Creek Fun

The name of this location is rather sad in the descriptive category: East Bay Public Plaza.  Those four words in no way describe how much fun the boys have in this man-made creek near the children's museum.  It is a perfect way to cool down on a hot afternoon and a lovely way to spend an evening as a family.  Jason was out and about most of Saturday, so when he got home we piled in the car to show him this gem we had discovered on Friday.  We had gone to the children's museum to use our pass before it expired, but to be honest, my kids would have been more than happy to have spent the entire time here.

Since Jason was with us, I could bring the good camera and get better pictures than my camera phone takes.  Plus, with Jason along I didn't have to be on small child swimsuit duty alone.  (Funny story: On Friday, the swimsuit Ben brought was too big so he was in the creek in his jeans.  When it came time to change, I didn't have anything for him to wear because we left the big suit in the car.  Our only option was the extra swimsuit I bought for Isaac.  It took a bit of wiggling and squishing his bum, but we got him squeezed into a 12-18 month swimsuit.  Poor kid took it pretty well and I was dying to take a picture, but I figured that would be pushing my luck.)

I feel sure that this activity will be repeated several times this summer and future summers.

Go Flaming Yellow Jackets!

Ben just completed his first soccer season.  Well, the first one he agreed to participate in.  We signed him up several years ago, but after a couple of weeks sitting with him on the side only watching, we figured it wasn't time.  Because, really, watching a bunch of three-year-olds run around a field when none of them is yours isn't as fun as it sounds.

This time was different.  First of all, he chose to spend his birthday money on it.  Secondly, from the first day, he got on the field and never looked back.  Most of the kids have been playing together since they were three, but some, like Ben, were newer to the group.  The coach and the kids were very welcoming and supportive.  Ben has made a lot of progress and it warms my heart every time he cheers when his teammates made a goal.  Which was fortunate since he didn't score nearly as often as most of them.  He loves the team and the coaches so we are excited that the coaches are moving up with most of the team next year.

We got very lucky with this team.  The kids get along great and the coaches were wonderful.  The coach played for St. Martin's University and is the assistant director at a childcare facility, so she brings soccer and child experience with her.  This being our first time around, I didn't have any ability to gauge how this team compares for their age.  It turns out, they were great.  The team finished the season undefeated (even though they "don't keep score").  

The pictures below are from the last game of the season.  Ben scored the first goal for his team and couldn't have been more excited.   

It was a great season.  We can't wait for the Fall!

As an aside, Isaac was the only other family member to, um, experience watch be in the general vicinity of the game.  He wasn't thrilled about that, mainly because he was not allowed to participate in the game.  He tried to join the team for their huddle and then felt that the team needed a fourth player.  I tried toys, food, and drink to no avail.  Luckily, another kid brought a football and that kept him occupied for a little while.

Staircase Loop

While the sun shines we have to play!  

The weather was fantastic on Wednesday so we had to find another outlet for my desire to hike.  The boys have yet to develop this desire, but I have high hopes that if we. just. keep. hiking, they will eventually learn to love hiking.  My plan is to keep working on it until they either love it or move out.

After talking with the wife of our cub committee chair (an avid hiker), I decided we should try out our local national forest.  Olympic National Forest sits right next to Olympic National Park.  I fail to see much of a difference, but as long as our America the Beautiful pass works, I am good to go.  We invited our friends who also enjoy hiking and drove an hour and a half away.  That is about the distance I am comfortable driving to go on hikes with the kids, but without Jason.  The older Isaac gets, the longer that distance will become.  I am trying to work on his stamina, but those tiny little legs can only take him so far.

The hike is called Staircase Loop and thankfully doesn't resemble its name.  There are several other hike options in the area, but this is a good family-with-little-kids hike.  A necessity for a group with 7 kids.

Just another beautiful day and lovely hike in Washington.  The whole experience was improved upon by a drive along the gorgeous Lake Cushman.  If the hike wasn't enough reason for a repeat visit, the potential for kayaking and canoeing on a lake that reminds me of lake Rachel and I visited near Neuschwanstein.

Busy Summer Days

I am COMPLETELY sold on Washington summers.  We have had a fabulous week of activities and hiking and yard work.  Yes, that's right, even yard work is better here.  (This message is paid for by the campaign to get our friends and family to move here society.)

Last Saturday Ben played in his soccer game while still recovering from bronchitis AND scored his first soccer game goal ever.  Woot, woot!  It was a tragically wonderful game where the final score was 27 to 2, Ben's team won.  By the end both sides were cheering when the other team scored a goal.  But I was cheering most for Ben!  He was a pretty happy kid.

