My Dream Come True

So, one of the places I wanted to take my kids was the Olympic National Rainforest in Washington and thanks to some very generous grants (and a heck of a lot of patience), my mom and aunt helped turn my dream into reality. Thank-you!!! Thank-you!! Thank-you!! The three of us spent Memorial Day Weekend with the kids at Lake Quinalt, which is on the tip of this wonderful place. We got good weather, beautiful scenery, some animal sightings (including deer and slugs), and a lot of exercise. However, as usual, when you take small children out in public, you never quite know what you will get. In the middle of lunch, in a semi-crowded restaraunt, Asa announced "mommy, my butt hurts." By using his "indoor' voice, only the immediate 4 tables heard us. He also had one of his stuffed dinosaur's "leap" off a bridge into the stream below. Asa is lucky it was a little bridge, with a little creek, and mommy could get down to rescue it. Otherwise that dinosaur would be floating out to sea for a free cruise. Noah enjoyed all the hikes we took-something about watching Asa walk around made Noah giggle and laugh.
What I really liked, beyond the relaxing state of nature, is that I now have children old enough to "get it". The last few years, I have dragged Asa out into the forest, only to run myself ragged dragging him out of creeks, keeping him out of the fire, and staring him down so he doesn't eat any strange berries. This year however, I finally have a little boy who got excited to see deer, told me to stay on the trail, and was hopping up and down to go inside the big cedar tree (that was way cool!). It has made the last few years, worth it. Noah may not be as old as his brother, but he had fun as well, and I know it will only get better and better.