Day 1:  The plan, hike to Comet falls near the Nisqually entrance and then drive to Paradise and hike the Skyline Trail.  The motto:  Not everything goes according to plan.  This was certainly true for this whole vacation.  It wasn't bad, it just didn't go according to plan.
We arrived at the Comet Falls trail head and started up.  It was beautiful with some alpine flowers in bloom, the water rushing over the rocks and the trail was free of snow.  Just after crossing Falls Creek at 2.3 miles, we walked up a small hill and that is where the trail ended.  It was closed due to avalanche damage.  Bummer.  I had all sorts of visions of getting close to the water.  However that was not meant to be.  We ended up hiking only 4 1/2 miles instead of the 5 - 6 mile hike. It was still beautiful and still worth it.  We returned to the car and drove up to Paradise.
We were going to do the Skyline trail and decided that with 90% snow covered, it wasn't feasible for us.  We should have sunglasses and then the mountain was covered by clouds so we started to return to the parking lot, but then thought Alta Vista might be a good alternative.  The trail looked to be snow free so we headed up that way.  Once on top of the view point, and laying down for a quick nap, we started to explore and eventually found ourselves once again on the Skyline Trail.  "Let's go just a little farther, just up to that rise, lets see if we can go there."  I kept asking.  I really wanted to feel like I was hiking.  Which was hard to feel when people were wandering all over in flip flops and flats.  We ended up with a great view just as Mount Rainier started to peak out from the clouds.  I snapped a few family photos, and then we split up.  Job and I returned to the visitor center.  He was just done.  John took Lona and Isaac up another 1/2 mile or so to another view point. I so wanted to go on but sometimes Mommy duty takes over.  I was able to spend some one on one with Job.
Sometimes we laugh at Job when he tells us another one of his genius ideas.  He just goes on and on and on about them.  This time his genius idea is a bike, similar to a recumbent bike.  He talked about the steering mechanism, how the seat works, and where everything is located.

Snowball fight

Falls Creek, not Comet Falls

Alta Vista Hike

This is something I thought I'd see in a movie but not here.