Sunday was mellow.

On Monday, we visited the children's museum with the friends from VA who actually have moved here.  The boys are always up for a visit to the museum, just as long as the visits aren't too close together.  It is a bit young for Josh and a bit old for Isaac, but they have a great time for several hours and having extra friends to go with made it more exciting.  To keep it new, the current travelling exhibit is about China and we had fun trying to figure out how many kids could fit on this scooter.

This kid only drives solo.

We also had a great time in the outdoor section we weren't able to visit earlier during the colder, rainier time of year.

On Tuesday or Wednesday, (I can't remember which) we did some harvesting at the garden.  The peas are growing like mad and have become my newest snack food.  We weren't sure about the carrots, so Michael pulled one up to check on them.  He was disturbed by what he saw.  His exact quote was, "Mom! This carrot looks like a chicken butt!".

Thursday we revisited a favorite spot: Tumwater Falls.  It is a lovely hike that is not too long.  The boys love hanging out by the water/rocks at the bottom of the hike; however, that is also the only place in Washington state where there are mosquitoes, so we can't stay for very long.  On the way back, Isaac took a minute to pose and show off his adorable baby belly.

Friday morning Aunt Rachel came by and picked up the victims survivors of yet another earthquake.  That would be 3 in the time that we've been here.  This time around, it was Rachel's unit that was getting trained and doing a simulation.  The kids enjoy getting covered in fake wounds and the instructor loves having them come. I can't remember what specific injuries Michael and Ben had, but they were a bit beat up. Josh had a pencil "shoved" through his hand, but sadly he took all the putty and make-up before Rachel or I got to it with a camera.

Isaac and I picked them up afterwards and headed over to Millersylvania Park for lunch and a hike.  We have to go back.  Water, kayaks, fishing, camping, hiking, etc.  We did a 2 mile-ish hike.  We found several blackberry bushes (good) and lots of stinging nettle (bad).

 And, we found an ENORMOUS tree.

We're trying to pack it in while the weather is so great.  And we are very excited to have our Virginia friends here to share in our adventures.

Doctor Who?

There is an immortal question with no answer.  

Well, at least as far as I know - we haven't seen the latest season yet.

"I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

Yes, we have turned Josh into a Whovian.  One of the perks of getting older and becoming ready to handle more intense TV.  His bedtime is half an hour later than his brothers and he has used many of those hours to go through almost all (no Weeping Angels) of the episodes of Doctor Who that were available on Amazon Prime.  And if you think about the fact that every episode is a bit longer than 30 minutes, you may appreciate the suspense this kid lived in for months as he rarely finished an episode in one sitting.  Except when he was sick and I would be so grateful that it was him home sick so we'd be watching Doctor Who rather than Lego Chima or Phineas and Ferm ad nauseam.

The local library held a teen fanaticon last Friday which seemed right up his alley.  He got his ticket and then we went about putting together is costume.  He already had a red bow tie from his birthday (because of how much he likes DW).  Jason, no lie, owns a fez.  Value Village supplied the suspenders.  And last, but probably most importantly, Amazon and Opa/Oma's Prime account came to the rescue and delivered a sonic screwdriver one day before the event.  Put it all together and you have a pretty decent 11th Doctor.

I think the event turned out to be less exciting than putting together his outfit, but he still had fun and is now the very happy owner of a sonic screwdriver.

I said I wouldn't, and then I did

Isaac is the first child we've had after a lot of tech entered our home.  When the other boys were born and for several years after, we didn't have smartphones and tablets.  We managed to survive, so even though it has become commonplace to see toddlers and little kids using smartphones and tablets, I was determined that Isaac wouldn't be one of those kids.

Yeah.

You'd think I would have learned by now not to make these useless decisions about anything regarding parenting.

The age gap just about drives me crazy most days.  The older boys have such different lives than Isaac and the older he gets, the more he wants to be involved in all of their activities.  And we do try.  They do try.  They are very good about playing with him outside and in their room (if he has a pacifier in his mouth to protect the legos).  

But sometimes it just isn't feasible to include him, no matter how desperately wants to be in on the action.  One example: Josh bought Risk.  So many tiny soldiers.  And it really, really matters where they are on the board.  The amount of destruction Isaac can do to the Risk world is on a level never before seen in the real world.  Calvary and soldiers flying everywhere.  Oh, the humanity.

Another example, chore time.  Sweeping, window washing, picking up toys, dusting, moping, etc.  All those tasks are difficult to do with Isaac around even for a veteran parent who has done the toddler thing 3 times before.  For the boys, who are still learning and complaining while they do chores, it becomes high drama.  

