Current Obsession

Carter's most recent obsession has been volcanoes. He wants to know everything about them, and I often find myself having 20 minute discussions about various eruptions and volcano factoids. We even had the librarian show us a special section with a ton of volcano books - Carter was in heaven and that's all we read for at least four days! The funny part is that he's kind of freaked out by the whole "mountain's going to explode" part of volcanoes but fascinated none the less. So, over Labor Day we decided to make the trek up to Mt. St. Helens. We stopped at the visitor's center, toured a little museum and watched (Carter half watched, half buried his head in our shoulders due to fear!) a video of the 1980 explosion. I was truly something. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best and we couldn't actually see the crater - bummer! But we drove all the way to the top, took a few photos and then drove a ways down and found a great trail to hike. I can imagine the stunning views had the clouds not been socked in. It was a fun day, the kids enjoyed the adventure and Carter was pretty pumped to learn so much up close.

See those clouds behind us? That's the mountain,

and the crater was just about above the cloud line. Perfect.
View from the Visitor's Center.

We found a great (free!) trail, Hummock's Trailhead, and completed a 2.5 mile hike. The loop was perfect for kids, a little up and down, great views, ponds with beaver dams and ducks and just the right distance.

Kennedy got off easy

Here's how the hike looked at the end...Carter got a little tired and was walking very slowly, so Kyle scooped him up and gave him a lift for a few minutes. After that short rest, he was ready to go and we raced the last 1/4 of a mile.