It's Over.....

Summer that is.  Well, not officially over according to the calendar but look what happened this past Friday....

 Kade started Kindergarten!!

 Say what????

It's true. 

 We had a party because everyone was so excited about the first day of school.

Lots of Moms apparently find this first day of school to be a sad time and tears are shed.  Not so here...I celebrated with him.  I'm excited for his new adventure.  I think he is ready.  Plus, he has been going off to preschool every morning for a couple of years now so I think maybe you can understand why I wasn't an emotional basket case.  However, I did get a little lump in my throat when I got to school to pick him up and saw he had a busted lip and skinned up chin and knee.  My poor baby got hurt on his very first day at school.  When I asked what happened he simple said, "Well, we were going to recess and I was excited and running when this guy cut across in front of me. I struggled to turn and keep from running over him (yes, he really did say struggled) and I couldn't stop so I tripped and crashed into the bike holding thing.  I cried a little bit because it hurt but not for long.  It was probably only like a minute because by the time I got to the nurse I was done crying. I tried to be tough.  It is okay though because the nurse had special medicine for hurt lips."  What a trooper!  He was totally cool with it.  So, I had to be as well.  He said it was a really fun day!  I'm so happy for him!

Then we had a three day weekend because of Labor Day.  So to mark the end of summer with a special treat we decided to have a special outing.  And since our big boys have become pretty good hikers this summer and the babies really enjoy being in their back packs, we headed to Mt. Rainier to try out a trail we hadn't hiked before.

 Ready to go!

And we're off.

 Hiking across a big rock field we saw lots of cool rock sculptures.

 That bridge ahead crosses over a river that comes off of Mt. Rainier...the same river that runs just a few miles from our house into the Puget Sound.  Pretty neat, huh?

 The trail was nice.

 And there are the leaders...Dad, Tesa and Kade.   Ryne, Tyce and I brought up the rear.

 Snack breaks are always a favorite part of the hiking experience.

 For everyone.

 Yes, Tesa and Tyce fully expect us to pass snacks over the shoulder to them as well.

 At the top of our hike, we got to see some beautiful waterfalls.  I say "top" of the hike because we pretty much climbed up, up, up the whole way.

 Mesmerized by the waterfall below.

 Even Tyce was busy checking at the waterfall.

Tesa, on the other hand, was mostly just worried about having some more snack while everyone else looked at the water.  Maybe one day she will appreciate nature a bit more than goldfish.

Tyce is already a nature lover. He kept wanting to reach out and touch the trees.

 I tried to take a tree touching break for him every now and then.  My hiking companion Ryne often needed to take a break himself to look at something or sing a song or discuss the hiking path we should take. He is fun to hike with...never a dull moment.

 So a few times the leaders had to take a break to wait on us.  And each time we caught up I could hear Ryne from the end of his puppy dog backpack leash ahead of me murmur a prayer, "Thank you God for letting them wait for us. Amen."  I told you he is fun to hike with.

 After our long hike up in the forest to the waterfalls and much quicker hike back down, I had almost forgotten that this was the view waiting for us at the bottom.

 Just beautiful, huh?  Come on up and we will take you with us.

 Before we headed back to the vehicle, Kade had to do some searching to find just the right rock to take home for his collection.

 For Ryne, it seemed that any two rocks would do....

"Hey, it sounds really funny in here. Yeah, I hear a really funny sound," he said has he hiked along holding his rocks to his ears.  If you come for a hike and really want to have a good time...I'll let you hold the puppy dog's tail!

And now that summer is over we are working on getting into the groove around here.  Not that we won't still take advantage of the beautiful Pacific Northwest weather this time of year as we have the opportunity.  But school's in session and with that must come routine.  And as promised, with summer's end, I will work some blogging time into that routine.  Family...are you ready to play catch up?  I think for my next post I have to rewind to January!  See ya back soon for a walk down Lewallen memory lane 2012.