Day trip

I took Sadie and Camille to Seattle once all of the young women were back at their own houses this morning.  We looked through all of the fun shops on the water front.  While walking around we saw these poor dogs.  They could hardly move with all of that clothing on.  I suspect they were hot and tired.  They were on show to make money for their owner.  

Captain America was ready to give anyone a ride on his carriage bicycle.  Camille and Sadie didn't want to ride with him for some reason. Ha!

A stop to eat a Ivar's is always a must.  You can feed loads of seagulls too.  

Camille with her cupcake purchase that she was craving.  She held on to that cupcake till we got back on the ferry.  

We tried to get up on the space needle but they didn't have any spaces available till later in the evening.  We were ready to get home so we didn't wait.  

We noticed that going up stairs and going up this huge ramp was difficult.  Our thighs were killing us.

On the ferry heading back home.  These two were addicted to playing nines.   I enjoyed hanging out with these two.  

Seven Lakes Basin--Young women

Even though the forecast was looking bleak we forged ahead with our plans to hike Seven Lakes Basin with the young women.  We had planned it and by golly it was going to happen.  

Jessica, Leslie, Nikki, Chloe, Camille, Sadie, Jenette, Nathan, Alejandra, Arynne, Mark

A waterfall along the trail.

One of the girls was having back pack issue so we took a break while Nathan resolved the problem.  Everyone did an awesome job on the crazy thigh killing trail up to Deer Lake.  It was 4 miles.  So far it hadn't really rained much along the way.

The "butt" tree along the trail.

Once the tents were up it rained off and on.  It was enough rain to realize one of the tents was not good in the rain.  Nathan fixed it up the best he could and I think it quit leaking some.  Another tent had issues but it was more that the girls weren't closing the door when they left.  

The girls fixing dinner.  It was yummy.

We walked around the lake a few times.  The girls played games in their tents and then we had a devotional.  

Once evening came it rained more and continued most of the night.  I didn't sleep at all cause I was worried about how cold and wet the girls might be getting.  In the morning there were a few wet sleeping bags.  One in particular that was really wet.  As much as it bothered us to give up on the rest of the trip it was decided that we better head back to the vehicles to get home.  It would have been a another miserable night for a few of the girls if we had stayed.  I didn't want anyone to have a horrible experience and then never want to attend another hike with us.  

Breakfast of champions?? Oatmeal, hot chocolate or cider.

We were loaded up and ready to head back by 8am.  We told the girls we could have a slumber party at  our house that night.  

I sure do like this guy a lot.  

Everyone fell asleep on the way back home.  

Our yard was a mess when everyone put their stuff out to dry.  It was nice cause the sun was shining with a slight wind so most things dried in no time.  

A few of the girls braided Chloe's hair.  

We still had a few girls make the dinner that was planned for that night.  It was a fun group to be with.  

Evening of the 4th

After spending the day making peg legs and other things out of wood we took to the water to watch fireworks.  I was getting a bit impatient cause I didn't know it wasn't supposed to start till 10:30 but it ended up being worth the wait.  We do live in a beautiful area.  

PEG LEG

Josiah has been fascinated with pirates and their peg legs.  The first picture is his prototype with the plunger but it wasn't good enough.  Then Nathan helped him with the next model.  It looks tiring to me to use it.  He was even starting to get a few blisters on his knee from using it.  

Lena Lake

Our usual, once school is out, activity (canoeing to Blake Island) came to a screeching halt this year with a nonfunctional truck so we did the next best thing instead.   Although, I do think hiking is the ultimate outdoor activity.   I was so impressed with everyone on this back packing trip.  Elijah insisted on carrying his own sleeping bag and clothes.  He did it all three miles up and then back the next day without a single complaint.  

As were were hiking up the trail I had this overwhelming feeling of love for this family of mine.  I am one blessed gal to have Nathan and these four kids of ours.  They are so fun to hang out with.  

It is rare that we go anywhere where we can have a fire so all of us were excited to finally have smores.  However the mom of the group left the most important part of the smores on the counter at home.  What is a fire without marshmallows?  We ended up eating graham crackers with chocolate.  Bummer.

This is Josiah's experiment.  He was boiling water inside a paper bowl.  

If you don't come home filthy from camping you didn't have any fun at all is my opinion.  

I was trying to set the timer on my phone to take a picture of us and the lake but as you can see it wasn't successful.  You can't see the lake and I wasn't patient enough to stand there wondering if it was even taking.  

I moved behind Josiah because I thought it took.

Then on the third shot I was coming closer to the phone. 

I gave up and decided that I didn't' need to be in the picture.  

This downed tree was on a steep part of the trail that the boys went down. 

It was tiring hiking and nearly everyone crashed.