Spring Hike

My family and I enjoy going on a hike together to the nearby trails.  Pacific Northwest is blessed with beautiful mountains, ocean, lakes, rainforests, deserts etc...  There are abundance of trails near our house and we try take advantage of it whenever we can.  Our city is situated near three mountains, Tiger, Couger and Squak.  I would love to climb one of those mountains with the kids someday, maybe in a couple of years.  Saya seems to think she is still light as a toddler and asks me to carry her when she is tired.  The baby of the family likes to act like a baby whenever it's convenient for her to do so.  She slows down when she is tired and even a short walk can take a long time with her.

On Mother's Day, we went on a hike to a loop in the base of Tiger Mountain.  I like to hike in the area because there are varying landscapes and relatively flat.  It is so close to our place, about 10 minutes drive, yet very quiet and peaceful.  We exchanged "Happy Mother's Day" to all the Moms hiking and that put all of us in good smiley mood.  Mr. Noah was walking quite nicely and didn't try to run away.  The narrow pathway through the forest let him stay on track and he was keeping himself busy by jumping onto logs and climbing rocks.  That boy enjoys climbing and he was able to swiftly climb onto high rocks which my other children hesitated.  He was showing off his talent to his siblings and I think they were impressed!

I took some beautiful pictures of the trees and plants.  Nature is marvelous.  The lively greens, rustic browns, bright yellows and shadowy black were all so breathtaking.  I was not initially into nature photography, but I enjoy capturing uniqueness of the shapes and colors now, finding the special art in the abundance of natural beauty.  Saya was starting to whine and the last stretch of the walk took forever.  We somehow made it back to the car though and headed out to Redmond to try the new Molly Moon ice cream shop that came to the Eastside.  Molly Moon is a local and organic ice cream chain with some unique flavors such as strawberry and balsamic vinegar ice cream.  My favorite is maple walnut and that is what I had.  Kids all had melted chocolate ice cream and they loved it.  It's not probably best for dieters, but I am so happy they came to Redmond.  In fact, Mike has been taking kids there every weekend now because he wants to eat it.  I am willing to eat light all day and have Molly Moon for dinner. 

So, we had a great hiking Mother's day!