We did our annual extended family camping trip with 17 various relatives and friends. Mt. Rainer was just stupendous as always. Packing took a week as always, and the last day took four hours of packing as always, but the mountain is worth it.

We stay at Cougar Rock just down from Paradise and not coincidentally near a lodge where some of the grandparents stay. This year we booked a group camping site. Why haven't we been doing this all along? We have all our tents set up in the same area and no worries about crossing a road. Besides, no one else was on our loop, so we felt comfortable sending David tripping down the lane to the bathroom himself.

Behind our campsite was a great wilderness that John and I let the kids play in unsupervised. Um, perhaps that was a mistake. I actually hadn't checked the area before this morning--a field of large jagged rocks, a log 10 feet over the rock field that the kids blithely walked across. . . Luckily, some of the other parents were more on top of it.

I love how the air at Rainer is scented with wildflowers and cedars. And of course the stunning views the glaciers. We drove up to Paradise and did the Nisqually Vista Trail. Here we are in late August, and it was half snow covered. That made for interesting hiking. Actually, David and Rose adored it. Snow is a rarity in Seattle.

We also hiked down from Narada Falls to Cougar Rock campground. That was also gorgeous. No views, but with the cascading river on one side and the slope of trees on the other, you feel completely in the wilderness. David and John skipped this hike because had had enough for the day, but Rose went the three miles down with no problem whatsoever. Until they started whining this morning, I had not noted to myself how little whining there had been and how much the dearth of it had made my life so nice.

Many things made my life nice. The kids slept. Even on the camping trip a month ago, we had terrible trouble getting David to sleep. Sure, we went to bed an hour late, but it was a pretty smooth bedtime routine and then sleep. The kids played with other kids. The life stage of having to constantly to hold a kid's hand while he walks back and forth along rocks is not in my distant past. I am still stunned when they just run off and play. Rose had lots of girls to play with, and David went crazy for the one other boy. They all explored, made up games, and put on shows for us. I built fires and tried to assist the highly competent chefs.

John and I had so much fun that we are wondering if we can extend it to three nights next year.