My eyes are closed, my breathing deep and steady and my mind is in a fantasy world, millions of miles away from reality. Anything can and usually does happen in my dreams. This night though I am rousted out sleep and put into reality rather alarmingly when Job enters into the room with a yelling whisper that he can feel the wings of a mosquito flapping against his eardrum.  John meanwhile hears nothing because of the earplugs he wears.  The slightest noise will wake him and keep him awake most of the night, hence the earplugs. I scramble out of bed, grab my house coat and follow Job out the room.  Job and Lona have been outside in their hammocks for a few hours and are planning on spending the night. Until the mosquito buzzed into his ear.  It reminds me of a book titled "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ear".  I grab the cheap little otoscope and head downstairs with Job.  Taking a look in there without my glasses all I can see is something brown.  A quick search on the internet (thankful for this tool) and I have the instructions for killing and flushing a bug from the ear.



1.  Have the child stop screaming and lay down.
2.  Place a towel under the child and over the clothes.
3.  Remove the syringe from a turkey baster.
4. Fill it with oil and warm water.
5. Empty the oil water mixture repeatedly in said child's ear until the bug is flushed out.
6.  Keep the bug and look at it with a magnifying glass to ensure all parts are removed.
7. Send the child to bed inside (usually won't complain at this point).
8. Go to bed and get up a few hours later for the day.

When having children all sorts of things enter into facial cavities that were never meant to.  We've removed match box car tires from noses, a rock from an ear, and now a mosquito.  Not all  has happened to the same child. Never a dull moment, not even at night.

Sauk Mountain is located off of Highway 20 just past Concrete.  It is an amazing hike and when done at the right time, the wildflowers are incredible.  I think it is listed as having 26 switchbacks from the parking lot to the saddle.  I would say that it is one of my favorites.  Looking back at hikes I think that I am drawn to hikes that end with views: Skyline Divide, Heliotrope Ridge, Excelsior Pass, and even Oyster Dome would be top hikes. Although with panoramic type view comes with work and elevation gain. When you get to the parking lot for Sauk Mountain you can almost count the switchbacks on this side.  John shoulders the pack and we start up.  Everyone knows that its going to take longer than expected since I have my camera and I'll want to stop and take photos of things that I find inspiring.  I like flowers that grow on the edge of the path and people walking that path in the background.  Those are my people.  I like dandelion seeds floating in the wind.  I like selfies and signs of the area and I like large mountains such as Baker in the background.  At the very top there used to be a fire look out building. The only remains of it today are a couple of steal cables and some cement footings which make a great spot to eat lunch.  On this day we could see Mount Baker and even Mount Rainier.  Some people said no that it was too big but coming home I had to look it up and sure enough Mount Rainier is one of the peaks that is visible from Sauk Mountain. Lona was the only child out of school for this hike.  Isaac was busy with dead week which wasn't really dead but full of studying and projects and Job was also still in school getting ready for his last week.  Fridays are our hiking days typically since it gets crowded on the weekends.  This year hikes that aren't open until July are opening early due to lack of snowfall this last winter.  I think it is really going to have huge effects for us later in the summer. Right now though I'm going to enjoy the hikes.

