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Month: October 2020

Summer Lovin’

One positive thing that came out of our Summer of Quarantine was that we got to spend a lot of time hiking and camping. Tom and I have always loved to hike together, and it has been fun introducing Henry to our favorite spots and exploring new places together. It hasn’t always been easy, (Henry is heavy and can’t walk very far, sleeping in a tent is very different than sleeping in his crib at home), but it has been worth it. Now that Fall is in full swing around here, and the days are getting shorter and wetter here in the Pacific Northwest, it was been fun to revisit some of our summer trips by making a few layouts in our family Monthly Project Life album.

It has become a tradition to go hiking as a family for Father’s Day, and this year was no exception. We went out to the Teanaway and hiked up Paddy-Go-Easy pass in an attempt to reach Sprite Lake. We got turned around by snow just before the pass, but we got a good workout all the same. This was Henry’s first camping trip, and let’s just say it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. We have since found creative ways to help him, and us, get more sleep.

One of our favorite local hikes is to Melakwa Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. This hike clocks in at about 10 miles round trip, and leads to two beautiful lakes: Melakwa Lake and the uniquely named Upper Melakwa Lake. We were lucky enough to snag a prime picnic spot to soak in the late afternoon sun. Tom took his habitual swim, and Henry and I dipped our toes in the icy water. Unfortunately, I rolled my ankle on the way down, which is still healing.

We are super lucky that we live within driving distance of the three National Parks here in Washington, and we traveled to Mount Rainier National Park twice this summer for camping and hiking trips. On our first trip, we stayed at the beautiful Silver Springs Campground, and hiked to Berkley Park and Naches Peak Loop. Henry loved that our campsite had a stream running through it, and would have happily stood beside it all day throwing little pebbles and leaves, and watching them splash.

I’m still in the process of making a layouts for some of our other hikes this summer, including our second trip to Mount Rainier, so stay tuned!

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