Arwen had her first ballet recital on Saturday! She did spectacular! Aaron and I dropped her off behind stage about an hour before the show started. Arwen said she got to color and watch movies and play with the other girls until it was her turn to dance on stage. They danced to "C is for Cookie," by Cookie Monster. It was very cute! As soon as we get a scanner, I'll scan in her class pictures.
She was very excited to get flowers and a little present after she danced! What a princess!
Arwenims: Arwen and Noah were arguing in the car the other night (They both sit in the back together, while Joshua sits in one of the middle chairs). Arwen said, "So, you don't like sitting by me do ya?" Noah said No. Then Arwen said, "Well, you think you want to sit by Joshua?" Noah said Uh Huh. Then Arwen said, "Well, he stinks!!" It was pretty darn funny, and very naughty!!

Noahism: This is Noah's new choice of hairstyles. He likes me to give him a "tail" and then he runs into the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. He laughs then and says, "Mama, I'm a girl." Aaron asks him if he's a ninja and he laughs again and says, "No! I'm a girl!" I guess it's about time for another haircut!

4:00 AM we left to go up to the trail head. We hit the trail head (Climbers Bivouac) after picking up our climbing passes by 7:00 and were hiking by 7:30. We soon hit snow and were slushing our way through that for 2.1 miles at an elevation gain of 1000 feet. From there on we were above the tree line and climbing in snow and loose pumice and gravel. It was like climbing sand dunes. From the tree line it was another 3.1 miles to the crest (don't think I'd call it a summit as that'd been blown off :) at a gain of another 3065 feet. A thousand feet/mile is bad enough but the loose gravel and snow made it quite a bit harder. Toward the top my quads started to cramp up, that hurt, but a little stretching and I was on my way again. I found a lady bug close to the top and brought it the rest of the way. I reached crest at noon and blew the lady but off my finger for good luck, rather than flying it plummeted down into the depths of the steaming crater. Good luck either way I suppose. The volcano gods accepted the sacrifice and let me down without mishap. Sliding (Glissading) down the mountain was fun. I got going pretty fast and was just enjoying the scenery when I realized I was heading down the wrong side of the mountain. I got my self back on track and hit the tree line at the correct spot. I didn't see many people on my "special" path down the mountain, it's awesome being the only one on a mountain, though I admit not that safe. I soon hit the tree line and started the long walk through the forest. It made me wonder if I'd taken the wrong trail after all. The old "seems a lot longer on the way back" thing seemed ultra long this time. I'd spent about an hour on the mountain and got back to the train head around 2:30 so the sliding really sped up the return trip. It was a fun climb.

A view of Spirit Lake with Mount Ranier in the background. The beige around the lake are hundreds of trees blown off the mountain during the eruption.

Mount Adams in the background

The crater, still venting. The best was the big rocks that would tumble down into the crater and echo off the walls. Also the lava dome is growing so boulders would shift and fall. It was a cool sound of tumbling rocks.

Joshuaism:
My silly little Joshua loves his blankie...just like Noah. There are tags on two of his blankies, and he will always hold onto the tag when he is sleepy and ready to go to bed. He will sometimes rub it against his face. What a sweet little boy!

We had a really fun weekend...unfortunately I didn't have the camera ever! On Friday, after Arwen's ballet lesson, we went in to Portland for the Rose Festival. They have a big fair (that we never do because it's just a bunch of rides and games to waste money on) and then they do a big fireworks show when it gets dark. We headed down with enough time to get all of the free samples they had there. We got some Burt's Bees stuff and a yummy cookie from Paradise Bakery. The kids loved that...especially Joshua. We're still not quite sure who actually gave him the cookie though...he sure made a mess of it! Then Aaron went to where the Marine's were to do the pull-up challenge. Last time we went he was able to do seven. This year he did 15! It was awesome!! He won some dumb thing that even the kids didn't like, but oh well! Then we found a good spot to watch the fireworks. When they started, Aaron was holding Josh and tried to cover his ears since it was so loud. Josh would have none of it and kept pulling Aaron's hands away! Poor, sweet Noah was scared to death. He was on my lap and I don't think he breathed or blinked the entire 15 minutes. I glanced down during the finale and he was so scared that he had covered his face with his blankie! What a cutie! It was really fun! We got home at Midnight.

Saturday, Aaron left at 4 am to go and hike Mount Saint Helens. He had a blast. Good old Aaron took his turns setting the pace for the group...and he was worried that he wasn't in good enough shape to go! He said it was a really hard hike, but fun!

I went and picked strawberries in the morning and spent all afternoon making jam. Yummy! Then the kids and I went over to our friends house. They bought the really big inflatable water slide at Costco. Arwen and Noah had a blast! Joshua dragged his way over to the edge of it and would get doused with a tidal wave of water every time the kids came down the slide. He thought that was the greatest! Then we had a delicious dinner...that Aaron showed up just in time for! It was a really fun weekend!