Camping at Mt. Rainier

Our family loves camping. I guess you can say that it is a tradition to go at least once every summer. Even with a new baby we were prepared to camp and have some fun. We are really not that crazy because Abigail is such a good baby and a good sleeper. We took Mike's dad and his wife with us and the extra help was very much appreciated. It was so great to be able to spend some time with them up in the mountains that we love. This was the first time we had been back to Rainier since our summit climb last year. Camping was a blast. We found the perfect camp site for our boys. It was nestled between two little hills...the perfect spot to feel like you are not right next to another camp site. The boys stayed busy running up and down the hills and finding different paths that wrapped around many other neighboring camp sites. They were so busy running around and having fun that I hardly have any pictures of them in our campground. The boys even joined the Ranger for some fun activities and completed some assignments to become Junion Rangers and recieve a cool Junior Ranger badge. Receiving that badge was probably the highlight of the trip for them.

Emma tagged along with the boys for a bit and then stayed to watch the little chipmunks that kept running through our little campground. We put little pieces of bread out for them and waited for them to come and steal them away. Abigail was content just being bundled up. It was quite warm while we were there and so the nightime was not that bad. Of course we don't totally rough it when we camp with the kids. We have a great big tent with three separate rooms and we bring a mattress for us to sleep on. Really, what fun is it to sleep on the hard ground anyways!!! The boys got new sleeping bags for the trip that have a fun game attached to the top of their bags. We divided the main section of the tent from one of the smaller rooms and the smaller section special just for the boys. They just loved that. Emma slept on our mattress with us and Abigail slept in her carseat. Everyone slept through the night and I only had to wake up once at 4am to feed Abigail. Of course I never do sleep well when we are camping even though the set up couldn't have been better this time. All in all it was a successful night. We woke up the next morning to our usual pancake breakfast and then headed up to Paradise for a hike up the mountain.

It was such a beautiful day to be hiking on the mountain. This was the first time we have been back to Rainier since our summit climb last year. I am always in awe at the beauty and grandeur of Mt. Rainier. I see this mountain very differently now after having been to the top and being able to see the different parts of the moutain along the way. We saw many different groups with their packs making their way up to Camp Muir and beyond. It brought back such good memories of our journey. That was the first time that I thought maybe I would want to do it again sometime in the future.

We were surprised by how much snow there was so low on the moutain. We really didn't have to hike very far to reach the big patches of snow. The kids had a blast sliding around and getting wet. It was a good thing it was so warm that day.

By the end of our hike we were all pretty tired and in desparate need of something sweet...well maybe that is just me talking. We ended our hike with a nice cold ice-cream cone--another tradition we started last year! We hope to make it back up to Rainier once more before the season ends!