It didn't take very long before I broke down and put him in front of a tablet.  As an added *bonus*, Netflix dumped Isaac's favorite show, Daniel Tiger, and the tablet app is now our only access.

Hooray for tech and toddlers!

Growing Garden

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, How does your garden grow?

Well, the peas are growing like mad and I think they are choking the beans and a row of carrots to death.  As in, if you walked up to our plot and took a brief look around, you probably couldn't even tell that we planted beans.  And, honestly, it isn't looking too good for the cabbage and broccoli as well.  The cages for the peas are completely overwhelmed and we had to anchor them with string because they kept falling over.

But I don't mind.  Something is growing and I consider that a win.  Plus, the peas taste great!

Tolmie

We're struggling to be healthy over here, so I am a little behind.  As I was scrolling through my camera I realized I had taken all sorts of pictures intending to blog about them and then forgot about them.  Being sick and having Isaac woken up several times a night by Ben's coughing will make you a little bit tired.

A week ago Friday, the younger three boys and I went hiking at Tolmie with some friends.  Josh was gone on a boy scout camp out and didn't seem to be too upset about missing our hike.  Joke's on him though, we did a two mile hike and he ended up doing a six mile hike.  Heh, heh.

Tolmie is a nice hike near the beach.  We decided to hike first since getting kids (well, my kids at least) off the beach to do anything other than eat is pretty difficult.  Most of the hikes we've done so far have been rather flat.  This one was not.  It was 2 miles and didn't have a huge incline, but there were sections that would get your heart pumping and your lungs straining.  Well, maybe that is just if you are out of shape and carrying a 20+ lb child on you.  

We took a few breaks to drink water and play on/in the trees.

And then finally, FINALLY made it down to the beach.  It was low tide so there was a lot of mud to play in.  There was a crab invasion and you could hear their tiny, little claws as they migrated across the mud.  This is Isaac checking out the scene before he got his shoes, socks, bum, and lower pants soaked and covered in sand.

There were also clams to be dug.  Not being very familiar with seafood, I didn't realize there are several types of clams.  I knew there were some you had to have a permit to dig, but this beach hosted a few other types without that restriction.  My friend dug up a few and I hope she had a lovely dinner.  I would like to go back with both Josh and Jason and maybe try finding some clams ourselves.  Of course, I don't know how to cook them, so maybe we'll try catch-and-release (can you do that with clams?).

Mount Rainier, or so they tell us

We've been looking for a time to use the national park pass Doug sent us, but the timing hasn't been great for a while with bronchitis and a fever running through the house.  The 4th of July seemed like a great day since we had managed not to make any other plans for it.  And since the people in our neighborhood have spent the last four days trying to blow themselves up, we were happy to be out of town for a little while.  I kid you not, the 4th of July now competes with Halloween and Christmas as being an almost week long holiday.  

Washington weather tends to be rather unpredictable.  When you add the largest mountain to the equation, it gets more complicated.  We were pretty sure that the temps would be in the upper 40's/lower 50's, but the NPS website claimed it would more sunny in the upper elevations and cloudy in the lower elevations.  Sadly, it didn't actually specify what NPS considers to be upper and lower.  So we had to gamble since yesterday was the day we had available.

So we grabbed Aunt Rachel and up we went to hike close to Mount Rainier.  Or at least, people kept telling us that Mount Rainier was "right there".  Um, well, yeah...

As we climbed in elevation in the park, we entered a cloud.  Not being ones to let a silly cloud deter us, we made a slight alteration to our plans and did a couple of short hikes where the highlight wasn't stunning views of the mountains.

Our first hike lead us up to Myrtle Falls.  I believe that Michael claims this is the second largest waterfall he has seen, second only to Niagara Falls.  We have to work on that.

Ben had been feeling poorly for a few days and didn't make it all the way, but Aunt Rachel took some pictures for us.  She took some pictures in none of which did we get a nice from Michael.  

Except when he was photo bombing.

Our second hike did boast of gorgeous vistas, but this time of the Nisqually River down in the valley rather than majestic heights.  It started off with a scenic creek...

...and then progressed to cloudy views of the roaring Nisqually.  Still a lovely hike during which we got to hike over some patches of snow.  A bit of novelty after no snow this winter.

We finally headed back down the mountain to lower elevations and clearer skies.

A short stop to check out the views at Carter Falls trailhead turned into an opportunity to check out the temperature of the river water (cold) and climb around on some rocks.

It was a long and lovely day even though it was cold and gray at times.  And the cherries we bought at a roadside stand on the way home didn't hurt a bit.