Living it up in Rapid City

Hi everybody! Hope you're all doing well.... Sorry it's been a while since the last post. Ella and I are enjoying our stay with Seth's Mom and Dad - Margaret & Tim - and Seth is back in Spokane working away, poor guy. We'll meet up again in Minneapolis next week when we travel there for another wedding. Ella and I have been here a little over a week - last weekend was our friend Michael's wedding and we had a blast! I'll post pictures from the weddings, our visit with the McKinstry side of the family, and all our travels when we get home....won't be for another week and a half. See you then!

We live to tell about it

This past weekend Seth and I drove west with Zac and Kristen, on our way to climb Mt. St. Helens. We met up with Gabe and Nancy and about 10-12 other people from the west side, and set up camp at Paradise Point State Park in Woodland, WA. (I couldn't believe we were that close to Portland, and didn't get to see any of our friends!) Saturday morning we started out early and about 5 hours later we made it to the top of Mt. St. Helens. I knew it was going to be really hard, and it definitely was. But, wow, what an amazing feeling to reach the top and look out from that point! It was Seth's bday weekend...I'm still not sure he's happy he spent it working his butt off to get up the side of a mountain. Ella had a great time hanging out with Grammy all weekend. Thanks again Grammy - what would we do without you?

stopped at a viewpoint before reaching our campsite (you can barely see the beast (aka Mt. St. Helens) in the background)

Seth taking in the views about halfway up

a view from the top - Mt. Ranier in the back

just a little bit further... (the last 500 ft or so were the hardest!)

Leave it to Gabe..... he teed off from the top, into the crater

We did it!!

the entire family made it to the top!

the lava dome inside the crater (Spirit Lake to the right)

new words

cracker (pronounced "ca-ca")
Barney (as much as it pains me to say - we have a purple dino lover in our house...she calls him Marney)

Weekend wrap-up

We're exhausted, but had a really fun weekend. Saturday we headed north, near Cusick, to see Courtney and Harper. Courtney's sister's family has a great house on the Pond Oreille River.... it was amazing and beautiful up there. We were only able to hang out for a couple hours, but I'm so happy we were able to catch up. And of course, seeing Harper and Ella together is always fun. Ella got to take a ride on one of the boats - her first since last summer. She did pretty well! Gotta love the life preserver.....

After visiting the Pederson girls, we drove about 30 minutes east to Chewelah for our friends' daughter's wedding. Tom and Donna's daughter, Klarissa got married at Mountain View Lodge - it was gorgeous! But man was is hot! Ella had a fabulous time exploring, especially the stairs, and showed everyone her dance moves of course. She was looking very fashionable in her Marks & Spencer's gown - thanks Grandma Margaret!

And then, on Sunday we headed to Endicott for a Storment family Reunion. Quite a few people showed up - we weren't sure what to expect. It had been a long weekend already, so Ella was not quite her happy-go-lucky self. She zonked out in the car as soon as we started to head home. Now we have a 3 day countdown before we head west to tackle Mt. St. Helens. (and Ella gets to hang out with Grammy for a few days!) Who created this itinerary anyway? Whew!

Time for a check-up

Ella had her 18 month check-up and vaccinations yesterday. Here's the stats:

Weight - 22lbs, 7oz (23rd percentile)
Height - 32 and 3/4 inches (82nd percentile)
Head - 18 and 1/2 inches (64th percentile)

She used to be so teeny tiny, but she is definitely sprouting up now! The doc said she is very healthy and everything seems to be as it should be developmentally and physically. Always good news.

before I forget....

A couple of Ella's new words:

car
cheese
thank you

What's Next?

Here's a look at what's coming up for us in the next few weeks: This weekend we are hoping to catch up with my friend Courtney while she's in the area visiting family..... keeping our fingers crossed that works out. Tomorrow afternoon we head to a wedding in Chewelah - about an hour north of town. Then on Sunday, it's on to Endicott for a Storment family reunion. It's going to be a busy couple of days.

Beyond that, we are heading to Mt St Helens next weekend for a "hike" up the mountain. It's supposed to be a definite challenge, but it's not a technical climb so it's do-able. Wish us luck. We do that next weekend - Seth's bday (7/17) weekend. And then.... on the 22nd we head to Rapid City, SD for Michael's wedding. Ella and I will be staying on in Rapid with Tim and Margaret until we all drive to Minneapolis for Dan's wedding. So baby girl and I will be on the road for 2 and 1/2 weeks! Whew! We're looking forward to everything, but it's a little tiring just thinking about getting ready for all of it!

Here's a couple pics of Ella, just because.......