Outdoorsy Summer Adventures

You know us, we love to be in the mountains. Even though we are busy with a house, fun with friends, Rachel, and trips, we have gotten into the great outdoors a few times this summer.

Bridal Veil Falls

In May, we hiked to Bridal Veil Falls. It was a bit steep but not too bad. It is a beautiful, roaring waterfall. Rachel loved it. We hiked with Andrew's brother Wesley and his wife Maren. Andrew took many beautiful photos.

Unfortunately, Andrew used his $250 memory card that he was swindled into buying. It died in June on our family vacation. And we do not have the money to pay for someone to recover the photos at this time. Needless to say, we are unhappy about this. The moral of the story is to not spend that much money on a memory card.

Fishing in Daddy's "Boat"

We don't have a real boat (someday!), but Andrew does have a float tube. He went out one morning to our neighborhood lake to try his luck at fishing. No luck. Rachel and I went to see him in the morning. Rachel got to wear her life jacket and did really great on Daddy's "boat". Since then, she loves pointing out boats and saying they are Dad's.

A beautiful sunrise; lilypads; "Mom, the sun is in my eyes!"; Rachel and Andrew seeing the sights of the lake; Rachel and Sarah after the cruise.


The Big Four Ice Caves

In the middle of July, we went hiking to the Big Four Ice Caves. It is a pretty easy hike. I was 35 weeks pregnant, no climbing to the top of a mountain this pregnancy. But we had a great time. Rachel kept singing, "Hiking! Hiking!" I think she likes hiking. You were born into the right family, little girl.

The cutest hiker EVER; the Ice Caves are pretty much melting snow that make caves, they weren't very impressive right now; Sarah and Rachel; trees in front of The Big Four (the mountain); Sarah waiting for Rachel and Andrew (can you see the belly?); a waterfall going down to the snow; Rachel and Sarah at the picnic at Coal Lake; wildflowers along the road.


Camping at Cascade Park

We went camping with our friends at a Church property called Cascade Park. Rachel had so much fun getting dirty and playing with the big kids. All the kids loved the awesome barrel swing next to our campsite. We ate yummy food and had lots of fun. Rachel even slept really well in the tent!---until 5:20 when some very noisy crows started cackling in the trees next to our tent. I went out and shooed them away, but Rachel would not go back to sleep. She was fairly pleasant but super tired. Andrew and I were really tired, too, as we had stayed up late looking at stars and chatting with our friends.

Claire, Rachel, and Dallon having fun around the fire; all three kids on the swing, pushed by Kendra; Dallon kept kissing Rachel in the swing, which was really funny because she always tries to kiss him when she plays with him, but he never lets her; Rachel in the swing; a very sleepy Rachel snuggled up in a sleeping bag; Rachel and the awesome swing---so very tired but she did not want to get out.


We have had a pretty great summer and have gotten out into the wild at least once a month. That has been nice. I hope you have had a great summer, too!

Blanca Lake

In July, my brother Matt came to visit and we went hiking to Blanca Lake. It was a really difficult hike and a lot of it was in the snow/cold. Matt is way hardcore at hiking, so I appreciated his patience with me and Rachel.


Ready to go!


I love this picture of us!


Rachel looks like Andrew's aunt Ellen in this photo. Isn't it funny how babies are new people that have all these other people's traits and facial expressions?


Stopping for some lunch.


Crossing some early snow. Rachel is taking a nap. A little further on the hike, we were only on snow.


Some beautiful mountains, Columbia Peak and Kyes Peak.


The first lake, Lake Victoria. Pretty much still frozen.


Good morning, Rachel!


We made it! Blanca Lake was the most amazing aquamarine color! I have never seen water that was actually that color.


That is the Columbia Glacier, which sits between Columbia Peak and Kyes Peak.


Rachel liked sucking on the camelback nozzle while getting her diaper changed.


Milk goatee.


This is actually a better photo of the color  of Blanca Lake.


Love this girl.

And then we hiked back and did not take any pictures.

Ebey's Landing

You probably aren't surprised that I am posting another hiking post.

What can I say? We love to hike, and we will drag any and all children, guests, and friends who come our way on one.

The thing with a baby is that we don't want to do anything too terribly difficult, because we have a baby. But I think this summer we'll get more adventurous than we have been in the first five months of Rachel's life.

Andrew's sister Elise came to visit us and wanted to go on a hike. We might have gotten adventurous in March, but the mountains are still very snowy. So to the seaside we went. We hiked Ebey's Landing on Widbey Island. It climbs to the top of a bluff and then alongside the steep hillside. Not too thrilling, but nice. We had a great view of the Olympics, the day was warm, the baby wasn't screaming once we faced her out. We went back to our car by way of the beach. Andrew wasn't too impressed with the hike so he didn't take many pictures. I think it is because he has that great view out his window all day at work. So you only get pictures of our beautiful selves.


