Mazama!

Oh my, did we have a good time this Fourth of July!  Sarah and Chris and Katie invited us to Mazama with them.  Mazama is in the North Cascades/Methow Valley and is positively GORGEOUS! Seriously, Will and I were in awe.  Which made us wonder, if we just discovered the North Cascades, what is the rest of Washington like?  I see some more adventures in our future!

But back to Mazama, we totally covered our "hike" requirement this past weekend.  We started Saturday with a gorgeous hike through a coulee gorge (which I learned is a really old gorge that is all dried up).  Wildflowers, birds, AMAZING scenery.  But you can't see it because the camera was in Will's bag and Marshall decided to be petrified of rattlesnakes.  (Will said once he started back with M, the hike got better. :))  But Josie (on my back) and I loved the trek with Sarah and Chris and Katie, which was made even better because they are dorky birders and were actually able to identify the birds along the trail. :)  (I would love to be a dorky birder, but I am afraid I have neither the memory or the observation skills necessary.)

On Sunday, the 4th of July, Team Roberts headed to the tiny town of Twisp for the 4th of July parade and it was the perfect size for our family's attention span/dislike of loud band music/tendency to get overwhelmed by crowds.  Both kids had a blast, mostly because the candy was plentiful! :)

Josie was in her element.  Dancing, waving, eating candy.....really, does it get any better?
(BTW- Like the repeat of the dress?  Ahh! Look at how much she has changed in a year! I can't believe it!)

(Sorry for the delay  in posting.  After looking at those dress comparisons, I became weepy "my children are growing up too fast" Momma and had to take a break.  As I told Will, it's not that I want to have another baby.  I just want the ones I have to stop growing up.)

But back to the 4th!  After the parade, we spent some time at Pearrygin Lake State Park.  Gorgeous!

And after that, we headed out on a hike with everyone.  (It was a packed day. :))  This one happened to be have a bit of an elevation gain and Marshall enjoyed himself much more.  He is an enigma.  Or just hard core and we don't know it yet.

Here we are looking at an ant colony that was under construction right under the trail.

So there you have it.  Our hike-y 4th in a nutshell! (Help, I'm in a nutshell.....)