We got out of school on June 13th and the very next day we left for our first camping trip of the summer. We were headed back to Seaquest State Park with the Kuch Klan. We stayed here a couple years ago and really enjoyed how quiet and wooded the park was and we wanted to share it with friends
The site that we were at the last time we were here wasn't available so we tried to find two spots that were side by side. On the map online it showed our site as a back in site when it fact it was a pull through one. We do not like those sites...they usually have very little space and this one was even weirder because it was a pull through on the left side not the right side of the road. So instead of your door being on the side facing the woods, our door was facing out towards the road. Thankfully this site was actually a good size and had enough space for us to put up the tent for the boys. One thing that was interesting about this trip was Owen didn't come with us. He had to work on Saturday morning at 6am and so he stayed home for 2 nights without us. He got off work at 2:30pm on Saturday, but he gets up at 4:45am so he didn't feel comfortable driving an hour and a half after work. So he came down to join us on Sunday morning.
Here's the set up for our site from the road. We moved Bill & Christina's picnic table over so we could put the tables together and then we used two canopies. We did get some rain so we separated the tables so the water could run down in the middle and not hit the tables and get them all wet. The next thing they need to invent is canopies with changeable gutters so you can direct where you want the water to go.
Sitting around the fire roasting stuff is just the best!
This year has been the year of volleyball for our family. Logan, Justine and I played outside while Ella was rehearsing for her choir concert and now we just love to play.
The Kuch kids had been playing too so it was fun to play with them. Usually when we play Justine is in the middle, but this time Jackson got to be the middle guy and he loved it. We don't play a game or anything we just volley back and forth around the circle and try to see how many times we can hit it before it drops to the ground. I think we got to 17 on this trip.
Like I said we had a bit of rain and it was a little on the chilly side, but I don't really mind that for camping. I love bundling up and then you can actually have a fire. I don't like it when it's too hot to have a fire.
Fire masters over here visiting!
This pretty girl!
She loves to straighten her hair now. It looks good either curly or straight.
Wild Waves had just officially opened full time on the day we left, but thankfully Jack was able to get the time off to join us. They have been really great about giving him any time off he requests.
It feels weird to have a picture with all the kids, but not have Owen in it!
Bill and Pa just love to catch up. Ga-Ga & Pa weren't going to actually come with us, but then they rethought that and booked a hotel just down the road about 5 minutes away. I was so happy they got to join us...especially since we were camping over Father's Day weekend!
My handsome man!
The trees looked so cool so I thought this would be a fun picture!
Pa with his Princess!
Pa with these handsome young men!
On Saturday, June 15th we drove across the street from the State Park and went to the Mt St. Helens Visitor Center. It was a small little museum, but it was really cool.
We watched a movie first and then went around and read info about the volcanic eruption.
There was even a seismic monitor in the floor so the kids were stomping on the floor trying to get it to read the seismic activity. It was really cool!
After reading all the info we wanted to we headed outside to this cool boardwalk / nature trail.
The kids are down the trail a ways you can see their silhouette in the middle of the picture. Also if the clouds weren't there you could see the mountain.
Have stumps will climb!
In the boardwalk area there were all these Lillie pads and I didn't know they actually flowered. They were so pretty!
I just love a good nature walk especially since the weather was so pretty.
We came across one of those doggie bag dispensers, but instead of it having doggie bags a bird had decided it would make a nice nest!
Look at that egg and the little pink thing that's blurry below that was a baby bird.
This marsh area was so pretty!
It was a nice day for a walk!
There were tons of beautiful lupines in bloom!
Here the kids are looking at a heron.
Can you see the heron?
It's fun being the youngest and lightest in the group!
Caleb has been such a sweet friend to Zeke over the years.
Always sitting around the campfire even if there isn't one! :)
Love these sweet people!
Just visiting!
This sweet girl was snuggling with Daddy because she missed Justine. This was the first time they were going without see each other for a whole week. They usually get to see each other on Sundays and Wednesdays, but we left on Friday and weren't coming home until Tuesday. We also told them no texting while we were on the trip. For one thing the last time we camped here we had zero coverage at all and for another it's okay for them to not be in communication all the time. It's actually good for them to be apart so when they do come back together they have all sorts of fun things to talk about.
Since Ga-Ga & Pa weren't camping with us they had to use a discovery pass for their car because we could technically only have one vehicle on our site. Well they showed up at 8am one morning and the ranger came over and was talking about how they need to pay extra since they stayed overnight. Ga-Ga & Pa camping in the campground...yeah right. Nope...just early risers! Hahaha!
On Sunday we celebrated Father's Day!
The Kuch Kids celebrating Father's Day with their Dad!
Owen hadn't arrived yet, but I have no idea why Zeke isn't in this picture with his Dad!
I made my Dad and Michael their favorite....there own batch of sugar cookies.
3 amazing men!
Later that day we went in a little hike through the State Park. The girls found this little field with wildflowers!
The last time we were here there were tons and tons of huge ant hills. We did find one on our trek this time so that was fun!
Poor Anna had hurt her hand playing volleyball...it was swelled up quite a bit. The only ice pack we had was one of those hard square ones for putting in your lunchbox, but it was better than nothing.
Caleb and Owen...reunited at last! These two are hilariously similar! They have so much fun together and could literally talk non-stop for hours about gaming.