Hiking girls on the prairie.


Rachel loved watching the waves.


Being the star mom that I am, I remembered to put the hat on Rachel when we were almost done with the hike.


Yay hiking!

Now go outside and hike!

One of the Last Hikes As a Childless Couple

I'm ready to get this baby out of me.

Baby Girl, we want to meet you! And I want your knees out of my internal organs.

Our friend Kaleb told us that he took his wife hiking and the next day they had a baby. It was worth a try.

We went to the Lime Kiln Trail in Granite Falls. It was relatively flat so we thought it would be a good one.

A highlight was peeing in the wild. Love it (I really do, call me weird). Squatting in a blackberry patch did not get the baby out though.

This is especially for my mother-in-law--I'm still wearing pre-pregnancy clothes! Well, at least my jackets.

We did not make it all the way to the Lime Kiln. We needed to go home and shower so we could make it to stake temple night. So we turned around. I think there was about a half-mile left to the Kiln.

I am trying to look especially pregnant in this picture. I am especially pregnant--I was 37.5 weeks along on this hike.

On the way back to the car, we imagined what we would do if I had the baby on our hike. Imagine...

Andrew: "Hello, uh, my wife just had a baby."

Operator: "OK, tell me your address."

Andrew: "Well, we are about two miles in on the Lime Kiln Trail in Granite Falls."

Operator: "Where in Granite Falls? I didn't catch it."

Andrew: "We are hiking. Should we hike back to our car and meet the ambulance there?"

Operator: "Wait, what?"

Andrew: "Don't worry, I wrapped the baby in my shirt and a solar blanket. My wife is fine but her pants are a mess. Should I cut the cord with my knife?"

Fortunately, we did not have to call 911 because I did not have the baby on the trail.

The verdicts:

I did not have the baby because of the hike.

I still have a baby inside of me.

We may have to go on a steeper hike on Saturday.

Now go hiking, everyone!

Exhausted at Seven

I climbed the stairs to our apartment seven times yesterday. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is. We live on the third floor. I am 33 weeks pregnant. I'm pretty active and walk 3 to 5 miles each day, but not up steep hills. I do climb the stairs two to four times each day. But after seven, I was pooped. My thighs hurt. My butt hurt. I got slower and slower each time.

First, I had to climb up the stairs after my morning walk.

Second, I had to climb up the stairs after taking out the stench of a trash can cuz I couldn't stand it for one more second. Usually Andrew takes out the trash.

Third, I climbed the stairs after walking to the grocery store. I carried a cabbage and a large can of tomato sauce.

Fourth, I climbed the stairs after watching Downton Abbey with my friend Shannon.

Fifth, I climbed the stairs after taking dinner to someone in the ward.

Sixth, I climbed the stairs after going on a walk and getting the mail with Andrew.

And the seventh time I climbed the stairs was after we had pie with friends.

I said to Andrew, "I should climb the stairs just one more time and make it an even eight."

Andrew told me not to. "In Hebrew culture," he said, "seven is perfection and complete."

On that note, I hope that my thighs and butt are perfect now. Since we are culturally Hebrew (not), that makes total sense. So far today, I have only climbed the stairs once and started off my day with a bubble bath.

A Season of Hiking

I have not done well documenting all of our outdoor adventures. That may surprise you, since every-other post is about an outdoor adventure.

Arches National Park

We went to Arches for our Spring Break in March. We had a good time and Wesley even joined us for an overnight campout.


Dark Angel


Delicate Arch

Greider Lakes

Our next hike was in a much different climate. It was May and still rainy and cold and there was snow. We went to Greider Lakes in Washington and it was tough. The road washed out so you had to hike 2 miles before getting to the trailhead (missed that in the trail description) and then we climbed incredibly high up 40 switch backs. I'm not sure if we'll do this one again. But, it was very beautiful up there.


The lower lake

Cherry Creek Falls

This was a pretty easy hike, but it was a good one. We went in June to Cherry Creek Falls. This place is beautiful. We went with Andrew's coworker and friend, Ben.


At the waterfall

Heather Lake

We are slowly discovering that everywhere worth hiking to here in Washington involves getting up on top of the glacial plain to the alpine lakes. At the end of July, we hiked to Heather Lake and it was beautiful. We will go again.


Heather Lake behind the trees


It seriously is that color--so clear and beautiful

Mt. Pilchuck

We hiked Mt. Pilchuck at the end of August and it was HOT and full of people (which we never like). But, we went with Ben and some of his friends and had a good time. You had an amazing view of EVERYTHING! The day was clear so we could see Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier (both are volcanoes), the rugged and beautiful Cascades, downtown Seattle in the distance, all of Snohomish county, the Puget Sound, and the Olympic Mountains in the west. Amazing. I also felt like a power woman cuz I made it to the top at 30 weeks pregnant! Don't tell my OB/GYN, I'm not sure she or other doctors would be too happy about that.


