1st Days...

1st day of high school for Benny and 11th grade for Aaron.

Jackson's 1st day of college at NC State with his roommate Jeb from high school.

1st dorm room. 1st time anyone in our family lived away from home.

1st day of dental hygiene school.

What an honor to be accepted into such a competitive program!! So proud.

Her practice teeth.

1st time playing indoor pickleball on a datenight with the Masuds.

On Sept 11th, Benny woke up at 3am with a pain in his side. Thankfully, we got to the doctor quickly and his appendix was removed before the end of the day.

He was so brave and had such a good attitude. We got to leave the hospital that evening, since he was up and moving around, motivated to go home.

On Sept 20th we volunteered at my favorite XC meet nearby at McAlpine Park.

Benny's 1st year running 5Ks. He did great!!

1st time Aaron made it into the top 7 and was invited to several qualifying meets.

We took a day trip to NC State for dinner and a movie with Jackson.

Aaron's school picture.

Benny's 9th grade picture. We should really buy some better dress up outfits.

We were back to Raliegh to visit Jackson the 1st weekend in October for Parents Weekend.

Minigolf at the Partee Shack. So fun!!

Out to eat in downtown Raleigh at the Pit BBQ.

Church and breakfast with our friend John Ramsey, who lives nearby. Josh does NOT like pictures. Ha.

The guys running along the art museum greenway before heading home.

A few days later Aaron in Washington DC for his class trip.

Joyce's 1st visit to NC State picking up Jackson for fall break.

Everyone got together for ultimate frisbee.

Aaron's 17th Birthday celebration involved ultimate frisbee with friends.

Basketball.

And a pizza party!

We also celebrated as a family with Mimi.

Such a happy, excitable guy!

A special birthday surprise!

Real snow.

Benny was brave once again by going to his 1st school homecoming dance. So handsome!

We stayed overnight in Raleigh for Aaron's XC state meet. And took Jackson out for pizza at Trophy Brewing Co.

Jackson and Will came with us to the meet. The top 7 bonding before the race.

Go Aaron!!

Our favorite cat always celebrates Thankgiving by feasting on a cotton rat.

There was no way we were letting her inside afterwards.

Porter's 1st Thanksgiving at Mimi's house!!

Addy's family birthday meal at Vinter's with appetizers and small fancy plates.

The big 2-1!! She's officially an adult.

Christmas Festivities began with Benny's band concert. We also went to see Mr Risley as Scrooge!

Annual Christmas Eve with the Molskness family.

1st time at Calvary Church candlelight service and it was EPIC!

Silent Night.

Hopefully we'll continue our tradition here next year.

Christmas morning, my nest was full, the best gift of all.

Cinnamon rolls and present opening.

Addy recieved several kitten gifts that look just like our cat.

1st time playing Christmas pickleball!! Blessed with amazing weather.

Christmas Day at Joyce's house.

Washington NPs

We FINALLY made it to the northern most part of Washington, after two rescheduled previous attempts.

DAY 1: We flew into Seattle Wed pm. Then drove Thurs am to Mount Baker, stopping by Walmart for groceries and Wake N Bakery for lunch.

Starting at Artist Point, we hiked the Chain Lakes Loop 6.2m

This area was stunning!

Our only couples photo of the trip. I think that's Mt Skuksan in the background.

Crossing a snow field is always fun, especially when you can slide downhill.

Looking back at the view of Mount Baker.

Iceberg Lake was beautiful, especially the turquoise color!

Views of the lake and Mount Baker.

You know it's good when Addy takes a picture. From Herman Saddle.

The BEST view of the day!

The guys are always waiting on us ladies, who like to stop and smell the flowers. Ha!

SOOO thankful my girl came with us, she almost stayed home.

We LOVE these fluffy flowers but still don't know the name of them.

Addy and I continued on the trail to Bagley Lake and the boys picked us up at the bottom.

Loved our Airbnb in Glacier!

DAY 2: Forcing ourselves to take REST days. Recovery walk to Horseshoe Bend River.

We took our time, picked raspberries and skipped rocks in this gorgeous river.

Benny stayed back at the Airbnb. His definition of relaxing does not involve walking.

My FAVORITE flower called fox gloves.

Delicious dinner out at Gunner Tex Mex BBQ, the elote corn was so yummy!

DAY 3: Cascade Pass to Sahale Arm 11.6m

After wooded switchbacks, we reached Cascade Pass where the views began.

Addy and I were stopped by a grouse on the trail, a chicken sized bird.

We climbed higher and higher.

Until reaching Doubtful Lake.

Stopped for a family picture!!

This was our FAVORITE hike of the trip!

Aaron LOVES marmots! This one was friendly and didn't mind hanging out with us.

Made it to the Sahale Glacier!

EPIC view from the top!

And even though it looks high, it's only 8K which means I can still breathe.

Resting and recharging before heading back down.

