Sonya vs. Beacon Rock

One thing you may not know about my daughter Sonya is that she loves hiking and insists on "doing it herself."  Today was no different.

Here is today's challenge: Beacon Rock in Washington.

Do you think there was any fear or trepidation?  Absolutely not!  Up she goes!

Another summit is conquered!

Mount Lassen Volcanic National Park

On Saturday, while Karren was keeping her friend Sarah company in the hospital, Karren's dad, Sonya and I made a quick visit to Mount Lassen National Park.

We had enough time to hike Bumpass Hell (3 miles round trip).  The destination featured lots of fumeroles, boiling mud pots, and hot pools.  Sonya's thrill though was jumping off rocks.  She also looked for animals to join the Chipmunk Club.

Sonya hiked most of the way up the mountain, but being tired afterwards, I carried her down on my shoulder.

All that was left was playing at Summit Lake and going to collect Sonya's Chipmunk Club Sticker.

Cindersonya

Cindersonya is Sonya's special princess name. We re-tell fairytales every night about her majestic beauty, legendary whit, and unassuming grace. She, of course, insists on wearing dresses and chasing squirrels (as do all real princesses). Allow me to introduce you to some of her fellow princess heroines...
There's Cindersonya,

And Lady Lovlilyla,

Then Princess Arorva,

And finally Thumblesid.

Cindersonya naturally has a crazy evil stepmother of surpassing beauty, Kanerva:

Despite Kanerva's raging jealousy of the tender maid's beauty and constant thwarting (nap times, and vegetable eating), Cindersonya still finds time to practice her princess duties of singing, dancing, and frolicking in meadows:



Cindersonya, in keeping with tradition, has also tried to catch the attention of a handsome prince...but she may have to wait a few years for him to mature-up. (He's busy slaying dinosaurs and squashing things with toy trucks (Sonya quote: "Him not even notice the beautiful princess. Poor Sonya."))

just a couple more

Cam left off two of my favorite pictures from our last camping trip:

These two are such cute little goof-balls when they get together!

Mount Rainier National Park

Following tradition, we did a campout over Labor Day weekend.  This year, we went to Mount Rainier National Park and spent three nights in Cougar Rock Campground.  It was highly enjoyable and the weather turned out to be a lot better than I expected.

Day 1 (Friday September 3rd)
We got a late start and arrived in the park around 4 PM. Knowing that the weather was going to get worse, we decided to drive to Paradise to get a good view of the mountain. This is what we saw:

We then proceeded to camp, set it up and socialized.

Day 2 (Saturday September 4th)
Clouds rolled but the weather was still nice. We went as a group back to Paradise and did a couple of hikes. Sonya loved having tons of friends camping with her and we had lots of great views (despite the mountain being covered by clouds).

That evening, we had an excellent pot luck with tons of delicious food.

Day 3 (Sunday September 5th)
Being Sunday, we felt it appropriate to visit the Grove of the Patriarchs on the Southeast side of the park. Some of the trees were over 1000 years old. This side of the mountain had some light rain.

We also visited Longmire. It was here that Sonya became a Junior Ranger of Mount Rainier National Park. She was VERY proud.

That evening, food was awesome, desserts even better and company great. Light rain rolled in during the night causing disturbed sleep for all of us.

Day 4 (Monday September 6th)
We packed up, chatted with our friends and headed home.

Very Early Birthday at Benihana

I got my birthday certificate for Benihana's today.  Usually we wait until around the actual birthday but Karren couldn't wait.  It is valid all month and we went on the first day!  It was very good as usual and Sonya LOVES the food.  She eats about four times more than she usually does there and tonight was no exception.  Here is our photo:

Sisters .... Kind Of

So Sonya has a couple of great girlfriends that are close to her in age and location. Sydney lives just down the street and they spend a TON of time together. The other day we had Sydney over to play and eat lunch. With a mouth full of Mac and Cheese, the toddler meal conversation took a turn...Sydney declared, "Sonya's my sister". Sonya looked over, paused and said, "Oh Sydney, you're my sister too". It was sooo sweet. It reminded me of one of my childhood girlfriends- we used to tell our friends and neighbors that we were twin sisters (she blond, me brunette. short/tall. thin/ Uber chubby. Odd that anyone believed us!)
Here are some cute pics of Sonya and Sydney growing up together these 2 1/2 years: