Summer Starts...

June has been an uncharacteristically warm and sunny month. I'm sure we are due for a few weeks or perhaps a month of rain before we actually get a consistent summer.

We enjoyed the warm days of June, however.

Kye and Nason wade in stump lake (aka Keechelus)

Kye with his friend 'Dafe' playing ball

He now loves the water park...

I signed up for a trail run somewhat near Mt. St. Helens, my first (maybe only) 25K. The run was pretty great, actually. It began with six miles of roly-poly wooded trail, past a beautiful waterfall and through wildflowers. Then it steeply climbed for four miles, the wildflowers becoming much more alpine, and I enjoyed views of St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams as I ran along a ridge line. Back up another ridge line, the views continued, and we even ran through a rock archway. Pretty cool and definitely interesting the whole time. We finished mile 12 at the top of Silver Star peak and then headed down to beer and a nice gathering of interesting folks. 

 After the race...

We camped out that night and then Brandon had a chance to run the trail the next day. Kye and I went for a hike. He yammered on about flowers and rocks and airplanes and birds and then promptly asked to be held and fell asleep in my arms for an early nap. It was sweet.

A budding trail runner.

Then we headed to the Hood Canal area to visit a friend. A short but nice visit, enjoyed a cookout dinner, good conversation, and some banjo/fiddle/tin whistle music.

Kye, trying to catch the rain

At the nearby beach

A ferry ride home from Bainbridge

And tonight, after hanging out with Grandma all day, K got spoiled with some ice cream. I think this picture says we are ready for summer, even though it was 60 and rainy all weekend. We are in the summer mind-set, at least.