Beach Camping in WA

So as we were driving the two hours up to the Olympic National Park on Tuesday and Wednesday (the equivalent of our weekend since Jasper was post-call) I realized our time here is going to be one great big year long vacation! We are either hiking or climbing or camping, or just exploring this BEAUTIFUL part of the God's amazing Earth. How fortunate we are to live here. Mom's right: we do lead charmed lives!

On our way up there we found the World's largest Spruce Tree. We walked the .3 miles to get to it along the beach of the Quinault Lake, came out of the brush into a clearing and BAM! there is the world's largest Spruce standing there in all it's majesty! Love it!

There's me picking black berries for the ever eager to eat treats Varick along the path to the big ol' Spruce.

BAM! There's Kai at the base of the tree.

Varick picking dandelions to give to me (an endearing act Jasper has taught our boys well: giving Mom flowers--not weeds, silly.)

A shot of Quinault Lake. So pretty on this fine Fall afternoon.


Here are the pics of our little beachside campsite at Kalaloch Campsite the Oplymic National Forest. We loved the view and hearing the crashing of the waves the entire time we were there. The white noise actually helped us sleep better, I think--except Varick. He woke up a bunch of times--crazy kid! Jasper wasn't feeling well. He picked up Varick's cold from last week, which Kai now has, probably thanks to drinking from Jasper's water bottle last night. Anywho, I'm babbling.




Here's Varick (our puppy) enjoying his chicken noodle soup the best way he could using that particular bowl.

The boys on the beach after dinner, but before a cup of hot cocoa (it's so cute when Varick says that word) right on the beach.

The boys at breakfast with Chez Jasper (say it with a French accent and it sounds cooler).

Me and the boys headed down to the beach later that morning. Do you SEE all those HUGE pieces of driftwood down there! Amazing!

Kai enjoying the view from one of the many driftwood shelters we discovered along the coast.

Here are some great shots from Ruby Beach just up the coast from where we camped. It was very rocky, and the tide was coming in. A clam filled with a muscle even washed up. We opened it up and showed it to the kids. They loved throwing rocks into the nearby river and finding "treasures," aka sticks and stones, along our beach side walk.




I didn't realize how close we'd be to the location for one of my periodic addictions: The Twighlight books. So we drove the extra 30 minutes to Forks, WA, the "home" of Bella and the Cullen's family. We stopped for a minute at the Chamber of Commerce there. They're WAY into the books there, and are super cute about it. They speak of the characters as if they're really real. But, then so do I. I hope I didn't make some of you too jealous (I know I don't have to worry about you, Aby or Emily!)



Then there are the cute pictures I took this afternoon for the BabyGAP casting call they've started to do every year. It took a little bit of effort, but not much for something that could be really cool for the boys.