O?

“The zoo? The zoo! The zoo? Yay! We can go to the zoo!” she exclaims.

We had no idea Malia could spell; What a smarty pants! We haven’t had a lot of nice days to enjoy our zoo pass. I think this is our first, if not just second, visit of the year. And… of course it was suppose to be nice this day, but poured as we walked to and from the zoo. Figures.

Allie had fun waving at all the animals, and Malia was quick to say “Cool! A [insert animal here]! Let’s go see what we can find next!”

She says that elephants and giraffes are her favorite…

…maybe it is because these are the only two pictures we got! Ha, ha.

“Look mama! Baby’s silly eyes!”

(Crazy girl did this all by herself too!)

Hidden Falls

Aaron planned us a hike along the Tarbell trail (just south of Yacolt and east of Silver Star Mountain here in Washington) with promises that it ended in a beautiful “Hidden Waterfall.” I was a little leery of the distance (10 miles in and out), wasn’t exactly thrilled to be carrying a monkey on my back for the estimated 5 hours (it took us 7), and was even more worried that our girls would be uncooperative since they were both finishing out some nasty colds. But boy was it worth-it: most beautiful hike ever! And believe it or not, Allie did not cry or fuss at all! All the fresh air might have been just what the doctor ordered…

We’re all packed and ready! Let’s go!

We walked through clear-cuts, forest, and beautiful hillsides covered with native Iris’.

Allie was such a good pack rider!

Hiking can be a little boring for a three year-old, so when the trail leveled out Malia pretended to be Dora and went exploring!

1/2 way to the Falls.

We passed over a couple creeks along the way.

Are we there yet???

We saw three HUGE snakes cross the trail.

After hiking for 4 1/2 hours, speculating the actual distance of the trail, and thinking about how “this hike better be worth it!”, we rounded and bend and BAMM! Hidden Falls was breathtaking.

It was so beautiful. The entire distance of the hike was so worth it.

We made it! (Thanks to two super great girlies!)

We took a lunch break and let the kids run around. Well, not Allie obviously. Not yet anyway!

Aaron used the time for some fishing!

Malia had fun looking for treasures.

She kept exclaiming “this trip is fun guys!”

Look what Aaron caught! Just one day after getting his license too. He’s ready for the fishing season to begin!

Good bye Hidden Falls. Thank you for making this hike so wonderful!

The hike back was beautiful! Clear blue skies… so amazing…

A pretty view of Mt. St. Helens.

So… how much did we really hike? The book says 10miles, but the mile markers say 11.6miles total??? No wonder I am so sore!

And we’re back! And look who still was happy…

We are just loving all the opportunities to get out as a family!