Life with the Conleys

For Father's Day this year Josh got tickets for the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad. A fitting gift for the dad of a little boy smitten with trains. The train takes you from the depot to a railroad museum that you can explore for about an hour before getting back on the train which takes you back to the depot. The total time spent on the train was about an hour. It was a fun family outing that we all enjoyed.  As we were getting on the train and waiting to depart Eli kept saying, "All Aboard!" Waiting to start moving down the track. Our boy Watching the world pass by Father and son For being the "Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad" there weren't many chances to see Mt. Rainier. If you look closely, you can see a white peak in the window above their heads. That's it. A better view of Rainier from the train window on the way back to the depot.  Thanks for being the best dad ever, Josh. We love you. 

A few weeks ago my sister, Anita, and her family flew into town and hung out with us for a few days before heading up to Canada. We spent Friday with Lynn & Angie and their kids at the Pacific Science Center and then they all came to our house for dinner. Lynn & Angie were headed out of town on Saturday and our plan was to do a hike near Mt Rainier. On Saturday morning just as we were getting ready to leave for the hike, Lynn called and said they were broken down on the side of the freeway on the top of Snoqualmie Pass (opposite direction that we were planning to go). We happened to have their van (we were using it since our car doesn't fit all six people) so did a quick change of plans drove both their van and our car up to rescue them. We dropped their van off and continued on a little further to Mt Catherine. Josh had to ride in the back of our Subaru with Luna because there wasn't room, which was not at all comfortable, poor guy. While Mt Catherine wasn't the hi

On Memorial Day we hiked into Lodge Lake. The hike to the lake was fairly straightforward but once we got there things got a little hairy. Like most lakes in this area, the forest crowds right to the edge of the lake and there is no real shoreline to speak of. There was one small section of shore but people were camping there so we tried to continue around the lake on a small trail. Soon there was no trail at all. We continued on for a bit hoping the trail would start up again but it did not and soon we were fighting through brush trying to find our way back to the trail. Somehow during this time I became so disoriented that I thought the lake was in the complete opposite direction of what it actually was. Josh, however, knew where to go and navigated us safely back to the lake. I don't recall a time when I felt so disoriented. It was an intensely uncomfortable and scary feeling. I will not be setting foot off the trail any time soon. After Josh brought us back to the lake we d