Jackson and Addy used this very memorable, mountain top bathroom. Blocked only by a rockwall. Pic taken by Jackson.

The way down the slippery rocks on top was not fun but once we got back to this, it was oh so pretty.

Aaron took this awesome closeup picture of flowers and I love that I'm in it.

We saw several mountain goats on the trail, even babies!

This one was the closest.

And the biggest.

Another family picture from Cascade Pass before heading back to the parking lot.

DAY 4: Rest day in Winthrop. We walked into town for coffee and food. Then felt guilty doing nothing.

DAY 5: Maple Pass 6.5m

This hike was the 2nd highest rated in North Cascades NP.

It was pretty but relative to Cascade Pass, it was not as majestic. I feel bad saying.

Blue Lake 4.6m - The rock where I dropped and broke my phone!

Since we rested the previous day, we missed this planned hike. So we squeezed it in after Maple Pass.

Addy and Benny skipped it. Jackson was the only brave one of us to swim. Pretty lake, boring hike.

DAY 6: After resting all morning, we headed to Mount Rainier for sunset.

Mount Fremont Lookout Trail via Sourdough Ridge 5.7m

This was our 1st hike to a fire lookout tower.

The views were AMAZING!

What a view of Mount Rainier! Our favorite VOLCANO.

Addy making friends with the chipmunks, as usual.

Another family photo. We took so many, there's a few not posted.

We headed down to find a sunset spot along the rocky trail.

Looking back towards the lookout.

So many layers of mountains.

Never before seen, 5 pictures being taken at once!

Goofing around.

They were taking pictures of Benny eating the sun and others like this one taken by Aaron.

Just when you think it can't get any better, it does.

Oh SOO beautiful!

This was our FAVORITE experience of the trip. It was magical.

Addy took this one with Josh's camera, on our way back down. So cool!!

DAY 7: Burroughs Mountain Trail to 2nd Burrough 6.6m

Back to glorious Mount Rainier NP on the Sunrise side. We got an 11-1 entry the night before.

Shadow Lake

The flowers were the best part.

Gorgeous resting spot.

As we made our way up, the clouds began to get angry and we got rained on a little.

After some debate, and peeks of blue sky, we continued on to the 2nd burrough.

So glad we did! Enjoying the view from the top. And lunch.

Of course, Addy had to make friends with another friendly chipmunk.

Extreme closeup taken by Aaron.

Selfie taken by Addy!!

We loved the views so much on the way up that we went the same way back down.

Giant elk sighting in the meadow, near the end of the trail.

DAY 8: Rest day. Olympic National Park hike to Marymere Falls .7m and Moments in Time .7m

Lake Crescent was the centerpiece of this national park.

Sibling love.

The boys snuggling Josh.

We skipped the Hoh Rain Forest since the entire area seemed similar and covered in moss.

Evening hike to Devil's Punch Bowl via Spruce Point Railroad Trail 2.4m

Unique tunnel and brige where people swim in Lake Crescent.

DAY 9: Exploring Salt Creek Recreation Area.

Jackson holding a very long kelp stalk, we think.

Nature's luffa. We came here to see Tongue Point but went the wrong way.

We did see an otter though and the walk along the tide pools was fun.

Such a pretty area.

Hike to Mount Storm King 5m - Picture taken by Benny!

This hike was crazy difficult with rope sections.

But the view of Lake Crescent from the top was worth it!

Addy stayed back at the Airbnb for this one. She would have hated the climb.

The boys enjoying the view and eating a snack. They even got to feed a bird.

Ropes on the way back down.

Having fun on Lake Sutherland where we stayed.

We were so pressed on time that we only had about an hour to swim.

Jackson is not bothered by cold water. He was the 1st to get in.

After a quick food truck dinner, we headed up to Hurricane Hill via Hurricane Ridge 3.4m

Awww, I LOVE how Benny is snuggling Addy. These sweet siblings get along so well.

Pretty purple flowers probably even more beautiful in the sunshine.

Checking out a marmot on the hillside and the cool cloud inversion in the distance.

We heard a weird sound and walked a little off trail to find it was a cougar! Pic by Benny.

Watching the sunset aka watching for the cougar, and the deer babies in the meadow.

My very, very favorite girl. Love her too much.

Someone else on the trail took this of us.

Picture taken by Benny on the way down.

DAY 10: Second Beach 2.1m

There were endless starfish.

The big ones were too hard to pick up since they were suctioned tight onto the rocks.

The coolest thing we saw was this dead OCTOPUS!

Orange starfish caught in the mini rock lake.

We walked about a mile down the beach to a small sea cave.

The sea stacks were better than Cannon Beach, in my opinion.

We ran out of time but would love to return to see other Olympic beaches, Sol Duc Falls and the Hoh Rain Forest.

Mt Rainier at sunrise! So amazing!! Hope to see you again someday.