Longmire-Mt. Rainier National Park

Although my parents and I spent the night at the historic lodge, Paradise Inn, we all woke up very early.  Like 4:45 am early.  The birds in the eves were making a lot of noise.  The rooms at the inn, were small, but comfortable.  We all got up.  

 The plan was to eat a large breakfast, but the dining room did not open until 7:00 am.

We packed up our things and sat down in the main area.  It is a grand room flanked by two massive, stone fireplaces.  

 Fortunately, there was coffee by 5:30 am!  For my parents.  After breakfast,  we stopped by Narada Falls on our way down to Longmire.

 It was really cold!  The viewpoint was in the shade. mixed with the mist of the falls!

 Mt. Rainier Park has a second historical Inn at the base of the mountain called Longmire.  From Longmire, it is easy to get onto the Wonderland Trail.  We decided to take park of a hike through old growth forests up to a view point.

 The trail started through a wet land.  It was magical.

This trail was not paved.  The forest was Douglas Fir, Spruce and another...

The trees at the base of our walk were hundreds of feet tall.

As we walked higher, my parents and I noticed that the trees were growing out of the rocks.  It took us an hour and 45 minutes to get to the top to the view point.

We looked down at Longmire!   

I was happy to make it.

The walk back down was faster, but my legs were definitely hurting.  The great thing about this trail was that it was much less busy than the trails up at Paradise.

After this hike, we drove home.  It was nice to have experienced Mt. Rainier National Park in the morning. 

A Visit to Paradise

 On July 11th, my parents and I drove out to Mt. Rainier National Park.  The Park is only 2 hrs from our home.  We have visited this park several times over my life, but this is the first time that we have spent the night!

We drove up to Paradise on the south side of the mountain.  We had a quick lunch and then walked the paved trails up the mountain.

There was a lot of snow on the trails.  All of our shoes got really wet.

My parents and I passed a lot of mountain climbers coming down from summiting the top.  The air was thin, but it was the perfect day.

We saw alpine chipmunks and two marmots!  Not to mention, Mt. St. Helen's and Mt. Adams.

It was definitely easier coming down to the visitor center.  After our hike, we checked into the the Historic Paradise Inn.  We had dinner in the dining room and enjoyed the quietness that the evening brought, since most of the day hikers had left.

Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle) with Andy

My 5th Grade Class did some work with Woodland Park Zoo staff earlier this year.  We studied wetlands and amphibians and how important they are for the planet's health.  I gained a real appreciation for amphibians and reptiles.  My 5th grade class had to work on projects and present them to zoo staff.  As a reward, each student got a pass for 4 people to go to the zoo.  I used mine yesterday.  I took my parents and Andy.

 Mom had to buy a parking pass.  Andy and I tried climbing this tree.

 When we got in, we went to the aviaries.  This bird wanted us to feed it!

 Andy and I liked the penguins.  This is their exhibit.  

 The grizzly bears were out and they were hot.

 Andy bought some bird feed sticks and we fed the birds.  We had a lot of fun.

 We took this funny picture before we saw the Komodo Dragon.

 We walked the whole zoo.  It was a good day, but we were tired when we left!

11th Birthday Party

I had my party at the Tag Zone again.  I invited friends from school, the Bridge School, friends from pre-school and friends from Hapkido.  We had a really good time running around for 2 hours.

 Mom painted a "Loot Llama" t-shirts for everyone as a take away gift.  Loot Llamas are in a really popular video game called Fortnite.

 My friend Sylas drew me a really cool picture of a guy holding a $20.  I was impressed with how good of an artist he is!

 My friend Andy came over to play.  Mom thought the size difference in our shoe size was photo worthy.  Andy's shoes are on thr left, mine on the right.

 Andy and I played with a maze game that I got from my birthday party.

At school we have a bearded dragon as a classroom pet.  His name is Sol.  I really like him.  I am trying to feed him.

 At school, we celebrated my birthday on June 6th.  Mom was teaching art that day, so it was easy for her to bring gluten free cupcakes..  My classmates each have to say something nice about me, including my teacher, Ms. Jines.

 It was nice to spend the last 20 minutes of the day outside in the sun.

April 2018

The very last Friday in March, Kent Mountain View Academy has "Decades Day", where all the students and staff dress up in the mode of a particular decade.  This year was the 1980"s.  My parents showed me a bunch of old music videos.  Mom dressed me up as George Michael from "Wham".

Awards are given to students who have earned academic achievements.  There is a costume prize too.

Spring break was in early April.  As a family, we really wanted to re-hike the trail up Multnomah Falls and past it away up Larch Mountain.  That trail has always been open until now.

The trail was compromised from a forest fire that was started by a firework in September.  We were all really disappointed.  This was a close as we could get.  Even the short trail up to the bridge was not open.

We went to another waterfall nearby.  Bridal Veil Falls.  It was beautiful, but not the long hike that we were looking for.

We drove up the scenic highway back towards Portland.  Vista House had been renovated.  We stopped to see.

We got to go up on the roof of Vista House.  The staircase was narrow.  They manage to tuck a lot for services into this little building.  Espresso stand, bathrooms, gift shop, galleries, information and observation!

We ended up going to the gluten free brewery in east Portland called Ground Breaker, and then back to Edgefield to stay the night.  Our room looked out on the now golf course where my parents got married 20 years ago.  I humored Mom, she asked me to photograph me around Edgefield.  She is planning on publishing a pattern for this vest that I am wearing.

It was a quick trip out of Seattle, that didn't quite go the way we expected.  It was nice to have a quick break.

The rest of winter 2018

2018 so far has been normal.  In February, Mom and I had tickets to see "Hamilton".  Mom and I went to a Sunday afternoon show at the Paramount.  We both really enjoyed it.

Just last week I tested for my blue belt in Hapkido.  I am looking forward to learning harder material.

I am now an intermediate belt for this martial art.  It took me a year and a half to work up to this achievement after switching from Goju Karate to Hapkido.

5th grade at KMVA had a field trip to the Seattle Zoo.  I skipped the school bus ride with my peers because Mom and I drove up in the Subaru.  We stopped by our favorite Gluten Free Vegan bakery in Fremont-The Flying Apron.  I can eat almost anything from there.  It feels nice.

 Here I am with my team, Gracie & Victoriya.  We were making observations in the wetlands area.

Before we got back on the bus (accept me), we took a 5th grade photo.  It was a fun field trip.  Unfortunately, I became ill for almost a week after our adventure in early February.