Twin Falls Hike

Twin Falls Hike is my favorite place in Washington to date. On Saturday, June 10th, we wanted to go on a hike, checked our list, and headed to Twin Falls which was about 30 minutes up the mountain.
There is so much coverage and so much green, that even we kept stopping just to say wow and we live here. It had the same "awe" feeling that Hawaii did when we went on our hike there. It obviously looked different, but that same sense of "gosh! there are not a lot of places that look like this" sort of a feeling.

The first part of the hike was very flat and you walked along the river. There were several spots where you could stop and touch the water and probably even swim on warm day. As you can imagine there were also lots of boulders to climb and tree caves to hide in. That first mile took us a very long time becasue there was so much to explore. The girls were in heaven.

 

Obviously my Lion King attempt failed miserably. She isn't even that heavy, I am just that weak

 

So we took the backpack more as a precaution than anything. We really wanted to go on this hike but we also didn't want to kill Ethan's back. Madison is also very against the backpack, so we brought about 100  DumDums to keep her in there. She walked the entire way except maybe the last half mile and the up hills. She did so awesome.

After about .9 of a mile, you get to a set of switchbacks that I thought for sure would produce whining but they didnt!!! Everyone was such a champion. Without prompting Kelsey would just go, "I can do this, I am strong!" It was so cute. We sang a lot of Moana and conquered those hills like they were nothing.
It also helps, when you have cool up hill poses. but never doubt Kelsey's ability to strike a pose.

At the top of the hill, there was a bench and a look out. This hike is super cool because at this point if you wanted to, you could easily turn around and feel rewarded for your efforts. We decided to keep going because we wanted to get to the bridge portion of the hike, but the look out was very beautiful.

 

The 2nd mile was a little bit tougher. There was more up and down, but it was definitely more beautiful. It took us some time,but we made it to the bridge and it was stunning! 

There was a cool set of board walk type stairs that led you down this hill, but I just loved this fallen down tree. And can I just brag again about my children. Not once did they complain! And aside from the DumDums,  I didn't bring anything! I thought we wouldn't make it to the bridge so I didn't even bring water and they were super forgiving about everything. I think they were just so happy to be outside that that was distraction enough, but whatever it was it totally worked. They were rock stars.

There was a staircase that I took down to the rive alone to get closer to the falls. It was super steep and Ethan decided to get started with the girls while I snapped some pics.

As reward, we let the girls play in the ice water that is called a river. Of course they got their feet wet and asked if they could swim, but it was all worth it for their hard work. They earned those wet feet.

We had a friend advise us not to take kids on this hike, but I guess we are just a notch higher on the crazy scale. It was so much fun and so beautiful. I can't wait to take people on this hike. It really is the prettiest place Washington has to offer thus far in our experience. Loved this hike and so grateful that Ethan carried Madison as much as he did. Shout out to those shoulders because I would have buckled!

Things we have done: May

May started off right. We had Hannah come visit us and she brought the best weather! She was able to stay for a whole week and it was just the greatest. I felt bad because the whole time Hannah was here I just felt terrible. I tried to keep being a good host, but I'm sure I was not the kindest person. Luckily Hannah is super awesome and would just ignore me and carry on as though nothing was different. She was super helpful with the girls and played so much with them despite the fact that she had to bring work with her. We loved having Hannah here.

Aunt Kay also came to visit for a day on her way through to Walla Walla. Always great to catch up with Kay.

One night that was perfect, we got everyone together and had a barbecue and popsicles. It made me start to understand the draw to Seattle. Beautiful weather until about 10 pm. Does it get better?

Kelsey had her last day of dance class. She was so cute. She tried so hard and definitely had the most flare int he whole class. If she messed up, she would just laugh and try again. She is so cute about just staying positive. She is a mini Ethan for sure.

One nice day during nap time, I thought I would hang out with Kelsey and paint rocks. 5 minutes in, Trenton yelled for her and she was gone. She loves Trenton. Well, I had all the stuff out so I decided to just keep painting. I ended up sitting on my porch painting rocks by myself for like an hour. It was the best afternoon!!

We discovered Enatai beach. The water was frigid, so Madison choose to be Ariel for most of the afternoon.

I love this picture because it was taken at like 9 at night. We lost complete track of time because we were all so happy.

A mini trip to the capitol on a freezing day

 

Blurry but couldn't resist Kelsey in the background

She's trying to save a worm

At the water by the market

Memorial Day weekend with the Salmons and Morris s complete with two barbecues, XXX, swamp monster hike, shopping, and Kennsington Beach

This is why Seattle frustrates me. I know other places can't make up their mind, but its just getting really old. We have two weeks of crummy and then get a glimpse of perfect weather just to be taken away again by two weeks of crummy. I'm just getting so tired of it and haven't quite figured it out.

Happy Birthday Kelsey

 

Kelsey turned 5. I really could just go on and on about how wonderful Kelsey is, but I might have to do that later because I want to get the events of her birthday in print. 

She woke up to pancakes with sprinkles and candles (I didn't make her a cake so lets hope she never gets mad. I put candles in her pancakes though so I feel like that totally counts) 

Ethan took the day off of work and as always it was just way better having him around. We all went to the track and the girls played while Ethan and I ran. It was starting to warm up, but Kelsey was just so excited that instead of going somewhere we let her open and watch Moana. Both girls were just so happy. I don't remember why, but the night before I woke up like 9 times and just felt terrible. I took a nap during Moana while Ethan practiced his magic tricks for the birthday party. 

We had lunch at Five Guys per Kelsey's request and then she got to play at Siena's house while we did birthday prep. 

At about 5 we got things gathered and headed to Mormon Night at the Mariners game where we sat with a bunch of ward members on a perfect evening and watched a very fun game. There were home runs, strike outs and even a Grand Slam. It was so much fun.

At 10:30, Kelsey's friends came over for a ballerina birthday party. I love throwing little kid parties, because you put together maybe two activities, hand them a slice of pizza and a cupcake, open presents, and then they just go and play. Its awesome. The only difference was that Ethan wanted to do a magic show and then he taught them a "ballerina dance." He really is the greatest.
Kelsey has such a great time with her friends and loves them so much. Its great to watch her interact with them.

Caroline Dayly, Hadlee Salmon, Madi Balkman, Zoe Brown, Siena Sanelli, Bianca Rincon. Claire Crosby was invited but couldn't come.

I love that Dallin came specifically for the show

The rest of the day was spent playing with toys and going to Scarlett Simakov's birthday.

That night we got Leah to babysit and we went to Thai Coconut. I was so excited but didn't eat the right foods during the day and got so so SO sick at the restaurant. I couldn't even sit still. It wasn't painful it was just incredible hunger that I let get out of control. The waitress was so nice and actually gave us a discount because we had to leave so soon. We got our food and headed home and on the way home, it thankfully passed. Since Leah was still there, we grabbed some forks and ate our food at the look out by Harrison park. It actually turned out to be a super fun date despite the change of plans.