It was Thursday and beautiful outside.  The Pacific Northwest Playground was calling our names to come outside and play. The day was unseasonably hot, over 70 degrees. It felt like full on summer. By 3:30 John had headed home early from work, knowing that hew was going to work extra on Friday instead. Four out of five of us piled into the car with sandwiches, s'more makings, a camp stove, lots of water bottles and a backpack.  The Chuckanuts are close with trails every where.  We chose Oyster Dome for our spot to have our dinner. We've hiked this before with the kids but I haven't been since part of the trail was remade.  I remember one time, hiking this trail with the kids after church in the rain and Job always the one to question asked "Why are we doing this in the rain? Why don't we hike when it's nice?"  Funny thing to live in the great PNW.  You hike when you want, rain or shine.  Mostly raining because if you didn't then you may never hike.  Not this day however.  I was sweating by the time I reached the second switch back.  It was going to be a long one. We walked and walked and walked.  By the time we got to the first viewpoint which wasn't a view point due to the growth of the trees, Lona was ready to cut her hair.  Luckily we found a couple of sticks and twisted it into a bun.  It's amazing what you can do with long hair.  Farther, much farther up the trail, Job crawled into a hollow log. Growing up with a mother with a camera they now ask for their photo taken, they are so comfortable in front of the camera.  Besides that he's a ham. I think that we were all ready to reach the Dome.  We were hungry and John said he would have hauled up a micro brew if he had thought of it.  We pulled out the sandwiches that I had packed.  I found this wonderful recipe that calls for cucumbers, green onions, and tomatoes with vinaigrette dressing on a sourdough bread topped with ham, turkey, Swiss cheese, green peppers and red onion rings.  It is so good and the perfect hiking food.  We finished off our dinner with s'mores.  We brought our backpacking stove so we could roast our marshmallows.  It worked OK but something with better flame or a more sheltered area would have been better.  However we couldn't beat the view of the San Juan Islands. After all that we had to book it down the hill before the sun went down.  I think it would be a great place to hang hammocks and "camp" out.  Photos of the stars over the islands would be fantastic.

Have you ever played "I never"?  Up until a couple of weeks ago I could have said that I never camped out in a city park (that I know of).  And then I did. It wasn't just pulling up to the playground and hauling out the tent, they had a campground and 50 cent showers.  Our friends had asked if our family could join them on a camp out. My first thought was our previous church camp out and I was hesitant.  Lots of people, sharing camp sites, out house toilets that were disgusting due to kids missing the toilet all together.  I mean euw, gross.  My second thought flashed back to camping at Lake Chelan where we were packed in like sardines and people would cut across our camp site to go to the lake instead of walking around.  We have more room in our back yard then five sites put together there.  So I was leery but we like our friends and thought why not.  I haven't car camped for at least 8 years!  I think Lona may have been 3 or 4 the last time we went.  We've boat camped or backpacked but haven't driven in and set up camp. Being a family of five we had a ton of different schedules to work with.  Lona and I headed out early Friday morning so that we could find a good non reservable camp site.  Once there we quickly found two sites together and I paid for both of them. I set up our tents while Lona found the perfect site for her hammock.  We ate lunch and started pulling things out of the van.  Then our friends showed up and we moved things around helped them set up their new tent, and hauled their gear out. The kids went exploring, while we waited for John to show up from work and Isaac and Job to show up after school.  Mark  our friend also drove down seperately.  At one point on Friday we had five cars there!  We grilled steaks wrapped in bacon and ate like kings. We needed someone to stay home with the animals and since Isaac had a soccer game he volunteered.  Can you blame him? So he drove home that Friday night.  I ended up driving home for a mock wedding the next day and driving back.  Then John and Job came home on Sunday.  Job had school on Monday.  We were planning to stay until Wednesday but it started sprinkling around noon on Monday and we packed up to head home.  Lona and I needed to drive back on Monday anyway due to soccer practice and it being the first practice and all.  Some of the highlights of the camp out were the deer and fawns that would wander through the camp ground.  Lona had squirrels in her hammock while she was sleeping trying to get her can of Pringles.  I ate way too much and it was good, although I gained 5 pounds!  Sunday night I had the tent all to myself and loved it.  I really enjoyed getting up early and wandering down to the shore to sit in the morning for about an hour, enjoying the quiet.  Breakfast sausage and fire bread stuffed with nutella were cooked over the fire in pie irons. I think Job ate 6 breakfast sausages all by himself.  He just sat there turning his pie iron over and over and over again. We also cooked bread twisted on sticks. We had starbucks via coffee in the morning and cold brew coffee in the afternoons, followed by wine in a box, hard cider and micro brews in the evening.  The kids explored and wandered all over the 220 acres.  Ellie tried out her new lens and I am envious of it.  We explored the tide pools and found all sorts of cool creatures like eels and hermit crab. The boys built a cool fort out of drift wood and split a log with rocks. It was amazing and fun and we came home happy and smelling of camp fire.