Ballard Locks

This afternoon we did a little shopping at "Me and Moms" consignment in Ballard and then decided to visit the Ballard locks. We have never been before so I thought it might be an interesting way to spend the afternoon. When we arrived we were greeted by a bunch of very drunk homeless people that invited Max and Zoe to play cribbage. Quite a few of them were having a little sleep and Zoe was very interested in why they were 'night, night'. After we got into the garden part of the locks Zoe said she wanted to play "old man night night" so here she is doing that.

Then I told them we might see some fish so they decided to play " I big shark swimming" right in the middle of the walkway.
Eventually we were all done 'swimming' and went to play in the garden.

The locks have a fish ladder and we were lucky enough to see a couple of fish.

I think the highlight for M and Z was the steep, green hill on the other side of the locks. They spent a long time hiking up and running down at great speed. We also got to play with a lovely black dog called Maddie. On the way home we stopped off a Maccy D's for happy meals and a play on the slide. We didn't get back until 7:30, but I still couldn't bring myself to skip the bath!

More fun at the farm

You may have noticed quite a few farm posts lately, well that is because Max and Zoe love farms and I do too. Last week we checked out Farrell Mcwhirter farm in Redmond to see what that had to offer. I mostly wanted to go because it was the only local place I could find that did riding lessons for 2 year olds, but it also looked like it had nice places to walk. As it happens I didn't find out anything about the riding lessons as you have to book them through the Redmond parks web-site, but we did have a lovely morning exploring the farm and creek.

About 10 minutes after we arrived M and Z ran off to the swings and I went to collect them, as I returned I was shouted by Shannon who said "A goat is having a baby right now!" We missed that baby's arrival , but got to watch as Momma goat had number 2. The goat was a twin momma too. It was actually really cool for us to see and though the kids were a bit concerned at the goats 'owee' they watched transfixed. The mom had two beautiful boys and we told the lady that she should call them Max and Miles. We'll go back in a few weeks and see if she did.

After that we checked out the other animals then took a short hike along the river. Needless to say everyone got wet and everyone had fun.

Let's go fly a kite

Ever since we saw a group of pre-school flying kites at Carkeek park Max and Zoe have wanted kites. Today was yet another rainy day, but it cleared into a blustery afternoon and I thought it would be a good day to try kites for the first time. After nap we headed to the Gasworks park kite shop and the lady there was super helpful. She picked out mini sled kites and assured me M and Z would be able to fly them solo. She was right and they had a blast. They drew quite a crowd with their flying tricks and could hardly believe they could do it. Zoe even got the hang of moving around to make her kite swoop. Great to experience another first with my Bonsai ones.

After that we went over to the old gas works machinery to climb and jump. They will jump off anything these days and are pretty fearless. We needed a fun afternoon and today we got one.

Fabulous Fox Hollow

Here are a few pics from a recent visit to Fox Hollow Farm in Issaquah. The farm is open a couple of times each month and was a great experience for Max and Zoe. Many of the animals are roaming free and the kids loved holding and stroking them. The hot favorites were the rabbit and kitten and the golden puppy.

Fun in the sun with CassieLeah

Another stella day in Western Washington luckily for us as we had planned to meet friends at the park. We met up north at Rhododendron park which is a great park and is very pretty at the moment with the blooms. Max and Zoe got to hang out with "The CassieLeah" as they call Cassie and Leah, and I got to catch up with their mom, Jamie. Max did his best to spoil it for everyone as he was a big old grump. On the way home I asked him why he was in such a bad mood and he said "Too much sunshiny, mummy". How Seattle is that?!

Life's a beach

We deserved today, we really did. It has rained pretty much rained non stop since September last year and it has made life with the munchkins more of a challenge. However, today we had blue, blue skies, lots of sun and just the right amount of breeze. I had planned to meet Shannon, Gia and Miles over at Carkeek park and it could not have been a more perfect day for it.

Carkeek is the North-West corner of seattle and has a great view of the Olympics. The playground has a huge salmon shaped slide that the kids love and it also has a lot of logs and rocks to climb. There is a railway bridge that leads to the beach and Max and Zoe love to watch as the Amtrack rolls by.

Max has been 'needing' to swim in the ocean for a while now, so after fun at the playground we headed over to the beach for fun in the surf. All the kids had a brilliant time running in and out of the water, building sand castles and having a picnic.

Gotta love Seattle on a day like this.