29 July 2014
The girls and Oma and Opa and I went to a place called the adventure playground. It’s quite different than most of the “safe” playground type places one usually finds.
It’s in the woods and the kids are all given a tool box with a saw, hammer, nails and a few other important items. There are piles of scrap wood around and off they go to create.
The woods were already filled with structures and so they decided to add on to one they found. Julia added more floor to the the second story and a ramp, and Kayla worked on a ladder and added more supports.
Kayla ran out of time to finish her ladder all the way, but we all learned a bit about the best way to put things like ladders together. Pretty fun day.
I think they had a great time and even though all of the supports seem a bit rickety, we still let them climb up there.No way I’m going.
15 July 2014
The girls and I tried to do some of the fun free things offered in the area. One of them are free kid concerts. Julia took a friend to see her favorite band. She’s even wearing her groupie t-shirt. It was fun to see J. jumping up an down getting crazy hair. The concert was on Lake Washington by a beach so that’s where we all went after the concert. Pretty fun.
12 July 2014
Vicky came to visit us this July. We decided to play tourist the first few days. Here is Julia in front of the “gum wall” at Pikes Place Market. It really is getting quite gross. Lots of people were chewing and then putting their gum on the wall. It is very colorful though.
Pike’s place market was a zoo, really we couldn’t walk through, so we decided we needed some cheap margaritas in the sun. After that we went to the locks and fish ladder. Both fun things we hadn’t done in a while.
It was super hot most days. We thought it would be nice to rent some boats down on Lake Washington. It was fun to paddle around and be out on the water.
Another weekend we went up to our cabin. On the way there was a fundraiser event. We stopped and let the kids ride the horses. We came away with a yummy blackberry pie as well.
Uncle Kelly had his birthday in July. We all headed down to Longview for a little early birthday celebration. It was another hot day, but we managed to have fun and enjoyed Ava and Olivia as they are quite the dancers and singers of “happy birthday”.
Ava and Olivia are still super cute and fun. My girls still love love their cousins and just can’t get enough of them! We all slept over in longview making lots of fun in the morning as well.
3 July 2014
The first week of July was forecast to be sunny, so the girls and I took our chances and headed to Camano Island State Park. The sites there are not reservable so we took our chances. Turns out we got the best spot there (in my opinion). Wooded, private and large. Each evening we had a campfire. The girls roasted marshmallows and I read one of the Wizard of Oz books to them.
One of the favorite things about camping for Miss J. is sleeping in a tent. As no rain was forecast we were able to sleep in the tent without the rain fly. It was fun to look up at the tall trees above. Reading with a headlamp is a must too!
At this state park there are trails around the campground but one can also walk down to the beach. We had fun down there though it was very hot. The girls braved the cold water for a quick run in. Mostly we played in the sand.(Yes we actually found a very small section of sand in all those rocks.)
Nearby is Cama Beach State Park. We saw that they had ranger activities for kids so we headed over for some craft time. After a very exciting drive over which included a mouse on the hood of the car, we got there in time for the girls to make salmon kites. After that it was driftwood and rock castle making and decorating. Being it was the 4th of July week, the campground was full by Wed. night. We made someone very happy on Thursday when checked out. These girls are pretty fun to camp with.