Dry Creek Trail and Lake Cushman

Yesterday, Melis, Abigail, Mark, Matty and I headed out to Lake Cushman and hiked along the Dry Creek Trail. This is the same trail where Brian&Melis heard the low, gutteral roar of a mountain lion just a couple years ago. There were warning signs about the big cats at the trailhead, but thankfully, none were heard or seen while we occupied the trail. The weather, although threatening to rain, turned out to be quite pleasant: mid-50's, cloudy, but only a few wandering sprinkles. The autumn colors were gorgeous and the trail was matted with large, soft, bright yellow leaves.











































We passed these little falls there and back, and on the way back Melissa very randomly put her head under and drank three large gulps. I was aghast and chided her for drinking beaver-fever water, but then gave into the very strong temptation myself, and had my own gulps of very refreshing goodness. I'm not sick as of yet, so hopefully we were lucky. Mark, prob very wisely, opted out of our little water russian roulette game.

My favorite part of the trip was hiking along the eastern edge of Lake Cushman in an area filled with very large old tree stumps. The trees were cut in the 1920's when the city of Tacoma built a dam on the North Fork Skokomish River, thus enlarging the lake.

Here I am, pointing with humor and disbelief at the action that resulted in Matty looking like.....
























this! Clearly, Matty (aka Spot) was in paradise and loving every minute of it!































































As always, the star of the show, showing off her walkin' skills....

Glacier National Park '08

Here's another long-overdue blog: Last July, we had a family reunion at Glacier Nat'l Park. All of the immediate family was there, as well as Grams, Aunt Eileen, and Uncle Ron&Aunt Karen and Anna. It was such a wonderful time of relaxing, spending time with each other, and spending time in the beautiful creation of our Creator.

The whole fam


















Doin a little P&W:


















The picking of a fine musician (aka Steve Man Koning)


















Up and coming guitarist, Dillon Michael Koning


















More Dillon:















































Aunt Karen, Grams, Anna, and Aunt Eileen: playin some cards




































Mom, this one's for you! Zoom in if you so desire























Sharing some good ol' Cheerios:




































Dillon: "Ooh, this is a perfect time to pull Mommy's hair!"


















The sisters: Mom and Aunt Eileen























Steven, finding himself in an all-too-familiar precarious position


















Abigail, chillin in the arms of Uncle Steven (BTW, nice VSP plug, Steve!)























Oh, the beauty!


















Sisters: Serena and me























My other sister: Melissa and me















































Padre and me























Ansel Adams style:


















Mi hermano y yo:


















I really, really like this picture:























And this one too:


















Blongo Ball: Steven vs Aaron


















We watched a homemade fireworks show on the 4th, just a mile or so from our cabin. This is us, waiting for the big show to happen: BJ's trying to make a scarier face than normal, Steven's holding the puppy who adopted us as his family for the evening, Aaron's trying to be a pirate (Arghhh, Matey!), Serena's chillin in the back, I have a daisy in my hair for some completely unknown reason, and Annie's proving herself to be a very candid photographer, just like her dad.




























































More Blongo Ball: Aunt Eileen vs. Me


















The cousins:

Of Beauty and Bears: Mt. Rainier

Yesterday, BJ&Melis and Abigail, Brian&Joslyn and Hudson and Bristol, Michelle, and I headed up to Mt Rainier to enjoy the sunny autumn day. The views were gorgeous!













































We also saw this guy (or girl?) - a black bear! He was hanging around the brand new visitor center, apparently wanting to welcome all the visitors to the park! At one point, Brian and I were doing the whole Poparazzi thing, and trying to get closer to him for a better shot. We prob got within about 15-20 feet of him before finally taking off in the other direction. It might not have been the smartest thing I've ever done, but it was pretty fun!







































The rest of the Poparazzi!





















At the end of the little hike we took, we heard a low rumbling sound that was intermittent, sometimes lasting just a second, sometimes lasting much longer. Although we didn't see the mountain moving, it was probably the sound of the new snow causing small avalanches or rockslides!









































Sweet Baby Girl!