Play play play

We have been enjoying going to the playground in downtown Orting (on the rare occurrence of a reasonably warm and non-rainy day!). She turns into such a little toddler there - loves to go down the slide fast, ride in the bouncy toys and swing high. Mostly she loves just watching all the other kids play though!

Maya's Summit

We may not have made it to the top of Mount Zion, but Maya found her own summit in the parking lot and shared her proud smiles with all!

Can't Stop Her

She was all smiles hiking nearly the entire way back down!

Hiking Maya

Our big Father's Day event was supposed to be climbing Mount Zion. We started off great, but Maya decided she was not up for sitting in the hiking backpack for 4 miles. So we changed our plans and Maya did a hike! She was delighted to be free from the backpack and to do the hike herself. We didn't make it to the top, but watching Maya walk on the trail was way more memorable than any summit views would have been!
We are slowly learning to make our adventures appropriate for an 11 month old...a 4 mile hike was a bit overzealous!

Mount Walker Inn

We greeted Father's Day morning with pats on the back for making it through the night at the Mount Walker Inn. We are thankful that Maya sleeps in a crib now, but she is not the most peaceful sleeper to say the least, so we were just happy to not have been kicked out of the hotel. We did ask for a room switch to a corner room with only one neighbor instead of two when we realized she was having one of those scream at the top of her lungs until she's so worn out she just crashes nights. But once she fell asleep, she stayed asleep pretty well and gave Daddy one of the best Father's Day presents ever: sleeping in.
We went next door to Logger's Landing for breakfast and had a memorable one: The owners, an older couple with grandkids of their own, bought us our breakfast. They were really sweet as they delivered our food and announced that Drew's first Father's Day meal was on the house because they had so much fun playing with Maya and making her smile and giggle.

First Ferry Ride!

One of Drew's favorite things about living in Washington is traveling by ferry (he dreams of commuting to work via ferry someday) so it was quite fitting that we kicked off his first Father's Day with a sail to Bainbridge Island. Maya loved walking and crawling every square inch of the boat and it was a great way for her to get out some energy. Being on the water and lucking out with crystal clear views of the city and the mountains definitely beat riding in the car for $4.35/gallon! As you can see here, Maya is certainly enjoying herself. (And mommy even got over her fear-of-Maya-being-anywhere-near-water and let her go within 10 feet of the ferry's edge!) We stopped in Bainbridge for dinner at a little Mexican restaurant and then continued on to our final destination, a town called Quilcene on the Hood Canal which would serve as "base camp" for our hike the next day.