Dad's Mt. Rainier Trip

Jeff took his students up to Mt. Rainier again this year.  The week was marked with early SNOW, so instead of planting in the sub-alpine meadows, the students helped the Re-Vegitation crew in the Paradise Village area with groundskeeping tasks--weeding, limbing trees, and replanting native ferns.  Jeff will always remember that it rained on them for THREE STRAIGHT DAYS and finally, the clouds parted as they were driving home.

We survived here at home without Dad...somehow!  With the help of a lot of others!  Of course this was the week of my Open House, so Colleen watched the kids that day and then she and Scott entertained in the evening for me.  Sweet collaboration!  And then a sweet reunion on Friday when Dad came home...

I'm on top of the world!

Pictures texted from Daddy during his Mt. Rainier trip:

And pictures texted to Daddy from the home front during his Rainier trip:

And then Daddy came home:

Camping with Julz and the V's

Our summer vacation with Julie included the Van Sickles this year!  We all went to Rainier National Park and camped in the roadside spot that we did a few years before.  We love that spot because the river goes right through our campsite and it's only a 15 minute drive into the park.  We took two trailers--Julie's and the V's.  Julie was awesome to let us stay with her--but she was smart enough to bring a big tent for the kids!  Micah stayed in with us, but the kids made it a couple of nights on their own.  July was the perfect time for the wildflowers--who knew?!?  I told my mom that we never vacationed at the end of July ON THE FARM, so this is fairly new news to me!