Great granite features on the way


On top of Pilchuck with the Three Fingers behind us (future exploration??)


I'm pregnant and I know it

Tonga Ridge

Just on Friday we hiked on Tonga Ridge. Like I mentioned before, everywhere worth going to is at about 5000 feet elevation (with us hiking up from 1000 or hopefully 3000 feet). Lucky for us, we got to drive to that elevation before starting the hike, so the hike was relatively flat. We saw some great mountain views, but missed the turn off to go to Sawyer Peak. Oh well. We were distracted by HUCKLEBERRIES! They were delicious. We picked a ton.


The view of mountains across from us


Me picking huckleberries


Andrew picking huckleberries


Wildflowers

Conclusion? The season ain't over yet!

We've had a great hiking season. I think that we will probably go on another hike or two before Baby Girl Platypus comes. And after she comes, we will have a few months and then we'll probably go snowshoeing.

So come visit us and we'll hike!

Backpacking Fail #1: Barclay Lake

At the beginning of June, we decided to head up into the Skykomish ranger district and go backpacking! It  would be amazing! We got our food ready, packed everything up, and were ready for a good time in the mountains. Since it was my first time backpacking, we picked a short, level trail. It was about 2 miles in to the lake. And, to make things even better, it fell on free fishing day! Score!


The bridge on the way to Barclay Lake


Me on the bridge. I look so cool with my backpack on. Also, keep in mind how awesome and kick-butt I am! I'm like 19 weeks along on this trip.


A lovely stream


Me at the camp spot. Our tent is incredibly attractive, right? It fits two people who like to be cozy. Don't I look soggy? That's because it is June in Washington!


Barclay Lake--it was really quite beautiful.

By this point, we have successfully packed in to the lake. So far, so good. No backpacking fail yet!


Andrew pumping the water. He was SO excited to use his new pump.


"I'm pumping the water and it is raining! Yay!"


Andrew trying to light wet wood on fire. This was a backpacking fail. We never got it to light.


Andrew looking epic at Barclay Mountain.


Throwing our rope for the bear bag. I was terrified we would meet a bear. But at least the bag was far away from our camp, so if it came to eat our food, it shouldn't eat us, too.


Time for hot chocolate because we are freezing to death!


Fishing for free. Andrew is so happy to be fishing. Backpacking fail: neither of us caught a fish.


Me fishing, but mostly doing casting practice. Whenever I've caught a fish, it has been on accident.

We were wet and cold and had nothing to do after we fished. We brought cards but our tent was too small to sit up in, so no go on the playing together agenda. And so we went to bed.

I remember trying to stretch out my leg but feeling some cold at the bottom of my sleeping bag, so I curled up into a ball.

At about 2:00 a.m., Andrew sighed and said, "My feet are wet. Are yours?"

"A little," I say. "I really have to pee." I'm pregnant and myself. I pee twice every night.

"Me too." It must have been the hot chocolate. Andrew never pees in the night.

"I have to pee bad enough to face the wild animals, but if I go outside, all this water will fall on us," I said.

"Yeah," Andrew said. "And we would be soaked."

"And my hips hurt. I have tried to not move so I don't get wet." If you touched the side of the tent, you got wet.

"This isn't a very good tent," said Andrew.

And we just laid there in our sleeping bags for about an hour. Then we talked to each other for about an hour. We were both in pain from our bladders and my hips really really hurt. We were also both cold and very wet. Then we laid there for another hour.



Andrew being miserable in the morning.


Our wet, cold toes in our sleeping bags. Tent, you were somewhat useless. Can you see the water droplets on the inside of our tent!?!?

Finally, it was 5:00 a.m. Andrew said we could get up in 15 minutes. So we did. And I peed a great pee. Andrew peed a great pee. And my hips felt so much better.



We are tired! It is 5 a.m.! Do you like Andrew's hipster hair?


Best part of the morning: our bear bag survived. We have breakfast!


You suck. We are buying a new one.

And we ate food and packed up our soaking wet gear and were out of there by 7:30 and to our car by 8:30. And since we weren't thinking clearly and it was free fishing day, we drove to Fish Lake (like two hours away) but couldn't find a place to access the lake. So then we drove for another 45 minutes to Leavenworth and bought a pretzel and bienenstisch. And then we drove forever home. We were super tired. That night was officially the worst of my life.

I couldn't believe myself when I told Andrew that I was willing to go camping again--if we had a different tent.

Backpacking fail.