Take two. The show goes on.

Sylvia update: As it turns out, Sylvia, in fact, needs a rebuild. Since the mechanic will have her for an extended period of time, we asked him to look through all of her systems and fix anything that looks questionable as we have hair-brained, crazy dreams of, perhaps, driving her to Maine this fall, an adventure that, I'm sure, has countless possibilities for minor, or major, hiccups. 

As I mentioned before, we headed out on revised plans to the northwest. After a few chocolatine-filled days in Seattle, we drove our most reliable and time-efficient car out to the Olympic Peninsula to Kalaloch Beach, my favorite family vacation spot as a kid, where we met my parents and two youngest siblings. Here we tried out my not-so-well hatched plan of sleeping in our three-person tent, something we have avoided for the last six years due to the not sleeping. I had delusions that it would be different this time since the boys now sleep through the night, and really wanted to try it out as I have backpacking hopes for the future so it seemed like good time to try it. Let me just say that we planned on camping two nights, but we only lasted one. After the fortunate few of us who slept woke up in puddles, we crawled on our knees to my parents' cabin they had rented, desperately asking if we could spend the night there. They were baffled as to why we hadn't stayed there in the first place and graciously squeezed us in. We really, really miss Sylvia. 

After a couple of cups of tea we were ready to roll, through the rain. Upon pondering the possibilities, taking into account where it may be less rainy, we headed inland, to the Hoh Rain Forest located in Olympic National Park, where Aaron happily placed another stamp in our national parks passport book. As one might expect it rained on us incessantly as we hiked through magnificent old growth rain forest with gnarled, moss-draped trees towering over the fern-carpeted ground, past crystal clear streams and milky rivers. I am very thankful for rain jackets and pants which made the day a pleasant exploration instead of a miserable ordeal. Our next stop was the sea-stackful Ruby Beach where we were greeted by a beachside pond perfect for rock-skipping and throwing. My little brother Zander has an amazing arm and can easily out-throw everyone, including the adults. Jason tried his very hardest to best my twleve-year-old brother, and, in the process, almost took out all of the kids and a group of strangers when he whipped a rock as hard as he could, releasing it at the exact wrong time. Thankfully he didn't hit anyone and his ego has mostly recovered since. As we lounged on the beach and the kids romped, played, and explored, the  clouds parted, and we were treated to a little bit of sunshine, a glorious end to the soggy day. After dinner back at the lodge, we headed down to the beach where Zander, Grandpa, Jason, and Isaac threw a football, while Aaron and I explored the huge logs that had washed ashore, trying to estimate which was longest as the sun set. Sigh. Though our time was shorter than we hoped here, it was really nice spending time with my parents back in old favorite places and sharing them with my kids. Thanks for inviting us.  

Click here for photos.