Happy Graduation, Will!

Yay for Will! He graduated from Eastern Washington University. Dana and I got to go and spend a day with them. After the graduation, Whitney was so happy she and her dad did a dance routine. Ok, maybe not. But they were cute.  

Whitney is 3 months old now and Will is just as excited about her as he was the first time we came to visit.

 

Whitney was a little more wary of strangers this time around, but if she didn’t know who was holding her she was very friendly and smiley. 

The day after the graduation we went to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge near Cheney. It was sunny and warm and we had a good time walking around and seeing the wildlife.

Dana saw a moose and no one believed him. But here is the photographic evidence.

  

Dana also found this little bat living under the awnings by the bathrooms. He had several little batty friends too.  

On our way out of town we stopped at the Spokane Temple and took a few pictures.

Thanks Will, Courtney, and Whitney for a fun visit. We hope to see you again soon!

Silver Falls State Park

Things have been a bit busy lately, so we have gotten behind in our posts. So here we go:

Over the Memorial Day weekend we had the opportunity to spend some time with my Dad and his fiancé, Terry. We all went to Silver Falls State Park in Oregon. It was a nice day in the midst of the record wet spring we have had here. Silver Falls is a great place to go if you like waterfalls. There are 12 good sized falls that you can hike to. We saw the 5 largest and 2 smaller ones. It is also a neat place because you hike behind several of the waterfalls (like the one above).

 

Here are the falls we saw:

South Falls                      Frenchie Falls                            North Falls

Angel Falls                 Middle North Falls

 

Drake Falls                   Double Falls

Mt St Helens Anniversary

Today is May 18, 2010; and that marks the 30th Anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington. It erupted Sunday, May 18, 1980 at 8:32 AM.

I consider this one of my more favorite places to go. One of the reasons is that there is a lot to do around the mountain. I also really like seeing how it changes over the years. When it blew, it left the landscape destroyed. But each time I go back more has changed.

Here is a picture of Mt. St. Helens before, during, and after the eruption:

These are some comparisons of how it has changed. The photos on the left are taken by my Dad in 1984; the photos on the right are mine from a trip in 2007 of virtually the same thing.

And some other photos I like:

It was also neat when the mountain started erupting again back in 2004 and 2005

Happy Anniversary, Mount St. Helens!

Super Secret Story Blog

We've had a guest contributor on the Super Secret Story Blog! Go check it out! Don't forget to vote for the next happening to Mr. PotatoHead...

You’ll Find us at Falls Creek Falls

On Friday, we decided to go on a little hike. I wanted to go to a waterfall that my brother, Steen, had wanted to take me to, but we never got the chance. So Ruth and I went.

It goes by the imaginative name of Falls Creek Falls. This waterfall is amazing. It is made up of 3 parts and an additional 4th part just downstream. All in all it is about 250 ft tall. Because of how it is situated you can only see a few parts of it at a time.

Here I am at the spot where you can see the top section.

When you get right up to it you can only see the 2nd…

and 3rd tiers.

It was not only impressive, but also very grand. Here I am, the small dot in the bottom left corner, after I climbed up to the other ledge.

The hike was also very nice. It winds its way next to Falls Creek and passes some smaller tributaries, including a very nice cascade with lots of moss on the rocks.

 

There were also lots of flowers out. Some of the ones we liked best were these little mountain orchids:

So, we had a great time and were sufficiently impressed by Falls Creek and its falls.

Happy Birthday, Megan!

Ruth and I wanted to make a special post for Megan.                         She turned 5 today. So…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

MEGAN!

 

We miss you and hope you have a good day today.

Happy Mother’s Day!

We just wanted to say thank you to our moms for all that they do for us.

For being strong,

for the loads they bear…

For the smiles they give us, 

and for standing by us.

 

And for the other awesome moms we know; we love you guys! Thanks for being good mommies :-)

   

 

Happy Mother’s Day!