Jake’s “Risky Business”

As we have noted in the blog before, Jake is into absolutely everything these days. Proof of concept–Jake adores my sunglasses. So here we have Jake in his “Risky Business” look.

Eagle Lake Redux

The original plan was to go tackle Mount Adams this weekend, but mother nature was not being co-operative in all possible ways.  The weather was beautiful, but apparently we haven’t had enough good weather to melt the snow, so we couldn’t even get within 4 miles of the trailhead at Adams.  The group we were going to go with kept shrinking, and the inability to get to the trail has forced us to postpone the adventure.

I was still ready to go somewhere, so Joe and I decided we’d return to our nemesis Eagle Lake.  Eagle Lake may sound familiar, and that’s because Joe and I tried to get there before and failed due to the weather and lack of trail, and I lost my watch.  Well…we still didn’t find the trail going up to Eagle Lake, we stuck close to the water that was coming down, and after a grueling three and a half hours of bushwhacking, bouldering, scrambling and hiking through snow, we arrived at our destination!  We set up camp and slept on the snow.  The next day we did some hiking around the Lake in the beautiful sunshine.  Our goal completed, we packed it all up, came back down the mountain (using the actual trail!) and it only took us an hour and twenty minutes.  It’s amazing how much a trail can make a difference.

We stopped at Barclay Lake and grabbed a few quick photos.  It was much more beautiful than the last time we were here in the rain.

 

You’ll notice that there is no trail around here, but there were a bunch of waterfalls as we hiked alongside the water in our attempt to find Eagle Lake.

Once again, no sign of a trail, though I will admit the views were spectacular.

When we finally reached Eagle Lake we were greeted with this beautiful view.  Almost the entire lake was iced over, but there was just enough visible to get my favorite photo from the trip of the reflection of Merchant Peak.

This is where we called home for the night.

On our trek up towards Mount Townsend, I stopped and snapped a shot of Eagle Lake below us.  You can see the outline of the lake where the edges are starting to melt.

I really liked the contrast of this photo, with the snow on the left side, and the bare scrub and rocks on the right.

Here is the path we ended up hiking back down from Mount Townsend.  I’ll leave it up to you to figure out where we walked…since I’m not sure myself.  It was steep, snowy, I punched through a couple different times, took a few unwanted slides down, but eventually I made it with only minor scratches.

Little Drummer Girl

I got Rock Band for my birthday this year from the family (Thanks to everyone who chipped in!), and we’ve all been having a good time with it.  The drums have been the most in demand (Trish comes over and hogs them all the time).  Candice and I have our band, Aggressive Zen, where I play lead guitar and she plays bass.  Whenever we get this going, Kate is always wanting to join us on the drums.  Here she is, showing off her mad skills.

Like Father, Like Son

Two of Jacob’s favorite toys to drag around are the stuffed Homer and Bart that I got for Christmas.  Apparently my fascination with the Simpons is genetic.

Father’s Day and Brewfest 2008. Mmmm… Beer!

We are now up to the 3rd excursion of the Giffin Father’s Day family outing to the annual Brewfest at St. Edwards Park. Last year, unfortunately, I was still learning how to use my new camera and, due to an unnaturally sunny day (I know, sun in June, who’d a thunk it), many of the photos were over-exposed. I didn’t want to have the same issue this year and so I was reading up on what to do before going to the event. You can tell me your opinion of the educational experience.

Here are Jake and Bapa just after we arrived. Bapa + grandchild = bliss!

And is it just me, or does the family resemblance even go to the stance?

Before things got too out of control with the beer and bouncy toys (more explanation to come) we decided a family photo was in order: Auntie Amy, Kate, Bapa, Jake, and Pete.

And now for the bouncy toy explanation… Each year the Brewfest has a kids area full of bouncy toys and other crafts. Kate got a pass this year for unlimited access and used it to the fullest! Here she is at the end of the obstacle course.

And Daddy thought a photo of the paparazza was only fair. So here we have Jake pretending to feed Mom and faking her out right at the end.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads reading the blog.

Mmmm…Ice Cream

I was invited to Kate’s school for a Father’s Day Ice Cream Social on Wednesday.  They took us into the classroom and then sang “I’ve been working on the railroad” for us.  Then we all got to sit down at the kid-sized tables and Kate brought me ice cream (2 scoops for daddy, 1 scoop for Kate).

Below Kate & Orion are playing around with their ice cream.

Kendal and her dad were also at our table enjoying the ice cream.  At one point Miss Riedy came by and made an observation that we were the “loud table”.

Happy Birthday Blake!

The inner workings of the friendships our children have developed by attending Tim & Lisa’s daycare get a bit convoluted at times. Case in point, today Kate and Jake went to Blake’s birthday party at Kids Bounce. Jake is a bit too young to be considered one of Blake’s friends (Blake is 3 vs. Jake at 1) and Kate is a bit too old. But Kate is best friends with Blake’s sister Kendal and Jake is tolerated by most of the daycare crowd, so everyone got to spend the afternoon playing on inflatable toys, eating cake, and in general “hating” life.

Here’s Blake blowing out his candles.

Kendal, Blake’s sister, showing just how much energy can be expelled at one of these events.

Jacob shows how little energy he wanted to expend this afternoon.

Yvette and Kate enjoying cake!!!!!!!!

Please peruse the gallery to get the whole overview.

 

Hiking up Rattlesnake Ridge

This morning I did another short trek up Rattlesnake Ridge to prep for Mount Adams in June.  This one was co-ordinated by my group trainer, and we ended up having about 30 people go including Candice & Tricia.  I powered my way to the top, and actually ran back down when we returned.  The ledge you end up on is at 2079 feet, and the trail is 2 miles.  A nice short hike.  Once you get out onto the ledge there are sharp drop-offs and you look out east over the Rattlesnake lake below.

As you can see below, it was really cloudy out on the ledge.  This is looking to the southeast towards Chester Morse Lake

It was a bit surprising when I got to the ledge just how cloudy it was.  Looking over the ledge to the north, where you would normally get a view of Mount Si, you saw only this mist, and a steep drop.

Kate and Jake visit the Science Center

With the glorious Seattle weather being as lovely and November-like as possible of late, Roo, Trish, the kids and I decided to spend our weekend outing in the relative, and sometimes real warmth, of the Pacific Science Center. Kate has been to the Center many times but this was Jake’s first visit.

He made his impression in the very fist room we visited, measuring up his comparitive size to the footprint of an Apatosaurus.

And here we have Jake and Tricia waving to said Apatosaurus or at least an animatronic version of one.   We then decided to move on to the Butterfly Room–hence the ability to actually wear seasonally appropriate clothes, for the 20 minutes or so we were with the butterflies that is.

Here is Kate, allowing me to take her photo so that she in turn could take photos of the butterflies. Her favorite shot is below.

You are the dancing queen, young and sweet

Daddy got some new CDs yesterday, and was doing some work in the kitchen while listening to them.  Apparently Kate really liked the music as well and wasn’t shy about showing it.