Backpacking Lake Ozette Trail

Hiking has been a favorite family hobby since Ken and I got married. We started off slow with our kids...small walks became mile hikes and eventually our kids were able to complete multiple mile hikes on some pretty intense terrain. For the past couple years we've dreamed of stepping it up a little and attempting backpacking. We slowly purchased all the equipment and planned our first trip. Here's our backpacking debut at Lake Ozette on the Washington coast. We hiked 9 miles total and spent two nights. Here's us still fresh and ready to roll:

 Levi, being the smallest member of the expedition, was pretty happy carrying his new red pack. He had his moments of fatigue but seriously, for his size, we were so proud of his spirit of adventure! In the background you can see boardwalk. A lot of the hike was on a boardwalk!

 Leah serenaded the wild animals and other hikers with her recorder tunes:

 Fast forward a couple hours - packs are off (soreness forgotten), bathing suits are on and tide pools are ready to explore:

 It was SO nice out...we had packed all our rain gear, predicting the usual cold on the Washington coast and were met with great weather!

Our camp the first night at Sand Point. The beach was right through the trees.

 We hiked up on a bluff to catch the sunset. Beautiful!

 While up on the bluff Leah caught sight of a whale spouting and we all enjoyed the show! We think there might have been more than one whale out there...it was hard to tell what type of whale. A big one!

 Even in the wild, there are pancakes to be had! I assure you Ken would never leave home without them! Cooking on the beach was way more fun than cooking at home by the way. Even doing the dishes was way more romantic in the wild.

Packed up again and headed three miles up the beach to Cape Alava. We pretty much walked on or next to tide pools all day. The sea life was abundant out there...I kept having to stop and just stare into tide pools to catch all the action of crabs skittering around and eels darting under rocks.

 The driftwood log in front of our camp at Cape Alava. The beach here was rockier than at Sandpoint but still so beautiful!

 A little buck came walking down the beach and next to our camp. We saw lots of deer but thanks to the requirement to keep all food in a bear canister we didn't see any "scary" wild critters! There was one little scare where there was loud rustling in the tall grass and my imagination went wild imagining what was coming. But it turned out to be a deer, not the large ferocious bear I was picturing!

 Our camp at Cape Alava...where I sneezed often because apparently I have some sort of allergy to the tall grass we camped in and trudged through!

 Heading back on day three! Yes, Ken is carrying "Ryan the Lion" (Levi's special stuffed animal that could not be left behind for this adventure).

 Leah's smile when we reached to bridge indicating the end of our hike back!

 Goodbye Lake Ozette wilderness! We couldn't have had a better first backpacking trip with the kids. We can't wait until our next trip into the wilderness with our packs. So many wonderful family memories!

Our Surprise Week Off (a.k.a. Seattle's "Snow Event")

The Great Snow Event of Seattle (a.k.a. Snowmageddon and Snowapocalypse) is upon is! Here are some of the highlights.

Way back four days ago when we only had a couple inches of snow, a giant snow viking was built. Here's Leah sitting on the middle snowball, which Ken had to cut in half to hoist onto the bottom ball:
After a couple hours (and the kids quitting on us in the middle), we finished our snow viking (Ken named him Ottar):

As the snow kept falling, L&L experimented with creating snow jumps (we have a flat yard so it was their attempt to get some use out of their sleds):
As they played, Ottar started looking stranger and stranger as the snow continued to fall:
Within the next couple days, we suddenly found ourselves buried in 9+ inches of snow. Wanna come sit on our yard chairs?
Days of cabin fever have resulted in finally getting a picture of one of the hummingbirds who frequents our feeder:
Last night we were so stir crazy we ventured out to sled at night:

L&L practiced their snow survival skills...just in case:

The snow is still falling like crazy and we have now missed 3 days of school! Even though we have to make up these days, I have to say, it's really fun to watch the snow fall and make snow memories. I really want the kids to grow up with snow memories just like I did!

Legos and Crafts!

As I've mentioned before...our house is full of construction...kid construction! I got tired of L&L's legos being in one giant bin, which they had to dig through and/or dump to find things. So over winter break, I did this (they are organized by color and type of piece. Plus there's another smaller drawer organizer not pictured containing things like weapons, wheels, etc.):

Much better - doncha think? Organization was followed by brother/sister bonding time. They had to complete the lego challenge of the week (from a web site I found), which was to create an engineering marvel. They chose to make a bridge:

In other craft news, we discovered that you can make your own stress balls from a balloon filled with four. Cover it with another balloon for the "bubble" head effect.

Leah named him "Bob":

Another day of winter break we made duct tape journals. The colors of duct tape you can find these days is amazing! Here's Levi's (which he crazily decorated with stickers):

Leah and friends made the journals as well as No Sew Pillows. They turned out so cool and we are planning on making craft day a new winter break tradition!

We love us some crafts in this house!