Washington Coast

 After work on a Friday we drove over to the Washington Coast so we could officially say we have seen all of Washington. It was a deceiving drive and actually took FOREVER to get there becasue traffic was just terrible the whole way, but once we battled that, being there was completely worth it.

First we stopped at Hurricane Ridge. It felt like we were in the Alps, you know, becasue we are so familiar with the Alps. What was really fun was that there was this family of deer that would just follow everyone around. There was a buck, a mom, and a baby. One time I came around the corner after going to the bathroom and I was standing about 5 feet from them. I know they are just deer, but it was freaky. Kelsey just laughed and laughed at me!!

 It was freezing at the top and there was still a lot of snow pack on the ground so Kelsey thought it would be fun to throw snowballs. Throwing snowballs was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

 

Victoria is that island in the distance

 We spent our nights in Forks and got an upgrade to the Belle Suite in our hotel. It was as ridiculous as it sounds. Probably the best hotel stay ever. Everything was black and red there were drawings from the books on the wall. It was fantastic. In all seriousness, the upgrade was super nice because it gave us an extra pull out couch so we didn't have to share to full beds. You know how I hate sharing a full bed

Lake Crescent at sunset

In the morning we drove to the Hoh Rain forest and did several of their smaller hikes. It was completely worth going there, but I will say that now that we live in Seattle and are so used to green and woods, I think some of the majesty of the rain forest was lost on us. We are just so spoiled where we live.  I still thought it was amazing, but some of the other tourist by us couldn't stop talking about all the green they were seeing. Once again, its all relative.

I forgot the backpack for Madison so both girls walked the whole time. I'm sure in total it was only about 2 miles, but they did so good. They didn't really complain at all and even let us wait until we got back to the picnic area to eat lunch. They are such troopers.

Kelsey was grateful I wore my buffalo shirt so that the elk and bears would be afraid to come near us. That was my plan

It was an abnormally hot weekend for the coast and temperatures reached into the 90's. The rainforest kept us nice and cool and truly not a single complaint from this group about 90 degrees, but it made heading to Ruby beach that much more exciting. This specific beach is known for its tide pools so there were more rocks than sand and more driftwood than rocks, but it was the beach! As soon as we stepped onto the beach a calm passed over our whole family. We found a nice little sandy spot and ended up staying there for well over 5 hours. We were all so content and happy. Madison sat in the sand for maybe 45 minutes at a time just filling her bucket, Ethan and Kelsey wouldn't get out of the water, and I just sat on the beach soaking in the sights and sounds. It was perfect.

 

I had gotten a terrible sunburn on Thursday so any direct contact with the sun was just brutal. I had to wear Ethan's shirt all day, but luckily the water was so cold that it didn't ever feel too warm. I mostly just feel foolish for getting such a bad burn a few days before our trip

It really was just the best afternoon ever. Towards the evening, the tide started to go out and so we kind of got to see some tide pools, but not really. We had such a great time regardless. Even I got in the water once which is saying something.

We headed back to Forks to clean up and eat. We ate at this restaurant with great food, but it literally took like 1.5 hours to get our food. They lost our order and didn't even apologize for it. I was so irritated. Never make a pregnant lady wait 1.5 hours for her dinner!

We were going to go to La Push after dinner, but were running out of time. We decided to head over there anyway and boy am I glad we did. It was truly the most beautiful beach. The sand was like Hawaii sand and the scenery was just breathtaking. We got there at sunset so it was a little bit cold (especially when Kelsey JUMPED in the water in her clothes!!) but the sunset was just jaw dropping.

Unfortunately in the morning it was time to head back. On our way out we stopped at Lake Crescent for lunch and I completely regret that we didn't spend a whole afternoon there. I always thought Lake Coure De Lane was the prettiest lake I would ever see, but I stand corrected. Lake Crescent wins. Amazing!!! We already are planning a trip back to just camp and play at Lake Crescent. Its amazing!!! So clear, so clean, so beautiful

Traffic was no better getting home, but this time we took the ferry across. It was no shorter, but a little more pleasant than just sitting bumper to bumper. And we saw a jelly fish and Mt Rainer so it was pretty awesome.

There is so much to do over there. We didn't make it to Sul Duc Falls, Madison Falls, the Ozette Triangle, Beach 2 and 3 in La Push, and waterfall by Lake crescent, and a downtown walk through Port Angeles. So much to do!!! Hopefully we can get back there soon and try all new things.

Its a Girl!

Well, here's me eating crow. I have been so convinced that it was a boy that I even got a few boy things. We even had a list of names narrowing down. It was a boy!!! I swear it was. I felt so different about everything this time. It was so different!!!

But alas, #3 is coming and SHE is a girl. We couldn't be more pleased. Ethan is so wonderful with the girls and I love knowing that all those adorable outfits are going to get to be used again. I am just so excited to be having a baby. I am still in disbelieve that its a girl, but I can't wait. She is going to be amazing. And so gosh darn cute that I already can't handle it!! All these girls are teaching me a thing or two and I know she will be no different. I love her already.
PS: Sorry baby, you probably won't have a name until after you are born. We are so bad at picking out names, but I promise we will do our best!!

Isn't she so cute already!!!

Her bum!!

Her hands!!

 And her cute little feet!!

We can't wait!!

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!