Mount Rainier with my guys
Visiting Mount Rainier is one of our favorite Summer traditions. We love to see the wildflowers, get up close and personal with an active volcano and spend the entire day outside as a family doing what we love. Jasper was insistent on doing some hiking of his own and using the "sticks" The trails around Mount Rainier have a lot of stairs so we let him do some hiking at the very beginning of the trail and then again once we were at our destination. I happened to grab his Junior Ranger vest from two Halloweens back and I was so delighted when I saw it fits him like a glove. I am so proud of my little hiker, his adventurous spirit and his desire to do it all by himself.
Despite tipping the scales at almost forty pounds we still prefer to carry Jasper on our hikes. Jasper still hikes far too slow for it to be much of a workout for us and time usually does not prohibit for him to do it on his own. Lately, Cameron typically carries him up the mountain and I usually bring him back down.
The terrain at Mount Rainier quickly changes from subalpine flowers to tundra.
These patches are souvenirs of some of the places we visited in Jasper's first Summer of life. I hope he treasures this little vest when he is older.
And we are always chasing Jasper whether we are in the mountains or at the mall.
Marmot!
During the moment I took this photo my heart leaped a little in my chest for Fall. That little patch of auburn on the cliffside made me happy for the colorful change of Summer to Autumn.
Each and every day I am grateful to live in such a beautiful place, but today was one for the books.
