My Birthday

Yes, it was time for another birthday for me on Saturday.  How can time be passing so fast?  I can't believe two years have past since we were in China!

Anyways, this birthday my big present was, of course, the visit of Liz, Don and Lydia.  But for something fun on the actual day, we decided to go to Mt. Rainier.  I thought about going to Mount St. Helen's, until I found out it's three and a half hours away so we opted for Mr. Rainier again.  It seemed like old times when we piled in the van and headed out because our families used to take road trips together all the time in Okinawa.  Of course the new Odyssey is a little fancier than our old Blue Beater, but it's not about the car, it's about the company inside.

About a half hour before you get to Rainier is a beautiful place to stop to have lunch and stretch legs, which is what we did.

Don is obviously used to Texas weather!

After lunch, we headed the rest of the way into Rainier National Park and then through the park to Paradise.  This is the place I brought my mom in August to see the wildflowers and is just a gorgeous location.

These photos were taken on the way up to Paradise:

At the top (well, really only 1/3 of the way up the mountain), the kids refueled before heading out on a short hike.

The Jones and Coats families!

Liz thought the meadows looked like she should be singing "The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Music"!  Even though it's only one month after I brought my mom, all the wildflowers were gone.  But it doesn't really matter as this is such an idyllic location.

Pretending we're Julie Andrews

On the way out of the park, we finally caught a glimpse of the summit which had been hiding behind clouds all day.  Awesome!