Showing posts with label park reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label park reviews. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Snoqualmie Falls and Preston Park

Saturday, 3 of us were feeling pretty crummy (I forgot to mention that for Mother's Day, my kids gave me their cold. How very thoughtful...)

And my brother called and told us about how much fun they were having on the beach.

So we decided to go swimming.

We got all ready, packed the car with towels, inflatables, and changes of clothes, and drove down to our apartment's pool.

Which was closed for repairs.

We stood there for a minute, cold congestion and resentment building inside us. We thought about the beach. And about all the cloudy days we've been having. And we wanted a vacation.

So, we went home, put normal diapers on the kids (because you do not want to leave them in swim diapers outside the water...), and started researching hotels and getaways nearby.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of fun things to do around here.

We couldn't decide. Then we wanted to plan in advance so we could do more than one activity. Our enthusiasm for getting away was being replaced with indecision.

Finally, we decided that we really would have more fun if we planned a trip and were actually packed before 3pm.

How anticlimactic.

Sighh.

We've never done a trip on the fly before, and I was really thinking we'd do it this time...

Oh, well. So what to do with our day? We could not take staying home with that beautiful sunshine smiling outside!

Why, Snoqualmie Falls. (whose main lookout point was closed for construction... what was up with our luck on Saturday?!)


oooh. aaaah.


odd baby pose 3
(if you ask them, the rocks to climb were the best part)


aw, he's so cute, that one in the middle


more gorgeous green to play in...
i love washington


odd baby pose 4

As beautiful as cascading water is, I get miiighty nervous around precipices... especially when two small people dear to me are doing their best to wriggle through any protective fences to get a better look. I was glad when we'd "been there, done that" and could move on to safer areas. And no, I don't EVER plan on taking small children to the Grand Canyon. (If I made it back with my sanity, which is doubtful, the nervous twitches would render me useless.)

So, having made it safely back to the car, we stuffed our kids with a picnic lunch and headed home.

But it was kind of a long drive-- about two hours-- and the kids did not like staring into the sun.

Park needed.

We pulled off the freeway to follow directions to one park and ended up finding another, much better park. It has to be the coolest playground I have seen. Ever. I would love to meet the engineers who came up with some of the playsets. It had a 2 story and a 3 story slide, it had an outdoor metal piano, it had all kinds of twisty twirly things on which to run and spin-- it was amazing.
And, it was right next to a brand-new, fake-turf-and-dirt soccer field. (Imagine the BYU indoor practice field, only outside on a breezy, sunny afternoon. Aw, yeah.)
Adam and Nicole ran from one end to the other and played in the goals. It was the perfect end to a beautiful day. And you know what? It made us forget all about being sick. For then.


Heron Park

Heron Park is in Mill Creek, by one of the most gorgeous golf courses we've ever seen, and is tucked away in one of those subdivisions full of ridiculously huge and beautiful homes that make us wonder what on earth these people do for a living, since most people who make their money in Seattle or Redmond with the big names live in Bellevue...

...hmmm...


...but I digress.

Friday was a beautiful day, Steve had taken a half day off of work in honor of our anniversary on Thursday (6 years, yay!), and we needed to get out of doors. This park had a small but lush lawn where we tossed around the airplane, and two small playsets. They did have baby swings, which is always a plus, but we couldn't take our eyes off our kids for a minute because there is a steep hill on the playground path that leads directly into a little duck pond! Overall, the park was less fun for toddlers and we probably won't be going back.


throwing the airplane


I asked him to smile...sigh


fun with her daddy


love it when we capture shots like this!


dancing in that fabulous vitamin D


odd baby pose, take 1 (you'll see more of these later)


odd baby pose, take 2


one of the last surviving metal slides


all great parks have at least one installment of bizarre modern art

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

park day

We've actually been to two parks the last couple of weeks. One we found while we were out, and I don't remember the name of it but it has a ton of baseball diamonds and all kinds of play equipment, picnic areas, even an amphitheater... we'll be going there again!
The other park we re-visited was the zip line park (as we refer to it-- don't remember the name of this one, either!) It was one of these perfect days, with overcast skies, no chilly wind, and several days of no rain so it's not too wet.


Lots of space to run and play!
(or run away, in Nicole's case)


Big slides


and medium slides.


Fun was had by all!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

not quite spring

After having a pretty warm February, March decided to get really cold. Still, Steve was aching to visit the beach, so we went down to Mukilteo beach (with the lighthouse). It's right next to the ferry, so we got to watch those go back and forth, and it has a great little park. I'm sure it's quite beautiful in the summer, and we will be back, but yesterday it was COLD! The ocean breeze was chilling for four people in the throes of a cold. We only stayed a few minutes, but it was nice to get out in the fresh air.

Friday, November 06, 2009

park pics

We've been to Meadowdale Park (the one I was telling you about) several times, but it's always been getting dark and my pictures don't turn out well. So we will do a better post on it later; for now, here are my faves from last time:


Monday, September 28, 2009

Howarth Park

We ventured out to Howarth Park, in Everett, right by the piece of the Sound that touches Everett. It had stunning views, lovely picnic areas, and interesting playground toys. We went in the evening, and it turned colder than we had planned, so the playtime was short. Adam and Nicole still had a good time:


riding the dinosaur together


this picture cracks me up!

deciding that they're having fun


look, mom, no hands!


a single-person "round and round"


i like this, but i'm cold....

an example of the gorgeous views to be had from the picnic area

Sunday, September 13, 2009

another nice day

Saturday was just too nice to stay indoors, so we headed down to the lake and walked around, then stopped at Martha Lake Park on our way home.


Adam on the balance beam. He's saying, "Hard!"


Nicole and me on the fishing pier of the lake.


Nicole loves the soft grass!


In her first real pair of shoes. And a bewildered expression to match. (We love babies' first month in shoes. They can't figure out what's wrong with their feet!)


Adam joined her. He likes having his picture taken!


Down the slide together.


Wheeee!


A girl who loves her daddy!


This could have been a great shot...


... but it didn't happen.


And that was our little park outing. The end!