Annual Labor Day Campout – Daroga {September 1-4}

We had one last hurrah before fully succumbing to fall schedules and school routines.  Our annual Labor Day campout with Snoqualmie friends.  Always a highlight of our summer!

What a fun group of kids!

It’s a weekend filled with fun, friends and lots of food.

We brought our snow cone machine for those hot afternoons.  Most of the families have accumulated paddleboards during the last year or so so we spent lots of time on the lake and there were plenty of boards for all.

This kid plays hard all weekend long – there’s always plenty to do.

I LOVE that each family partners up with another family and provides a breakfast or dinner during the weekend.  It makes mealtime easy breezy.  We keep lunch simple and just do sandwiches.  We had a couple cereal buffets.

This is our third year with the giant slip-n-slide kickball.

I think this was the first year I’ve gone out on the Olson’s boat.  It was fun to be out there with Jason and Carly as they tried to wakeboard. 

Carly got close to getting up, but couldn’t quite get there.  She had to use Steve’s full-sized board because of her foot size so it was more difficult than if she’d been on a lighter, smaller board.

Jason was able to get up very briefly. 

Drew got to go out on the last boat trip of the weekend. Not sure if he even went out on the water, but he loved the boat ride.  We were all packed up and ready to make the drive back home as soon as the boaters got back to the campground.  Turned out they ran out of gas and we had to send out some gas on paddleboards to rescue them.  Needless to say we didn’t make it home as early as we’d have liked, but ah, the memories!

Back to School

Our summer was crazy busy, I think Abigail only had three of the ten weeks of summer that weren’t booked solid.  I’m not loving that we can no longer count on summer being chill and easy going.  Before we knew it it was time to go back to school.

School started on Wednesday, August 30 – the first day of school is pretty much the only day you can count on me to get out of bed and see each of the kids off to school. 

Since there wasn’t any seminary that first week, Abigail opted to meet up with friends at Starbucks before school (she’ll happily avoid taking the bus any day).

Just five days post-surgery 

   

Carly actually had a late start this year so the incoming sixth graders could have the school to themselves before the older classes showed up so Jason and Katie were the next to head off to school. 

I walked with Jason and Katie to school – also just a first day of school phenomenon.  They indulged me with a few pictures before heading off to class.

Carly spent the morning with friends – Chloe helped her curl her hair and then I drove them over to Livi’s house until it was time for them to head to school.

Justin’s Summer Hiking

I (Justin) have started creating a mental list of hikes I want to do and I crossed two locals off the list this summer.  First up was Camp Muir.  Mike Gibbs and I headed out early on Saturday July 1st for the two hour drive to Paradise in Mount Rainier National Park intent on hiking to Camp Muir.  We met Mike's brother-in-law (and his brothers) in the parking lot and started up the mountain around 8:30am or so.  We were early in the summer so came prepared to hike in snow.  About 90% off the hike was a slog through deep snow with just a few areas melted away and exposing the underlying terrain.  We picked the perfect day to climb as we had mostly sunny skies and was easily warm enough to wear shorts.  I was happy to have gaiters (my first time) as they really kept the snow out of my boots.  The hike starts at the visitor center at about 5400 feet elevation with base camp sitting at just shy of 10,200 over the course of 4-5 miles hiking one way.  It is a physically demanding hike but not technically difficult.  We climbed most of the way with our poles and some trekking chains on our feet.  The views of the area were incredible, especially at the lower elevations.  The higher we climbed the more distant everything appeared to be.  As we made our way to the top, I would see a ridge and think to myself that it would flatten out once we reached that ledge but it just kept going and going.  It was about 4 hours to the top as we took a few rest breaks along the way. I love the feeling of climbing a mountain and the sense of accomplishment that comes with reaching that goal.  We hung out for an hour or so at the top, enjoying the views of the glaciers and valleys below.  I was happy to have no ill effects for being at such a high elevation.  Heading down was a whole different story.  We glissaded a good percentage of the way arriving back to Paradise in less than two hours. The hardest part of the hike was probably not the air sucking steps all the way up but instead the slipping and sliding and avoiding people as we approached the crowded areas approaching the parking lot.  I fell a few times as I struggled to keep my balance.   Overall it was a great day and it gave me confidence that I could summit Mount Rainier.

Camp Muir 

   

Selfie at Camp Muir

The second big hike was Rattlesnake Lake to Snoqualmie Pointe Park just off exit 27 where we left a second car.  Again it was me and Mike.  We took the shortcut up to Rattlesnake Ledge.  We had hoped to run the last 6 miles or so to our car but found that due to logging the trail was covered with debris.  For a good distance, we had to climb up and over and around lots of downed trees, often finding it difficult to find the trail.  Once we got through that area, we hit the Grand Prospect viewpoint and starting running from there.  We finished in just under 3 hours.  I have to come to appreciate running through the woods especially when the trail is soft and rather padded as much of our downhill run was.

Rattlesnake Ledge has become a go-to hike for me, one that I can do before work and get that feeling of accomplishment before my day really even begins.  And the scenery never gets old.  I think I hiked it 3 times in June alone.  If I push myself, I can get to the top in right around 26 minutes. 

Rattlesnake with Brandon in June

I met up with some coworkers for a before work hike up Poo Poo Point mid-June.

Brandon and I got one last hike in with Nate Nead on August 28th before they moved to the peninsula.  Smoke had drifted in from the various wildfires creating a hazy view of the sun and surround valleys.

Next on the local list of mountains to conquer:  Mailbox Peak.  

August Wrap-Up

Lunch Dates (Aug 3) – We all really look forward to our summer lunch dates.  Today Katie and I hit Dickies BBQ

Pretty sure she only wanted Dickies for the free ice-cream cones.

The Great Eclipse (Aug 21) – Abigail and I were just walking out of her appointment with her surgeon when the eclipse was starting.  We were able to get home just in time to get the kiddos outside to check it out.  It was cool but from what I hear totality was amazing.

Rock Climbing (Aug 22) – Carly was invited to go rock climbing with Chloe who’d won the experience at their personal progress event in the spring.  Apparently Carly is a natural – go figure, what sport can’t that girl do?

Bye-Bye Braces – again! (Aug 22) – Thankfully not all of Abigail’s braces were sticking around.  She was glad to get her braces off before school started.  Much improved from the first time around. 

Outdoor Movies (Aug 24) – While I was at a RS activity, Justin took the kids to the community outdoor movie night to watch Wizard of Oz.

Harry Potter Readers (Aug 25) – As I mentioned we listened to the first two audio books of Harry Potter while on our road trip and started the third.  Jason had read a couple of the books previously, but listening to them sure sparked that boy’s interest.  When we got home he dived into the series and couldn’t put them down. I think he’s reread them again since August.  I love seeing my kids enjoying a good book(s) and it’s such a great example to the rest of the kids.

(You can tell we still hadn’t put the furniture back in the family room by the echo)

Back to School Haircuts (Aug 29) – With our trip, the busyness of summer and Abigail’s surgery we didn’t get around to doing any back to school shopping besides the school supplies we picked up in Oregon.  No new clothes, shoes, backpacks, etc…  Twas the night before school started and we had some kids in need of back to school haircuts.  Justin took care of the boys’ and at Abigail’s request I chopped over 6 inches off her hair.