While we were out in the Northwest, we took a little road trip south and stopped to visit friends near Mt. Rainier. After this trip, Jonah started calling all big, snow-capped mountains ‘Mt Rainier’ which we think is pretty awesome.

We did a little hike around the first visitors center. “That big tree just fell over.”

Standing in a large stump

Then we drove up higher on the mountain to do a little hiking  where there was still some snow around.  On the drive, Jonah held some of his cheese up to the window.  I asked him what he was doing and he said, “Giving some cheese to Mt. Rainier.”  Then he cracked up.

We made it up to the big waterfall. Jonah really loves to see waterfalls.

“Jonah is touching that little waterfall. That water is very cold!”

I forced Jonah to hold some snow. He was not really excited about touching it or walking on it. :)

But Dad helped him build a snowman, just like in his Snow book.

Another waterfall!

Then it was off to Cannon Beach to see the ocean! That’s Haystack Rock in the background.

We found a good drawing stick. Of course, I later had to make lots of trucks in the sand.

Making buckets

Jonah gets brave enough to test out the water on his own.

Then he would run out, yelling, ‘Run away! Run away!!’

Then he got very brave.

We walked down to the tide pools to see the starfish and anemones.

Low tide was, of course, right at naptime, so Jonah had a little snooze while Sean and I enjoyed a nice (but freezing) walk on the beach.

Back to splashing in the water

Jonah wandered around, talking to the ocean. Mostly he was saying things like “That ocean is very cold.” “Are those waves coming up to see you?” “That is a big big ocean.”

Here’s Jonah about five minutes outside of town on the day we left. He was making up songs about the beach on his ukulele and fell right to sleep. The ocean just wiped him out! :)

I’ll end the west coast photos with three of my favorites from the beach.
I just love these pictures.

It was so much fun for us to get to do many new things with Jonah on this trip and have him meet lots of our family and friends for the first time. I don’t know how much he will remember about this visit in the long run, but for now, he still frequently talks about things he did while he was there. Good times!