While I Was Sleeping...

While I was getting up for my middle-of-the-night-bathroom-break Chris was getting up to go meet his dad for a sunrise hike. They drove out near Mt. Rainier to a place called High Rock, hiked the 1.6 miles of grueling 90 degree trail (ok- so I'm exaggerating a bit- but on the way down you can't walk if you wanted to...) and watched the sun rise.

This is the view from the truck-
see that little building up on the tip of the rock?
That is the old fire lookout that they hiked to.
It is apparently now infested with bees.

Chris's dad with Mt. Adams in the background.

Right on time!

Mt. Rainier from the lookout

Mt. Rainier
You just have to click on the picture to enlarge it.

Reunion at the Beach

The last weekend of August we travelled down to Twin Rocks Camp at Rockaway Beach, Oregon for our 5th annual GFU class of 05 Engineers reunion. We have 7 families that get together. We stayed in a big house right on the beach, ate lots of great food, got really sandy, and had lots of fun!

We are missing one family - and baby Reagan!?


The 'big' kids: Rueben (2), Asher (4), Benjamin (4), Joshua (2), Elijah (2), & Abigail(4)

Our group also has three babies (and of course one on the way), Reagan, Seth, & Daniel all who are (I think) 6months and under. So as you can see there are a lot of boys. Elijah wasn't quite ready to jump into all the pillow fights and wrestling - I'm sure he will next year. As for Abigail...she would usually play with one boy at a time. One of the boys once asked her "why are you sitting down?".

Playing on Sand Mountain

I of course took lots of pictures (well, until I got the camera wet when Elijah got ambushed by a wave...it still works pretty well...) here is a link to see most of them.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

While eating lunch the other day, we were sharing a Superfood Odwalla smoothie. Abigail was a bit unsure of this "gushing garden gulp", so I asked if she would like to hear what is in it. Elijah was making the point that he wanted some. However, when Chris was trying to give him a drink, Elijah kept turning his head to put his ear by it. It took us a minute to realize that he was trying to 'hear what was inside'.

If they were quiet enough they did eventually hear it whisper "...drink me..."

Having nothing to do with the drink-
we also shared the longest carrot we'd ever seen!

Mastering Two Wheels

For several months Abigail has been wanting to ride her bike with no training wheels. So, daddy took them off, however fear of falling kept them from practicing much. Recently however, Abigail has shown a renewed courage to try again. She let daddy help for a while but over the last two days she has been practicing 'by herself'.

Go ahead cement - make my day!

Today, I somehow happened to catch on video her first 'ride'!




An ever supportive brother who only ran into her with his car a few times!

Master of the road!