Just Came Home From the Olympics

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with Vancouver (sorry to disappoint).

Last night at 10 pm, Russ set our gigantic atlas on the table next to me and said, "Let's go to Olympic National Park tomorrow." Since he had the day off and the only thing I had scheduled was a 3.5 mile run behind a 100-lb stroller, I agreed.

The drive up is gorgeous and involves a ride on the ferry (which is pure excitement for the girls even though it was super foggy and we couldn't see anything). By the time we reached Sequim, the fog had burned off and we caught some sun (I'm taking Russ's word for it since the rest of us were asleep).

We toured the visitors center and took a little nature walk so the girls could get their fill of mud and sticks and dead leaves. Then we drove to Crescent Lake and hiked to Marymere Falls. Very cool hike. I'm amazed how "green" winter is here (the secret is in the moss). We were all happy hikers except when we were next to the falls. Ella got really upset with the noise (kind of surprising considering how much she generates herself).

We had a nice drive home as well (usually it is marked by lots of screaming and crying, but this time it was fairly peaceful). I drove and somehow made it home okay even though Ms. GPS kept telling me I needed to take the 180 mile detour around the back side of the peninsula. I panicked when I realized the "purple line" was not going where I thought it should. I didn't want to wake Russ up because he let me sleep on the way there, but since I had slept, nothing looked familiar to me. Luckily Russ woke up on his own and became "Ms. GPS" while he tried to knock some sense into the electronic one.

It was a nice day.

Ferry Ride:

Walking stick:

Family portrait taken by Russ:

Lauren climbing a really cool tree:

Me and my baby:

You can almost see the waterfall in this one:

And my favorite picture of the day: