Happy 12th Anniversary!

July 21st was our 12th wedding anniversary. Wow! We were able to celebrate it together on Saturday, the 26th by climbing Mt. Ellinor in Olympic National Park. It was my first ever real mountain hike (as opposed to an easy nature walk). Most of the trail was very well-groomed and so the going was fairly easy. The snow chute, however, was a bit challenging on the way up and a lot of fun on the way down. (Both our rear-ends were drenched!)



We had a nice lunch up at the peak, saw some mountain goats, Douglas squirrels and lots of wildflowers (it's just now springtime up there). Visibility was poor at the peak but that was fine by me since I'm afraid of heights. ;o) Visibility was better below the snow chute so we were able to appreciate the lovely vista.






Afterward, we returned home to clean up and then went to see The Dark Knight. Woo-hoo!! It was BATASTIC! I was afraid it was getting better reviews than it deserved because of the death of Heath Ledger, but I was so wrong. The plot was complex, the action was thrilling, the cinematography was stellar, the soundtrack was good and the acting was fabulous. And Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker really was astounding. I can't imagine anyone being able to fill his shoes to take over that role. I rather hope they don't even try.

We owe a mountain of thank yous to Linda for making our anniversary celebration possible. She kept all three boys for us so we could go hiking. We love you, Linda. Thank you so much.

Bike Helmets

Okay, so apparently an explanation is warranted on my kids' seemingly constant wearing of bicycle helmets. The reason you see the boys wearing helmets in so many photos below is because they were on and off their bikes every few minutes so there was really no reason to remove them... it just slowed them down. Also, Owen can't take his off by himself. :o) He even wore it during some meals. It was really funny. I could tell he enjoyed the attention he was getting by wearing it at odd times.

Cape Disappointment Campout

Camping at Cape Disappointment is usually anything but. This time however, it was very windy and cold which made things difficult with the baby. Who knew he needed mittens in July?!? When the sun came out, it was as gorgeous as we remembered and we had a good time, especially on our family bike ride. Of course the Os had all kinds of fun playing in the woods, climbing trees, riding bikes, building a sandcastle and of course, roasting marshmallows.

Oliver tying up his friend, Joanna.

Owen was really upset when he found out he couldn't actually take his big hiking stick hiking.

The impromptu limbo game.

Don't know what Elliott's attraction to this rainboot was, but this was what he did when we let him roam around.

Brian and several of the kids built this sandcastle.

Oliver and Joanna sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.