Back in Seattle

We are now back in Seattle until the beginning of September.  We are very happy to be back to a little more civilization and the conveniences of a big city.  Our new house is in the Leschi neighborhood of Seattle, which is wonderful.  It has some of the most spectacular views. We get to finish our days with the most beautiful view of the city and the sun setting behind it and then are woken up every morning by the most brilliant pink/red sunrise you have ever seen, right from our bedroom window. 

The view from our deck.

The first week we got back from the beach, Joss had camp.  She was ecstatic!  It was The Wilderness Awareness Camp where they teach you how to survive in the wilderness.  Joss made a new friend  from Australia and started talking with an Australian accent ALL week, even when she read her book to us at bedtime. 

Nana came to visit for a week.  The kids were soo happy to see her and so were we!  Joss painted a whole bunch of pictures for her and made her a key holder to stick on her wall back in NJ.  

We figured we would leave some of the more touristy things for when Nana came to visit so we could enjoy them together.  One being the duck tours, where you tour the city in an amphibian vehicle (goes on land and in water) from World War II.  It was LOTS of fun.  The "Captain" was hysterical.  

Joss met up with her friend from camp.  They each had a duck bill, that made the loudest "quacking" sounds you could imagine. 

Erik was chosen to be the "First Mate."  LOL!

A day at the park with Nana.  Joss wanted to be like Nana, so she dressed just like Nana.  Too cute!

Josslyn having a blast.  

Autumn in Nana's hat.  

Autumn watching the group of adults having the best time doing good old fashioned relay races.  Every time we come to this park, there are adults having the time of your lives.  There was even an "Alice and  Wonderful Party" going on where everyone dressed up like a character from the book and was playing croquet with Flamingo mallets.  How great is that!  It reminded us to not take life so seriously and to have more fun.

Here is Auty having more fun  :)

Night time music fest.  

Had a wonderful time seeing a familiar face from NJ.  It was a good taste of what it would be like if we moved to the other side of the country and had family visit.  We did learn that it is VERY hard to say good-bye. :(

Spontaneity

After we came back from our morning hike, we packed up our tent and started to head back home.  But one thing we learned while staying on the coast is that if it is sunny and beautiful a few miles inland, it doesn't mean it is the sunny and beautiful at the coast.  So instead of heading back home, we made a spontaneous decision to head on up the road about an hour and half to Hoh Rainforest, a place I have been dying to see!

After stopping for lunch, at the only restaurant within an hour of Hoh rainforest, we sat outside on a blanket and enjoyed the sun while eating our yummy lunch.

Hoping we could get in at least one hike, we decided to start with the Hall of Moss trail when we got there.

The scenery was just gorgeous!

Love their faces.

What an intense root system

Joss' photography skills at work again.

Having fun playing inside the roots of a tree.  

All of these spruce trees grew with the help of a "nurse log" which is a dead tree trunk that falls to the ground giving the spruce tree seedlings a great place to start growing.  As the tree grows, the dead tree below it continues to decompose.  Eventually the decomposing tree disappears leaving the new spruce trees with above ground roots.  Pretty amazing!

Loved that we were able to come to the Hoh Rainforest on a sunny day!  It really made all the difference with the pictures we were able to take.  It really showed off the moss that was growing everywhere.  

On our way back home we stopped at Ruby Beach, which we heard from so many locals as one of the most beautiful beaches on the Washington Coast.  

With its smooth, round gray/blue rocks that covered its beach and...

The sound the ocean made when pulling its wave back into the sea was so mesmerizing, it was nothing less than perfect.  Even Joss couldn't believe what she was seeing and hearing.

It also had tidal pools that Auty had fun splashing around in.

And the rock sculptures left by everyone who had visited was just magical.  

Josslyn, Auty and Erik adding to the sculptures.  Very meditative.

Josslyn's rock sculpture house.  

Finally had to say good bye and allow what we saw to become yet another beautiful memory.  

Camping Out and Hiking at Lake Quinault

All the campsites here are on a first come first serve basis, which is a little nerve racking if you are hoping to get a campsite after you packed up everything and traveled all the way there.  We however were very lucky to have made friends with the campground host who reserved a site for us ahead of time.  A huge plus!  This campsite turned out to be perfect.

While we set up camp, the kids found a slug to bother.  :)

After setting up we decided to get right out and hike and check some of the trails.  Believe it or not we FINALLY got Autumn into the backpack and she didn't scream at all!  I guess if you try anything enough times with kids they finally give in.

Here she is just hanging out and enjoying the ride.  Of course now that we had Autumn happy,  Josslyn had to start complaining that she needed a turn in the backpack and that it wasn't fair.  

So dense and lush!

A huge banana slug Joss found along the way.  

Here we are trekking up to see the largest and oldest cedar tree.  One of our favorite hikes.

Huge roots everywhere!

Part of the trail that leads up to the tree. 

We made it.  It was actually a pretty intense hike, but well worth it!  This tree trunk was immense!

Looked like the inside of a cave in there.  Kids had a blast in their new "fort."

Everywhere you looked you saw so much life!  Gorgeous.

Back at the campsite trying to build a fire, which seemed near to impossible in this part of the country.   It took about four tries.  Things are just so wet out here.  

Joss was starting to get annoyed at the fire for not staying lit and Auty just kept putting more and more wood on the fire. 

They decided to forget about the fire and make a fairy house instead.

Everyone relaxing around the fire after dinner.  :)  Auty wanted a drink like daddy, so she filled up a beer bottle with water, but Josslyn on the other hand went for the real thing.

Thought this was a pretty neat picture of the water falling from the bottle.

After a night of Auty waking up about 5 times and screaming, we decided to power through and go for another small hike called the Rain Forest Trail, just down the road.  This hike was more for little ones with all the educational signs everywhere, perfect for homeschooling that day.  :)  here is Joss holding a huge Maple leaf.  

Oldest Douglas Fir tree

Being that I am very protective of my camera, it was hard for me to hand it off to a 6 year old to take photos with it.  But Josslyn completely surprised me.  She was amazing at it!  She had, at that point on, became our new photographer.  

A tree using another tree to grow from. Life just can't be stopped out here.  It's quite incredible.

:)

"This we know, the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth.

All things connected, like the blood that unites one family. 

What befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.

Man did not weave the web of life.

He is merely a strand in it.

Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."