Mt. Rainier

What a week! We had a great time crossing off my very top Washington-must-do: exploring Mt. Rainier with my parents. (The night before when Alice was up screaming half the night in our campsite--not as great of a time. But it was still worth the trip!) I have lots of pictures that tell most of the story from this week, so we'll jump right into those. They do begin earlier in the week, and then we'll get to the Mt. Rainier content:

^^Hayride and exploring Cascade Park during a ward Labor Day brunch with my parents.

^^Lake Roesiger shenanigans at the lake house my parents were renting. I'm so glad they did this and invited us to come join them whenever we could. 

^^Jack's first day of first grade! It was a bit of a whomp-whomp send off, but honestly our life is upside-down crazy right now so I'm feeling ok about it. Alice was still asleep at the time our bus used to come pick Jack up, so Jack and I went outside to wait together. After about 10 minutes of waiting, I double checked the bus schedule and noticed that they pushed the pick-up time back 20 minutes later than it was last year. I ran home to grab Alice, who I knew would be awake by now, thinking we still had another 10 minutes until the bus would arrive. But when I came back outside, Jack and all the kids were gone. I totally missed seeing him off on his first day! Luckily this was kind of his dream scenario. After kindergarten, kids are allowed to wait for the bus and be dropped off without a parent there with them. Jack is craving this next step of independence and I am clinging onto still waiting with him (because some unkind, rough neighbor kids hang out at the bus stop). He was so proud when he told me all about getting on the bus by himself. Glad that worked out. So far he likes his teacher and is excited to be back in school!

^^Ok here comes the Rainier stuff. We rented a little cabin just outside Mt. Rainier national park. It is the same cabin that a popular Washington influencer, Busy Toddler, takes her little family to several times a year. It's at a place called Mounthaven Resort. The cost is good, the location is great, and there's a little trickle creek right outside the cabin we rented with my parents (Maple Cabin) for the kids to splash around in. Great find, would recommend. Unless one or more of your kids sleep TERRIBLY when they travel and will wake up screaming for half the night. Then I would recommend skipping the cabin and staying home and making Rainier a day trip. Luckily it was only Alice with the up-all-night-screaming antics and not also Jack. Because yes, even though he's fully 6 now, it is still very common for Jack to wake up screaming half the night during travels too. So we're feeling grateful that Jack slept well even through Alice's rough/loud times. 

^^Before the long night, we hit all the camping high points: picnic dinner on an outside table, campfire, and running around in nature. 

^^Art. Two nature girls with trees and a s'more.

^^Dad got to renew his campfire skills. We even got to sing a few campfire songs. These are the memories that make the sleepless night worth it.

^^I call this picture "Alice Approaches with her Beating Stick."

^^Haines Girlies

^^The beginning of the end haha. 

^^Luckily Alice woke up happily from her 6 total hours of sleep, and she and Jack found this enormous wild bunny. 

^^Our drive into Mt. Rainier was stunning. I'm kicking myself for not bringing my DSLR camera. It feels like a hassle when I know I'll have my hands full with two very active, likely grumpy kids. But it would have been worth it. Now I know to bring it on the rest of our final Washington explorations.

^^Looking like a mom wrangling her overtired kids on 5 hours of sleep. Those other moms looking glamorous in their vacation photos must have kids who sleep fine on vacation. COULDN'T be me.

^^The Paradise Inn. Very aesthetic. Would love to build a house based on this style someday. Steep roof pitches, cedar shake shingles, teal window and door trim. Casually situated in the middle of a mountain. These phone pictures don't do it an ounce of justice. 

^^We went on exactly one little hike together on our day in Mt. Rainier, and it was the right number of hikes with our kids at their current ages. It was a mile-long hike to a cute little waterfall. Alice is not a hiking girlie but she was very entertaining to the other hikers as she would pitch herself down face-first into the ground in the middle of the trail and just lay there for minutes at a time. Grateful to my dad for scouting out the park map and deciding on a trail that everyone could manage but would still feel like we got a good hike in! This one hike checked all the boxes with views, meadows, and waterfalls.

^^Alice found the perfect spot of shade on the side of the trail to collapse in. Love her. Considering her sleep situation, she did surprisingly great. I didn't get any pictures of our mountain picnic afterward, but it was so relaxing and fun. Nothing fancy, but a National Park picnic will always be one of my greatest joys. 

^^We rewarded ourselves with ice cream as we ran home to our house a day early with our tails tucked between our legs. We would absolutely NOT be staying for our second night we reserved at the cabin😅 Grateful my parents came with us so they could enjoy the second night and also take Jack in their car with them so our car rides on the way up were relatively peaceful. MEMORIES! It really was fun and worth it. Buuuut also we are committing to no extraneous overnight trips in the year 2025 once we're settled into Utah. We're taking the year off. Also! I'm going to remember to take my DSLR and maybe even a disposable film camera on the rest of our 2024 trips. And now, it's time to lean heavily into home staging/packing mode. We've got this.