Trekking through the woods gave us moms a great opportunity to talk through life. I have loved getting to experience life with this wonderful family. To get to relate and speak into each others lives. Such a treasure for sure!
I can hear it, feel it and smell it! I love a good campfire!
Speaking of gaming....there was a lot of this going on. These boys are serious gamers!
Ella brought her coloring books to keep her busy.
Then the girls decided to do flower hairstyles with all these little wildflowers!
They all turned out so beautiful...
delicate....
and intricate!
Love these sweet girly girls!
Christina had seen this sign that she wanted to take a picture of the kids in front of. We waited until Owen got here so he could be part of the group. I just love the sign. Life is an adventure and it's just waiting for you to go on it!
We said goodbye to Ga-Ga & Pa on Sunday night since they weren't going to join us on the next days adventure because Pa had to get back home in order to go to a meeting at church on Monday night.
This is how cold Zeke is!
The next morning, Monday, June 17th, we got up, made lunches for the road and packed up our stuff to head out on an adventure that was 10 years in the making. We as a family had been trying to hike through the Ape Caves on the south side of Mt. St. Helen's for 10 years. We wanted to go on our way home from our Disneyland road trip in 2014 and then there have been other times here and there where we've wanted to stop, but something would always get in the way whether it was time, energy or whatever...it just hadn't happened, but this was the day that would change.
We had read that the caves are always cold so we all bundled up. We also had read that every person has to have 2 forms of light and they can't be cellphones. We all had headlamps. We had bought a pack of them back in 2014 in preparation for making this hike, but then we didn't use them. I think they got misplaced because I couldn't find them. So I just order a 5 pack on Amazon that were LED so they were better anyways. Christina let us a borrow one of hers so we didn't have to buy anymore. We normal flashlights in the backpack, but I don't think we actually had enough for everyone to have 2. No one ended up having any troubles and needing to use a backup light source.
The drive to get there took about an hour and half. Bill and Christina took all the girls while Michael and I had all the boys. When I said that Owen and Caleb could talk for hours non-stop I meant it. They talked the entire drive all about gaming. I found out later that the girls ended up taking a nap! What alternate universe are we in here!!!
When we got there the first trailhead we stopped at didn't have a bathroom so Michael drove us back to a different trailhead because I saw it had one. Then when we drove back we realized the first time we had parked in the overflow parking not the main parking. Silly me! So the main trailhead parking area had bathrooms and a little store. We had to purchase a day pass and then once everyone used the restroom we started down the trail.
There's a staircase that leads you down into the caves. There are two trails you can go on...the easier shorter one or the harder longer one. We chose the harder longer one. Of course right away we ended up coming to a section where you literally had to crawl on your belly to get through. Michael, Caleb and Addison climbed/crawled in there and said it got even smaller. They also got all wet because the cave is very humid and wet. There was no way I was going to crawl in there...nope not happening. We were so confused because even though it was supposed to be hard we didn't think it would be at that extreme. That's when Christina was able to pull up a description of the trek online. We were definitely in the wrong spot so we backtracked and instead of turning left we went to the right and found the actual trail. The thing is trail is a bit descriptive for what it's actually like...it's really just mounds and mounds of rocks you have to climb up and over so it's not like you can see the full trail ahead. In some areas you can, but not all areas and this was one of those areas.
At one point during out trek we all crowded together real snug and turned all our lights off. It was crazy dark! We were waving our hands in front of our faces, but you could literally not see a thing. So freaky!
This longer cave was 1.5 miles long and about .8 miles in was when we got to a big lava wall that Michael had to help us get over. He used his leg as a step and we were able to get up. Then around 1.2 miles in we got to the skylight. This was so cool!
At the 1.5 mile mark you got to the staircase out!
You really had to watch your head coming out because that hole was not that big!
Since the cave was so humid almost all of us ended up shedding layers especially since you are physically exerting yourself. It was so fun and I loved it. I am super happy that we did not do this way back in 2014 the kids would have complained so badly and it would have just been a disaster. It all worked out for a reason that's for sure!
The crew that was out before me, Bill & Christina.
When you still like each other after doing adventures like this that's a good thing! ;)
Because this was a one way trek we had to now walk 1.3 miles back to the cave entrance where we started. That was honestly a nice easy walk after what we were doing in the cave.
When we got back to the entrance we noticed this little covered area that had maps of the caves so if we had looked at that in the first place we would have never made that wrong left turn. Oops...live and learn!
Heading back to the vehicles to make our way back to the campsite.
Back at the campsite just hanging out!
Enjoying the last fire of the trip. Something that I didn't get pictures of was the kids having a blast with the Nerf Gel Fire guns. I bought these way back before Easter and I thought about giving them to the kids then, but decided against it since Ga-Ga & Pa's backyard isn't actually ideal for that type of play. We brought 6 guns and a bunch of ammo and the kids had a great time...even the girls enjoyed it.
The next morning it was time to clean & pack up, but we had a cute visitor who was hungry.
At first I wasn't sure if he'd even like watermelon, but he did!
He was so cute just munching away!
We needed to get the tables all cleaned off though so he ran away and then he came back and decided to eat some dry cocoa puffs from Zeke's bowl!
I usually never take pictures when we're packing up, but I remembered to this time. Once everything was cleaned up we gathered together and prayed with the Kuch Klan....we love and enjoy their wonderful family so much!
Since we had two vehicles Owen drove the van home, but first we stopped at the MCD's down the road to get lunch prior to getting on the freeway.
